Blog Posts

Am I Cursed?

8/6/2020

I wrote this post as a part of my upcoming Fantasy and Science Fiction Reader’s Lounge Takeover.

Can someone curse you without your knowledge? Literary convention argues that you cannot. In Terry Pratchett’s Equal Rights, master witch Granny Weatherwax subscribes to “Headology.” According to her, if you give the evil eye to someone, they’ll blame their next bit of bad luck on your curse. Soon enough, you’re the reason for their misery, and it didn’t take a trace of magic.

Curses are made of three components: the curse giver, the person being cursed, and the belief in such a thing as curses. In this way, being hexed is a kind of hypnosis where a person subconsciously acts out the suggestion of the curse giver.

Is this how it works in life? Maybe. You might walk under a ladder and then spill your coffee. Common sense dictates the two events are unconnected. If you believe dropping your coffee results from walking under a ladder, you’re committing a logical fallacy called post hoc ergo propter hoc. Or maybe the ladder cursed you. Who am I to say?

Some magical curses in literature are not a result of Headology, though. Highly magical curses like that of the beast in Beauty and the Beast or the Unforgivable Curses in Harry Potter are so forceful they don’t require a shared belief in jinxes. In fact, fairytales are full of hexes with complex unraveling involving true love and kisses.

No, you cannot be unaware of a curse. Either your belief that someone cursed you is perpetuating your hardship, or the affliction is of a highly magical, unmistakable nature. So, go home, open your umbrella, snuggle your black cat, and ignore all those chain letters.

Come back next week for the final post in my Writing Alignment Series.

Remember to stop by the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reader's Lounge on Friday, 8/7 from 2-4 for a live event with giveaways and cursing!
(kidding, not about the giveaway, though)

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Writing Alignment: Lawful Evil

8/1/2020

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I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

Deciding a character’s alignment helps determine how’d they’d act during their adventures. I find it helpful to think about how each alignment would behave in the same circumstances because it highlights the differences between each alignment.

Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

A lawful evil character would call his connections throughout the city to ensure they bring the thief to justice with the most severe punishment possible. If the character is in a foreign place away from the root of his influence, he will still call upon the law hoping law enforcement will jail her. He will always try a variety of means to sway the system in his favor.

Defining Lawful Evil Characters

Lawful evil characters are often well-connected or wealthy individuals who exploit the system and use legal technicalities to their benefit. Lawful evil character subtypes include corrupt executives, dirty cops, and diabolical masterminds. He is quick, cruel, and hard to beat because the administration is on his side, or he is the administration, sometimes. Because of their insidious nature, many of the most heinous villains are lawful evil.

It’s important to note, he doesn’t always follow the law, unlike the other lawful types. He’s happy to toe the line or appear legitimate while doing just enough to avoid legal consequences. More powerful lawful evil characters can write the rules, bending the law in their favor. The law is his weapon and shield.

Lawful Evil Character Development

The government or organization must have complicit members for the lawful evil character to exploit and cajole, and these toadies will eventually work their way up, providing a clear path for development. However, there are other routes to prominence.

A young lawful evil character might be a lackey for a more powerful character, waiting in the wings to take over when his leader fails or dies. Lawful evil characters are often wealthy, enjoying generations of esteem and political influence or a sudden influx of money and the power that comes with it.

Lawful Evil Character Examples

Dolores Umbridge from The Harry Potter franchise insists that everyone follows the rules, which she enforces in cruel ways. A corrupt system installed her in a position of power, and she gained prominence by aligning with influential villains.

The Stephen King master of evil Randall Flagg, also known as “The Walking Man” from The Stand, is the malevolent lord subtype of lawful evil. He’s the guy in charge, he makes the rules, and everyone must follow them or face horrific consequences.

Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol is lawful evil before his transformation. He does nothing to break the law, technically, but according to Charles Dickens, he’s a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!”

