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Interesting Character Quirks!

AliceL

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So I like including little random quirks in my characters to make them feel a little more alive and unique. I'd love to hear what are some quirks you all have given to your characters to build a big*ss list that others can reference when creating their own characters.

I'll start with some of the ones I enjoy/find interesting!
  • never wears matching socks
  • bounces leg when sitting
  • talks to themselves when they think theyre alone
  • smells like vick's vapor rub
  • Calls everyone 'boss'
  • falls alseep almost anywhere
  • glasses constantly slip down their face
  • snoozes 30 alarms before waking up in the morning
  • is always eating/bottomless appetite
  • picks at face when nervous
  • frequently pops knuckles

I'll continue to add more as I remember them
 

The Urban Spaceman

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I don't really do that. I think of characters as well-rounded, complete individuals. Some of them have quirks, some don't. They generally make them known to me as I write them, but I don't find it at all beneficial to force them onto my peeps. I myself would probably do at least 3 or 4 of those things from your list on a regular basis, and another one or two rather casually, and I think there is a real risk of reducing a character to a caricature of their quirk if it becomes something of a heavy focus.

ETA: also, some of my quirks are very specific to my characters (f.e. the soldier who stirs his coffee in a weird figure-of-eight motion, because that was what his ol' granny taught him to do. Unless other characters have his ol' granny's experience, they won't do that).
 
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Blinkk

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Hmm...I tend not to think of my characters as a laundry list of quirks and traits. Each character has a deep reason for doing the things they do. Even if it's just a simple glance up at the moon each evening (which, by the way, happens because his grandfather taught him that if you talk to the moon every night, you'll live longer.)

This might just be me personally, but I'm more interested in why people do things, than the act of them doing it. Wearing mismatched socks isn't half as interesting as learning about someone's deep desire to feel seen.
 
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AliceL

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There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here that I'm advocating for writing a character solely on their quirks. That's not my intention.

Rather, once a character's personality, inner conflicts, and motivations are sorted out, I find it beneficial to add in certain quirks that align with these established parts of the character like your example of the soldier stirring coffee
the soldier who stirs his coffee in a weird figure-of-eight motion, because that was what his ol' granny taught him to do. Unless other characters have his ol' granny's experience, they won't do that).

I also wouldn't discount the benefits of having a list of unique traits that you can reference to during a character's draft as it can present an opportunity to take a shallow trait or combination of shallow traits and create a compelling reason for why that character does those things in a way that ties into their personality or a central theme.
For example: 2 flat traits if I were to take the alarm snoozing trait, I could later reveal that the character has chronic depression and has an extremely difficult time finding the energy to get out of bed in the mornings. So they keep hitting snooze.
 

AliceL

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But I STRONGLY feel that just having a character with only regular everyday traits and behaviors feels too... sanitary.
 

indianroads

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Quirks and traits have to be subtle IMO, otherwise your characters come across as twitchy and unstable. In one of my earlier novels (not published) the GF of the MC would bounce her foot around when she was angry or upset. So, I'd tie a trait to an emotion, but again I think a light hand is best.
 

The Urban Spaceman

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...a character's draft...

I... don't do that, either? :Huh:

as it can present an opportunity to take a shallow trait or combination of shallow traits and create a compelling reason for why that character does those things in a way that ties into their personality or a central theme.
For example: 2 flat traits if I were to take the alarm snoozing trait, I could later reveal that the character has chronic depression and has an extremely difficult time finding the energy to get out of bed in the mornings. So they keep hitting snooze.

That seems kinda chicken/egg. I tend to have a memorable trait as an effect of character development, not a cause of it. I think my coffee-stirring example may not have been ideal. I needed a character to do something crazy in the barracks, thus the character was born. He spawned an instance of extreme bullshit coffee-stirring, and it was probably only referenced once or twice in passing, and only seriously remembered after his death. Granted, he was a fairly minor/supporting character, one of the rank and file I guess you could say, but I didn't need to write it down and file it away and bring it out once in a while to remind everyone who this person was... it was just a part of him.

Sorry, I guess I can't really get my head around what you're asking. Hopefully some other writers will be able to contribute some more meaningful quirks to your list.

But I STRONGLY feel that just having a character with only regular everyday traits and behaviors feels too... sanitary.

I still don't understand what you mean. If you've got a character who always wears odd socks, then the regularity in which he/she does it means that has become a regular/everyday trait for that character.

ETA: I don't mind quirks, they just have to be realistic, like indianroads said. No Nynaeves from WoT, please.
 
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Layla Nahar

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I don't do anything like that. I start with a person in a situation & write about it. The people in the story emerge as I write. Everything I need to know about the person manifests itself in the story as I write it.
 

Blinkk

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I don't do anything like that. I start with a person in a situation & write about it. The people in the story emerge as I write. Everything I need to know about the person manifests itself in the story as I write it.

This is my tactic as well. People are complex, and I discover things about them as I write. Quirks aren't a focus, more like an accent on what's already there. A depressed character should be depressed first, and the snooze habit comes as a secondary expression of that.
 

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I enjoy characters having quirks when they feel organic to the story. Maggie Stiefvater is someone who I always think of as striking a nice balance of interesting character traits without it being too much. That's what I always think of as tricky... knowing where that line is so it's interesting and fun without it becoming overkill.
 

