Apollo: *curled Up And Crying In His Chariot*

Any tips on how to make readers root for a character that's not the narrator?

Well, why have you ever rooted for characters other than the narrator? What have you read or heard from other people that makes them root for a character? Oftentimes a good chunk of an answer just takes a bit of introspection or listening.

Typically, readers root for characters that they find to have at least one of the qualifications:

Useful: Contributes positively to the story, either by helping others or driving it themselves.

Sympathetic: The character is understandable as a well rounded person.

Funny: Is amusing to readers.

Relatable: Readers can see parts of themselves in the character. A Reminder About “Relatable” Characters (link embedded)

Admirable: Has generally good qualities, but does not have to be perfect. A realistic role model.

Interesting: The more they learn, the more people want to know more about them.

(This isn’t a rigid list, but the qualifications are generally positive or entertaining)

None of those qualifications are restricted to only show-able in a narrator in any way, however a good part of ‘rooting” for someone involves wanting them to achieve their goal. Not being the narrator, they’re likely not the protagonist and therefore the main plot may not be about their goal. You can address that in a few ways:

Subplots: Give the character and their goal a subplot, however remember that subplots have to be related to the main plot and can’t just be a character going off for unrelated reasons. 

Aligned goals: By participating in the plot and alongside the protagonist, the character’s goals can be worked toward, though it’s not the same as the protag’s.

Same goal: They have the same goal as the protag. (When using this option, make sure to give that character unique motivation. Being too similar to a protagonist in motive can decreases reader interest.)

Side stories: The character is allowed to have their own adventures, you just shouldn’t be dedicating a lot of “screen time” to them if they aren’t directly plot involved.

In the most generic sense, you just want to write an interesting character. No, the reader is not going to be able to see their inner monologue, but they can’t see most of any book characters’ inner monologues and it’s rare for a reader to hate everyone but the narrator (unless they’re all poorly written or that’s the point).

You can still teach a reader about a character through: body language, description, dialogue, symbolism, actions, choices, etc. 

Good luck with your character!

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“Vines for $800”

“STAHP”

“What is You almost made me drop my croissant!”

I just imagined a jeopardy category of solely vine references

Oh God i needed this

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He doesn’t have Sasquatch, he has Bucky and one of his goats

bruce gets mad at thor one day and sends him on a wild goose chase like “go find my friend named Sasquatch he’s around eight feet tall and hairy you’ll know him when u see him” and while he gets a few hours of peace eventually he hears thor yelling ‘I found him bruce, it took a while, but I found him!’ and bruce is like uh

What in thine fuck

^^ this... this is fucking beautiful

Wait, so you’re telling me that out of the millions of possibilities that Dr. Strange saw, nobody ever followed through with Rhodey’s plan to kill baby Thanos? Cause I’m pretty sure that would’ve worked and we would still have our favorite billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

“I should draw Iron Man and Spider-Man” I said to myself, completely skipping the part where I learn how to draw the Iron Man suit.

This is... this is amazing thank you

I decided to create a masterpost that would help you with what you are struggling with. Hopefully any of the links below will help you! Reminder; You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass, just remember to breathe. 

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Distractions;

Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts. 

-Draw something

-This website translates the time into colours.

-Create your own galaxy.

-Play flowing.

-Make a 3D line travel where ever you like. 

-Listen to music.

-Calm.

-Ocean mood, do nothing for two minutes.

Sleep issues; 

- 8 hour sleep music.

-Rainy mood. 

-Meditation.

-Coping with nightmares.

-How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.

-Calm

-Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positive and negatively. 

  Uncomfortable with silence; 

-Rainy mood.

-10 hours of rain and thunder.

-3 hours of rain and thunder.

-Human heartbeat.

-Rainforest.

-Sound of rain on a tin roof.

-Autumn wind.

-Rain on a tent

-Traffic in the rain.

-Soft traffic. 

-Fan.

-Train.

-Simply noise.

-My noise.

-Rainy cafe.

Anxiety; 

-How to stop worrying. 

-Tips to manage anxiety and stress.

-The 10 best ever anxiety management techniques. 

-Self-help strategies for anxiety. 

-Helping a friend with anxiety. 

-All about worrying.