"There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
Next week, I'm taking a break from alignment to talk about curses, which is the theme of my FSFRL Takeover next Friday.
Then, I'll be back with my final installment, True Neutral, the hardest alignment to get right!

Other Blogs in this Series:

Intro to Alignment

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Writing Alignment: Lawful Neutral

7/17/2020

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I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

A lawful neutral character would place the thief under citizen’s arrest and bring them to the courthouse. She does not interpret the ideology she follows through either a negative or a positive filter. She doesn’t care that the thief stole from her, just that he stole, which violates the rules. You cannot appeal to the better (or worse) nature of these characters. She shows no mercy because the law will give mercy if it’s warranted.

Defining Lawful Neutral Characters

Like all the neutral pairings, the lawful neutral character acts as an embodiment of the trait accompanying their neutrality. However, “lawful” is a bit of a misnomer because these characters are loyal to the rules of their chosen society or association, which may not connect to the law of the land. A lawful neutral character is unlikely to break the law unless they are so devoted or cloistered, they are unaware of the law.

The military lawful neutral character is a loyal soldier who mindlessly follows the rules with no regard for if they are fair, right or wrong. There are no shades of gray with these folks. In evil empires, they are ideal soldiers because they unquestionably follow orders. In good or neutral countries, they are the unremarkable agents of the government.

Bureaucrats also follow the letter of the law, be it the actual law of the land, or, more often, the law of their companies and organizations. The bureaucratic lawful neutral sub-type prides herself on her paperwork navigation skills.

Last, we have the sticklers. She is the sort who raises her hand at the end of class to remind the teacher he forgot to assign homework. Similar to the bureaucrat, no one likes a stickler, but they’re a necessary cog in the gears of civilization.

Lawful Neutral Character Development

Lawful neutral character development happens through skill-building and intellectual management. She may become a better warrior, a smarter statistician, or a harsher disciplinarian. A bureaucrat will become more bureaucratic. However, a lawful neutral character will never develop morally. This is because she ties her belief system to her society. She can be deceptive, however, acting as a covert agent for her institution, which may be the only reason she breaks a rule or law.

But (you’re probably asking) what if something is illegal but morally correct? There is no such thing to a lawful neutral character. When confronted with morality over legality, she will dismiss it until she no longer can, and then sputter around like a malfunctioning robot until she reasons her way out of the moral conundrum.

If the society or organization she follows becomes more or less virtuous, she will follow suit. So, sometimes, her personal development is contingent on the evolution of the association whose rules and laws she adheres to.

Lawful Neutral Character Examples

Police Inspector Javert in Les Misérables does not care that Jean Valjean only stole bread because he was starving. Javert believes all thieves are evil people who he should punish. When Valjean proves himself an honorable man, Javert cannot handle his own cognitive dissonance.

The Hogwarts caretaker in Harry Potter, Argus Filch, is a stickler, and no one likes him or his tattletale cat. He responds to even the smallest rule infraction with discipline and relishes his firm grip on regulation.

“Bond, James Bond” from the Bond franchise proves that some lawful neutral characters can be fun. He’s a secret agent following directives from the British Secret Service, but he maintains a distinct personality.

Next week I'm Discussing Lawful Evil Characters!

Other Blogs in this Series:

Intro to Writing Alignment

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Writing Alignment: Neutral Evil

7/10/2020

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I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

Deciding a character’s alignment helps determine how they act during their adventures. I find it helpful to think about how each alignment would behave in the same circumstances because it highlights the differences between each alignment.

Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

A neutral evil character would discreetly follow the thief until they were in a private area, kill him, and rob his corpse. Unlike some of our other alignments, the value of the stolen item doesn’t matter to her, it could be a trinket or a treasure chest. The neutral evil character demands retribution for even the smallest infraction. The only thing stopping her is self-preservation. If the thief is likely to overpower her, or if he is part of a ruling social class, she may save her wrath for another day. But she will never forget.

