“I Am Tired Of Knowing Nothing And Being Reminded Of It All The Time.”

Character development doesn't refer to character improvement in a moral or ethical respect. It refers to broadening the audience's understanding of that character, giving the character a deeper background, clearer motivations, a unique voice.

Developing a character is about making them seem more like a real person, and real people are flawed. Real people make mistakes. They repeat mistakes. They do things other people don't agree with. Real people are more than just 'good' or 'bad' and character development is about showing all of those other aspects of them.

Their interests and hobbies. The song that gets stuck in their head. The fact that their vacuum broke 3 months ago and they haven't gotten it fixed yet. All of those details help build out the character and develop them more.

And yes, characters change as stories progress but that doesn't mean they get 'better' in a strict moral sense. It means that their experiences change the way they interact in the world you've written for them. Just like real people do.

tips on writing arab characters

first let’s cover the main mistake people make: what is an arab?

an arab is generally any person whose lineage comes from an arabic-speaking country. some examples:  Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

now that you know what your character is (if you were aiming for east asian/south asian this is your cue to leave and educate yourself!) let’s talk about some important factors of an arab character.

decide what country they are from: this is ridiculously important! each arab country has a unique history and their cultures vary DRASTICALLY! it is extremely offensive to take bits and pieces of different cultures from various arab countries and stuff them all into one character. so first choose from where exactly your character hails. note: if you are writing in a fantasy world, this still applies! look into your specific country of choice and work around that.

not all arabs are muslims: while islam has greatly influenced arab culture, muslims and arabs are not synonymous. islam is a religion, arab is a lineage. if you choose to make your character muslim, be mindful of that religion, and if not, do not give the character islamic attributes (ie: hijabs, islamic names)

on naming your character:

first names: once again, be mindful of the character’s religion here. many names that have come to be associated with arabs are in fact islamic in origin (mohammed, abdullah, aabid…) look for arabic names and check the meaning and origin to be sure (here and here are some good websites that give definition and origin). arabic names generally do not have nicknames. yes even ‘mo’ for ‘mohammed’ or ‘al’ for ‘ali’ are all a foreigner’s look on arabic names. they don’t work. don’t use them.

middle names: arabs generally do not have middle names (which is to say, they aren’t assigned any at birth) instead, the child’s father’s name is their second name. so ahmed, son of salim would be ‘ahmed salim’ rather than be given an entirely new name.

last names: the last name of any arab is their father’s last name. generally, a married woman keeps her own last name rather than change it to her husband’s, and the children inherit their father’s name. 

fashion: once again this differs entirely based on what country you’ve chosen but also please mind the year! if your novel is set in the equivalent of the 1800s traditional big turbans have been out of fashion for centuries!! more modern clothing can include checkered turbans that are worn by men and draped on the head, set in place by igal. but again, this depends on the country of choice. kuffiyehs are more symbolically worn in countries like palestine, syria and jordan. here and here are more in-depth descriptions. 

the arabic language: arabic differs drastically from english in regards to grammar so using a translator site isn’t going to cut it. the main reason for this is that there each arabic country has its own dialect, and while some are similar, they all have obvious differences. a translator will give you the official arabic, which isn’t used in day-to-day speech. my advice is to have an arab speaker read through your lines before publishing. 

stereotypes: for a bit of background, it was an arab (Al-Haitham) that became one of the first founders of modern optics by creating the first camera. an arab (Ibn Firnas) who first attempted flight. arabs invented the numbers currently used all around the world (yes 0-9 were created by an arab named al-Khwarizmi!) so let me tell you it is extremely disrespectful, hurtful, and downright wrong when arabs are presented as uncivilized, uneducated, and violent in books and media. keep this in mind while writing your character.

more than sand and camels: while many arabs hail from the desert and indeed a good many travels were taken via camel, that does not mean your arab character is required to know this. not all arabic countries are deserts. not all arabs own camels. if you must give them a form of travel, an often overlooked talent of arabs was horse-riding, and some of the best breeds of horse are arabian, so look into that instead!

misogynism and homophobia: this is a harmful arabic stereotype bred from the misunderstanding of islamic values. hijab/niqab (head and face covers) are the chosen form of dress for muslim women (though once again not all arabs are muslims!) along with many other values held by muslim men and women, there are cultural influences some arabs hold that are mistranslated by western countries. i might make a separate post about this alone, but just be mindful about this as you are writing your character. don’t make the girl oppressed and in need of saving. don’t make the guy sexist and arrogant.

war is not culture, it’s circumstance: the middle east has generally come to be associated with war and pain, a circumstance of which no one is happy about. this does not mean that your character should desire violence, wish to inflict pain, come from an abusive family, desire war, come from a background of war. these are all offensive and just another painful reminder of how the west sees arabs. if your character fits into any of those categories, now is the time to fix that.

if anything remains unclear, shoot me an ask! 

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable…It means that someone can get inside you and mess you up.”

— Neil Gaiman (via quotemadness)

Writing Tip #235

If you want to get serious about increasing your writing output, you need to know what your baseline is. For a few weeks make a note of when you start writing, when you stop writing, the number of words you wrote, and where you were. Then analyze the information. You’ll quickly get a sense of if you write better in the morning or at night. If you write better at home or somewhere else (I know this isn’t as easy to do because of covid right now). Then when you can, write at the time and place that make you the most productive.

In Romania, we have a drawer full of shopping bags, to use later, or just a bag filled with hundreds of bags.

That's our way to recicle 😂

True

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

— Benjamin Franklin 

“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”

— Elbert Hubbard

writing is a lot like cooking. its a lot of ‘what the fuck is this missing’ and it being something really basic like salt. 

“It may be the wrong decision, but fuck it, it’s mine.”

— Mark Z. Danielewski 

“Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.”

— Robert A. Heinlein