-8 myths about anxiety. 

Sad, angry and depressed/depression; 

-“I’m always sad”

-Feeling sad.

-Going through trauma.

-“I’m always angry”.

-Anger management. 

-All about anger.

-National helplines and websites.

-Self-help strategies for depression.

-Dealing with depression at work.

-Dealing with depression at school.

Isolation and loneliness; 

-Pets and mental health.

-All about loneliness. 

-“I feel so alone”

-10 more ideas to help with loneliness. 

-How to deal with loneliness.

  Self-harm;

-Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.

-146 things to do besides self-harm.

-More alternatives to self-harm.

-Self-harm alternatives.

-How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.

-Getting rid of scars.  

Addiction; 

-How to help a friend with a drug addiction.

-What is addiction?

-All about alcohol and addiction.

-The facts about drug addiction.

  Eating disorders; 

-Helping a friend with an eating disorder.

-Eating disorder treatments. 

-Support services for eating disorders. 

-Self-help tips with eating disorders.

-Eating disorder recovery. 

-Recovering from an eating disorder. 

-100+ reasons to recover. 

-Understanding and managing eating disorders. 

  Dealing with self-hatred;  

-3 ways to ease self-loathing. 

-How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.

-Self-hatred resources.

-10 step plan to deal with self-hate. 

  Suicidal; 

-International suicide hotlines (1)  (2)

-Preventing suicide. 

-Reasons to stay alive.

-Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.

-Coping with suicidal ideation.  

  Schizophrenia;

-All about schizophrenia.  

-Helping a person with schizophrenia.  

-Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.  

-Delusions and hallucinations.  

OCD;

-Managing your OCD at home. 

-Overcoming OCD.

-How to cope with OCD. 

-Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments. 

Borderline personality disorder; 

-Helping someone with BPD. 

-All about personality disorders.

-Treatment for BPD.

Abuse; 

-Healthy relationships VS abusive relationships. 

-Emotional abuse

-Overcoming sexual abuse. 

-Hotlines services. 

-5 ways to escape an abusive relationship. 

-Domestic violence support. 

-Signs of an abusive relationship. 

-What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship. 

-Surviving abuse. 

-What you can do if you’re sexual harassed. 

-Sexual assault support.

-What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused. 

  Bullying;

-How to stand up against bullying.

-How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber bullying.

-How to help stop people bullying you. 

  Loss and grief; 

-How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.

-Grieving for a stranger. 

-Common reactions to death. 

-Working through grief.

(Other loss and grief)

-Moving away from friends and family. 

-Coping with a breakup.

  Getting help; 

-Seeking help early. 

-All about psychological treatments. 

-Types of help.

-All about age and confidentiality. 

Things you need to remember; 

- Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.

-Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not. 

- This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this. 

-You are not alone. 

-You are enough. 

-You are important. 

-You are worth it. 

-You are strong. 

-You are not a failure, 

-Good people exist. 

-Reaching out shows strength. 

-Breathe. 

-Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you. 

-Give yourself credit. 

-Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good or bad ones. 

-Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend. 

-Focus on the things you can change. 

-Let go of toxic people. 

-You don’t need to hide, you’re allowed to feel the way you do. 

-Try not to beat yourself up. 

-Something is always happening, you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next. 

-You are not a bother.

-Your existence is more than your appearance. 

-You are smart. 

-You are loved. 

-You are wanted. 

-You are needed. 

-Better days are coming. 

-Just because your past is dark, doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright. 

-You have more potential than you think. 

- Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

Please remember to look after yourself and know that you are more than worth it and you deserve to be happy. Keep smiling butterflies x

Say it with me folks:

“Eat the rich” means 1%ers and billionaires

middle class is closer to poverty than being a multimillionaire

“The rich” does NOT include children of billionaires (come on we’re at least slightly better than the plagues of Egypt)

Upper middle class children SHOULD NOT feel guilt over having money

Being aware of privilege and using your privilege to help others IS NOT a guilt trip

Constantly feeling guilty helps no one

Billionaires, however, should feel guilty over hoarding wealth.

Upper middle class is NOT rich

Black Lives Matter

Trans rights are human rights

The Star Wars fan in me is squealing

The official logo of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi starring Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen

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