Defining Neutral Evil Characters

Singularly concerned with themselves and their own agendas, neutral evil characters have no conscious and feel no guilt about ruthlessly pursuing objectives. The neutral evil character’s goals are usually selfish; if she’s working for an organization or is part of a family, she may appear to support them, but only if it suits her grand scheme.

However evil, she tends to be quiet about her malevolence. Neutral evil characters are long-con plotters, who may hide their true nature. They are often sophisticated, but when they’re not, they are brute bullies relishing in any suffering that isn’t their own. She may also be a malignant narcissist, believing that she is better than everyone and that the world owes her, and needs to pay up now.

Neutral Evil Character Development

These characters are often schemers, so one of the easiest ways to develop her would be to increase the complexity of her cons. Or she could start out at failing at her plots and then slowly get better at conspiracy. Often, her character development comes as a revelation to the other characters (or the readers) because she concealed her evil nature until her “good” persona outlived its usefulness.

Neutral Evil Character Examples

Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights cares only for himself and his love for Catherine. When he can’t marry her, he launches into a lifelong plot to destroy everyone who kept him from his love. His vengeance extends to the heirs of those who wronged him and lasts beyond the grave.

Senator Palpatine/ Darth Sidious /Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars franchise is the long-con type of neutral evil character whose evil nature is a revelation to those who trusted him. While he plays the helpful Senator, he’s secretly the manipulative Darth Sidious, gaining legions of followers. When he no longer needs his Senator persona, he becomes the evil emperor.

Dracula, in his many incarnations, and vampires in general, are neutral evil. Vampires (not as a rule, but usually) are consumed by hunger for blood and the need to kill for it. Their constant need for murder makes vampires schemers out of self-preservation. The vampires who survive are the ones who can plan and cover their tracks.

"There is a great disturbance in the Force."
Next week I’m discussing lawful neutral characters.

Other Blogs in this Series:

Intro to Writing Alignment

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Writing Alignment: Neutral Good

6/27/2020

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I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

A neutral good character would offer to buy the thief lunch. The thief is obviously in need, why else would she have stolen? Compassion motivates the neutral good character. He will fix people (or living beings) first, problems second. If his dilemma involves a theft, he sees a thieving soul suffering as the issue, not a missing item.

Defining Neutral Good Characters

Neutral good characters might not be religious, but they radiate the altruism you see in spiritual leaders and monks. His benevolence extends to all people, and creatures depending on the setting. This is the only positive alignment willing to protect all other alignments because a neutral good character’s charity transcends both the nature of those in need and the law of the land. Their indifference to the law means these characters often sympathize with rebels fighting subjugation.

Also unique to the neutral good character is his extension of his alignment. He sees the rest of his world as neutral good as well. His reasoning for the evil deeds and poor behavior of others depends on his background and personal philosophy. He may see the cause of evil as a response to suffering, or think people inherently good, with a few missteps. Humble heroes, generous mentors, and classic princesses fall under this alignment.

Neutral Good Character Development

There is a myriad of ways you can develop this character. New on his journey, a neutral good character may be naïve and become world-wise within his story arc. On the other hand, an already world-weary neutral good character may help others, but neglect himself, resulting in issues in his personal relationships, that he must work to amend. Finally, a neutral good hero could expand his heroics, first aiding his friends, then his city, then the entire world.

Neutral Good Character Examples

Gandalf from The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings trilogy wishes everyone well as he uses his powers to fight evil. He cares about everyone, from the tiniest hobbit to the mightiest of kings. Gandalf’s good deeds are organized and strategic; he has learned how to maximize his heroics.

Sherlock Holmes seems to work to uphold the law, but he endeavors outside of it whenever necessary. Holmes helps those who need it, regardless of their history or social station. Really, he’s not an agent of the law, but an agent of human compassion.

Geralt from The Witcher is a compelling case because he wishes he were truly neutral, but he’s neutral good. He has an awareness of his alignment and the desire, but inability, to change it. Geralt is lax in personal care and relationship maintenance, which is a reoccurring theme with many neutral good characters.

You know my methods. Next week I'm writing about neutral evil characters.

Other Blogs in This Series:

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Writing Alignment: Chaotic Evil

6/19/2020

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I adapted this blog series from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

A chaotic evil character will viciously pursue the thief with little regard for the safety of the rest of the public in the market–like throwing a grenade at your garden to uproot a weed. There’s also a chance she will ignore the thief, her reaction will depend on how badly she wants the stolen item back and her feelings toward the thief. If she sees the thief as a kindred spirit, she may invite him to join in on her anarchy.

Defining Chaotic Evil Characters

Loss of life and destruction of property mean nothing to the chaotic evil character. This disregard for any form of social contract usually springs from one of two poisoned wells: vendetta or insanity. Often time, the chaotic evil character is both–a psychotic bent on vengeance.

Sometimes, a chaotic evil character has an obsession, and their actions all serve to further their infatuation. Having an obsession is not enough though to make her chaotic evil, though; there’s always an element of derangement in these characters. Chaotic evil characters are rarely antagonists unless the story is a character study, and they are never heroes. Chaotic evil character types include terrorists, mad scientists, psychos, and sociopaths.

Chaotic Evil Character Development

A chaotic evil character will get more evil or more chaotic. If she tends toward chaos, her behavior will get increasingly erratic as she descends into homicidal mania. While these characters can do an impressive amount of damage in a short amount of time, they either burn out or are apprehended because of their sloppy methods and lack of planning.

On the other hand, the character might become more evil. Instead of merely being chaotic, she could learn to sew the seeds of mass chaos through scheming and underhanded dealings. While her personality will still be unstable, she’ll be able to see her nefarious plots through to the end.

Chaotic Evil Character Examples

Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello is the “sewing the seeds of chaos” character type. He’s a master manipulator who harnesses the power of chaos to reach his goal. Iago doesn’t have the instability often seen with chaotic evil characters, aside from when he alters his personality to suit his needs.

The Joker from the Batman franchise is the standard chaotic evil character who is wildly insane and bent on revenge. In many of his stories, the Joker becomes more villainous, starting out as petty and then moving on to enact more complex crimes.

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is one of those rare chaotic evil characters who you might feel some sympathy for. Judge Turpin drove him to madness, and his reason for seeking vengeance is understandable. But, he kills people and eats them, so our understanding can only go so far.

Next week I’m discussing neutral good characters!

Other Blogs in This Series:

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Writing Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

6/12/2020

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This blog series is adapted from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

A chaotic neutral character is likely to ignore the thief altogether in favor of his own mad schemes. The fact that the thief stole something from him is low on his list of concerns unless the thief stole something precious to him or someone he loves. Then, he’ll pursue the thief in any number of erratic ways. He might chase him, attack him, throw something at him, or even silently stalk the thief home to ambush them. Or, maybe he’ll befriend the thief. It’s all on the table.

Defining Chaotic Neutral Characters

Chaotic neutral characters are the most unpredictable of all the alignments, and they are singular in their ability to cause mayhem. They are, however, not emotionless slaves to chaos. On the contrary, chaotic neutral characters are driven by strong emotions and the need to act on those feelings

When a chaotic neutral character feels a sudden burst of joy, he acts on it. Maybe he expresses his joy by giving out flowers to passersby or by baking a copious amount of bread. When a chaotic neutral character feels jealousy, he acts on it as well. However, he’s just as likely to harm the subject of his envy as he is to befriend her. He may even ignore her in favor of improving himself until he’s no longer jealous. At times, he may cycle through emotions, and related actions, quickly, handing out flowers one moment and kicking a lady he’s jealous of the next.

Chaotic neutral characters tend to be pirates, pranksters, and vigilantes. They are often exiled to the fringes of society due to their lack of desire, or ability, to control their emotions and actions, unless they live in a lawless or chaotic civilization.

Chaotic Neutral Character Development

A chaotic neutral character’s actions are not necessarily neutral, but his good actions and his evil actions cancel each other out, resulting in a net neutral. He’ll steal from the homeless encampment today and feed the homeless encampment tomorrow.

Extending the length of his moods is one way to develop a chaotic neutral character. He can move from being able to focus on a task for only a few minutes to staying on track for hours, then days. His actions will still be erratic, and he may be prone to outburst, but he’ll be able to set a goal and reach it, even if his goal only makes sense to himself.

Chaotic neutral characters may be devoted to someone or something. Though the character’s devotion rarely extends to a structured organization, he may have a love interest, or be dedicated to a loose ideology, such as hedonism or anarchy. His life journey may revolve around winning his love or becoming a master anarchist. In the end, however, the sum of his life will be almost as if he never existed, because a chaotic neutral character habitually nullifies any of his own achievements.

Chaotic Neutral Character Examples

Dr. Frank N. Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an example of a chaotic neutral character devoted to hedonism. He has massive mood swings. He’s kind, manipulative, and selfish, almost simultaneously. He does, however, stay focused on a task and achieve a goal, a skill lacking on many chaotic neutral characters when they begin their adventures.

Gollum from Lord of the Rings has no idea what he’s doing. He has no plan and no goal outside of staying close to the ring until he’s able to get it back. Any good he does is quickly undone by his own evil actions.

Puck from A Midsummer’s Night Dream is the agent of chaos type of chaotic neutral character. He acts randomly and watches the results of his action as entertainment. He doesn’t mean harm, nor does he mean good. He just asks on his whims whenever they occur to him.

“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber’d here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream.” – Puck

Next week I’ll be discussing Chaotic Evil Characters (shudder)!
See you then!

Other Blogs in This Series:

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Writing Alignment: Chaotic Good

6/6/2020

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This blog series is adapted from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

In our scenario, a chaotic good character may pull a harmless prank or trick to expose them as a thief and/or force them to give them back the stolen money or goods. She’s as likely to give away her returned goods as she is to keep them. She will also let the thief keep the stolen goods if he has a satisfactory explanation for his thievery or a compelling need for the pinched property.

Defining Chaotic Good Characters

This alignment encompasses many people’s favorite heroes because chaotic good characters are fun, light, and unpredictable. These types answer to no one, but they have a moral compass. They are unlikely to be affiliated with any organization, religion, or government, at least for any length of time. Chaotic good characters are undisciplined nice guys, rebels who fight against evil establishments, and anti-heroes.

Chaotic good characters are not entirely selfless. They often wrestle with what group to support, which accounts for some of their chaos. For example, should they act in favor of their adventuring group, or the whole country? What if the needs of these two groups are at odds? Chaotic good characters are moral as part of their nature, and not from following a dogma, so they are often helpful to whoever is physically close or can come up with the most convincing request for aid.

Chaotic Good Character Development

A chaotic good character has a lot of room to develop over a story arc. She may start out as a benevolent trickster and evolve into an incorruptible warrior. Her development often comes from wisdom, since she doesn’t follow the rules, she is guided only by her own intellect.

A foolish or inexperienced chaotic good character will make a lot of mistakes. She will struggle with false allies and have a hard time forecasting the ultimate result of her actions, sometimes leading to calamity.

As she develops, she’ll become better at reading people, and she’ll figure out who deserves her trust. Additionally, seasoned agents of chaos become adept at predicting the outcomes of situations, because they’ve seen it all throughout their tumultuous life. If she develops keen foresight, a chaotic good character may eventually become a wise sage, who takes seemingly random actions that ultimately lead to miraculous results.

Chaotic Good Character Examples

Robin Hood is the classic, chaotic good character. In all his forms throughout literature, he famously flouts the law and ferociously fights a corrupt government. His loose organization, the Merry Men, has no formal structure and a likely filthy living situation out in the woods. They probably all need baths. Poor Maid Marian.

The Wizard Merlin from the myriad of Kind Arthur tales, and specifically from The Once and Future King, is the seasoned sage chaotic good archetype. He shows up at random, his methods are suspect, but his outcomes are (usually) marvelous. He sometimes makes mistakes or gets distracted, but Merlin is altruistic and always gravitates toward righteousness.

Han Solo from the Star Wars franchise is a rebellious chaotic good character. He is, at first, good only to his companions, but his virtue soon extends to all the rebel forces as he joins their fight against malevolence. Early in his journey, he has some of the issues we see with inexperienced chaotic good characters, including treacherous collaborators and imprudence.

That’s it for this week. Next week I’ll be discussing Chaotic Neutral Characters. May the Force be with you!

Other Blogs in This Series:

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Writing Alignment: Lawful Good

5/29/2020

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This blog series is adapted from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

The Situation

Here’s the scene:
A character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act?

A lawful good character would call the authorities and explain the situation, sure the police would handle the thief. He has a set of principles in line with the laws of his society, and he expects most people to follow these ideals as well.

The exception would be if he lived in an evil society where the laws are unjust. In that case, the lawful good character would follow the dogma of his religion or established philosophical principles.

Defining Lawful Good Characters

Lawful good characters are all about faith, faith in the law, their principles, and faith in humanity. There are several types and sub-types of lawful good characters, including the “knight in shining armor” and the hand-wringing types.

The “shining armor” sub-type is a classic hero who believes in upholding all that is just and right, often at the expense of their personal safety. These characters seek out professions that allow them to embody gallantry, i.e., knights, paladins, superheroes, soldiers, and law enforcement.

Not all lawful good characters are about heroics. The hand-wringing type just wants to be good and urges everyone else to follow the rules as well. Hand-wringers get upset when they break unfair rules, but their goodness wins out over perceived lawfulness, eventually.

All types of lawful good characters are aligned with what is best for the greater good of society, within the framework of their chosen belief system. And, they will always have a chosen, defined faith, whether it’s linked to a country, religion, philosophy, or organization.

Lawful Good Character Examples

Superman is the “shining armor” type to a tee. He’s a Boy Scout on steroids. Mr. Kent wants to help everyone and uphold the law. He wants you to upload the law too… or else.

Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books is the hand-wringing sub-type of lawful good, at least at the start of the series. She’s learned all the rules and expectations of the wizarding world and expects they’ll be followed.

Mr. Spock from Star Trek is bound to his Vulcan upbringing and the laws of logic. Spock applies his logical framework to all situations regardless of the surrounding rules and social norms. He’s a great example of a lawful good character with a portable philosophy.

Next week I’m discussing chaotic good characters. In the meantime, live long and prosper.

Other Blogs in this Series:

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New Blog Series: Writing Alignment

5/22/2020

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This blog series is adapted from a section of an online workshop I conducted for Writers & Books in March 2020.

What is Character Alignment?

Character alignment is one of the character metrics in the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Stop rolling your eyes, hear me out.

First, a quick rundown of D&D. In the game, you create a character, and then the Dungeon Master creates a scenario for a player’s character to run through. Some of the steps in creating a Dungeons and Dragon character can help craft literary sci-fi and fantasy characters. For example, “character alignment” helps determine how a character might act as they navigate the Dungeon Master’s narrative. Assigning this same metric to a literary character can help assess their actions withing a story’s narrative.

Two facets combine to make a character’s alignment: how the character interacts with authority and society, and the character’s morality. As far as societal interaction, the character can either be lawful, chaotic, or neutral. For virtue, characters can be good, evil, or neutral. These two facets combine to make nine alignments: lawful good, lawful neutral, lawful evil, chaotic good, chaotic neutral, chaotic evil, neutral good, neutral evil, and true neutral.

Alignment Memes

There are a ton of charts online dividing characters from popular movies, T.V. shows, and books up into their character alignments. This one features the characters from Game of Thrones, which gives you an idea of what type of characters fall into which category. Here’s a Doctor Who meme along these same lines:

The Situation

Throughout this blog series, I plan to explore what these alignments mean to literary character creation and development. I’m going to discuss traits linked to them, but, more importantly, I’m going to explain how each of these character alignments might act in a given situation. That’s the most critical aspect of this type of classification, it helps you figure out how a character will adventure.

So, here’s the situation I’m going to discuss, alongside the nine alignments: a character is in a market and encounters a thief who has stolen from them in a previous incident. The thief doesn’t see the character yet, so they have time to react. How will they act? – Each alignment approaches this situation in a very different way.

Next week, I’ll tackle the first alignment, Lawful Good.

Other Blogs in this Series:

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Forward>>

Come back next week for the final post in my Writing Alignment Series.Remember to stop by the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reader's Lounge on Friday, 8/7 from 2-4 for a live event with giveaways and cursing! (kidding, not about the giveaway, though)

The Situation

Defining Lawful Evil Characters

Lawful Evil Character Development

Lawful Evil Character Examples

"There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”Next week, I'm taking a break from alignment to talk about curses, which is the theme of my FSFRL Takeover next Friday.Then, I'll be back with my final installment, True Neutral, the hardest alignment to get right!

The Situation

​Defining Lawful Neutral Characters

Lawful Neutral Character Development

​Lawful Neutral Character Examples

Next week I'm Discussing Lawful Evil Characters!

The Situation

Defining Neutral Evil Characters

Neutral Evil Character Development

Neutral Evil Character Examples

"There is a great disturbance in the Force."​Next week I’m discussing lawful neutral characters.

The Situation

Defining Neutral Good Characters

Neutral Good Character Development

Neutral Good Character Examples

You know my methods. Next week I'm writing about neutral evil characters.

The Situation

​Defining Chaotic Evil Characters

Chaotic Evil Character Development

​Chaotic Evil Character Examples

Next week I’m discussing neutral good characters!

The Situation

​Defining Chaotic Neutral Characters

Chaotic Neutral Character Development

​Chaotic Neutral Character Examples

Next week I’ll be discussing Chaotic Evil Characters (shudder)! See you then!

The Situation

Defining Chaotic Good Characters

Chaotic Good Character Development

Chaotic Good Character Examples

That’s it for this week. Next week I’ll be discussing Chaotic Neutral Characters. May the Force be with you!

The Situation

​Defining Lawful Good Characters

Lawful Good Character Examples

Next week I’m discussing chaotic good characters. In the meantime, live long and prosper. ​

What is Character Alignment?

Alignment Memes

The Situation

​Next week, I’ll tackle the first alignment, Lawful Good.

Alison Lyke

Categories

Archives

Come back next week for the final post in my Writing Alignment Series.

Remember to stop by the Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reader's Lounge on Friday, 8/7 from 2-4 for a live event with giveaways and cursing!
(kidding, not about the giveaway, though)

"There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
Next week, I'm taking a break from alignment to talk about curses, which is the theme of my FSFRL Takeover next Friday.
Then, I'll be back with my final installment, True Neutral, the hardest alignment to get right!

Defining Lawful Neutral Characters

Lawful Neutral Character Examples

"There is a great disturbance in the Force."
Next week I’m discussing lawful neutral characters.

Defining Chaotic Evil Characters

Chaotic Evil Character Examples

Defining Chaotic Neutral Characters

Chaotic Neutral Character Examples

Next week I’ll be discussing Chaotic Evil Characters (shudder)!
See you then!

Defining Lawful Good Characters

Next week I’m discussing chaotic good characters. In the meantime, live long and prosper.

Next week, I’ll tackle the first alignment, Lawful Good.