The Urban Spaceman

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And carry some degree of significance, however small, in relation to the story. If they are just tacked on, they might as well not be there.

caw

Ugh, yes. If a quirk can be removed and nothing is lost from the story, and the character is still memorable, then I don't really see the point of having it in the first place. If anything, it's going to be an annoying distraction from the story-telling.

I think, AliceL, part of the problem is that what you're seeing as quirks, I (and some other readers, it would seem) are seeing instead as just another part of the personality, and one that shouldn't be given any sort of particular focus. The character whose glasses keep slipping down his nose, for example. I don't care that they slip down his nose, unless it actually leads to him getting better-fitting glasses. Similarly, I can't think of a subtle, relevant way of being told that a character constantly smells like Vicks VapoRub... unless the smell precedes him into some deadly situation where everybody is recognised by their odor... possibly something involving velociraptors.

I think an excellent example of the type of character-developing I'm thinking of is Pratchett's Discworld. The characters are designed to be kooky and zany and quirky and to be nonsensical while showing us new ways of thinking about every-day situations. But even though they're all quirky and nuts, I don't think there's any one character you could point at and say, "There, that's his particular quirk!" It's all so seamlessly blended into the characters that it's not a quirk, it's just character. Even Constable Visits-the-Unbelievers-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets isn't really quirky, just acting consistent with the person he is, the job he does and the upbringing he's had.
 

AliceL

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I think we're starting to stray away from the point here again.

Of course every trait needs to be relevant to the plot and the character's development. Let me try to put it another way. Some writers keep a list of names that they associate with either being a protagonist or antagonist and maybe even basic traits of that character for when they're coming up with names. I'm talking about thinking of personality quirks in the same way. Keeping a list of unique things that would differentiate a character from every other one in the story, and then selecting ones that fit with the plot, character development, and personality the writer deems relevant.

I'm not advocating for saying a character vapes like a steam train for shits and giggles. Its gotta make sense in the story and its gotta be relevant to the plot. But having those quirks is like a seasoning that makes a character more grounded and interesting.
 

Layla Nahar

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& what some of us are saying is that we think about characters very differently from how you do. To approach it in the way you do would never occur to me because the character becomes fully formed as I write the story. *If* a character in a story I'm writing has something like a quirk it's there because it just occurred in the writing, rather than because I said 'hmm - this character is flat/boring/needs something - what can I add?' (I've never said a character is flat/boring* etc - the person is there because the story called for the person to be there & the character comes in to being as a real-seeming person. They have to be because a given situation called for a person like x or y.)

*I have said 'hmm - she sounds more like a 30 year old than an 18 year old - that's the kind of thing I run into. fwiw
 

The Urban Spaceman

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'hmm - this character is flat/boring...'

Maybe that's their quirk. :p

Anyhoo, I'm not much for keeping lists of stuff. What differentiates my characters from my other characters is... well, they're different people. Same thing that makes me different to Layla or Harlequin or that annoying woman in my office with the really high-pitched squeaky voice. I'm not the sort of writer who can flesh out a half-dozen characters and then put them in a story. I have to learn about them organically as I write.

(For the record, I do actually like the description vapes like a steam train. It's evocative and witty with its metaphor, and if you just tossed that in to a story as an aspect of somebody's personality, I wouldn't mind and probably wouldn't even question it. But the list o' stuff just reads like a grocery list, and not even an exciting grocery list full of words like jalapeno and triple-chocolate. In short, as a reader, just give me an interesting, complex protagonist; I don't care whether he's got half a dozen quirks or none, so long as it's well-written and makes sense.)
 

Roxxsmom

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Quirks are something that come to me as I'm writing a character. I generally don't think about them at all--they sort of emerge as logical outgrowths of the whole, of who they need to be for the story. For instance, if one of my protagonist's obstacles is that he or she lacks confidence, then a whole slew of associated traits would emerge from that. Likewise, if an aspect of my protagonist's arc is that he or she is a rebel, or unconventional by their culture's standards, then eccentricities in how they dress or behave would be a part of that. I don't tend to add things to a story "just because," though sometimes I just know something about a character, and its relevance occurs to me later. It wouldn't occur to me to have a list of random quirks to choose from. Appropriate personality traits for characters come to me as I write them.

I'm not a meticulous planner when it comes to storytelling and character creation, though. I tend to shut down if I try too hard to come up with specific story elements up front.

If an approach is fun and works for a given writer, that's what is important. Some people seem to swear by character sheets and other techniques I find too constraining and mechanistic, but we're all different.
 
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-Riv-

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Of course every trait needs to be relevant to the plot and the character's development. Let me try to put it another way. Some writers keep a list of names that they associate with either being a protagonist or antagonist and maybe even basic traits of that character for when they're coming up with names. I'm talking about thinking of personality quirks in the same way. Keeping a list of unique things that would differentiate a character from every other one in the story, and then selecting ones that fit with the plot, character development, and personality the writer deems relevant.
This works for you. Yay! That's great. We all have different ways of working. Your way wouldn't suit my writing process, and my way likely wouldn't suit yours--and that's okay! :)
 

AliceL

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I'm not a meticulous planner when it comes to storytelling and character creation, though. I tend to shut down if I try too hard to come up with specific story elements up front.

I see where you're coming from.For me I'm pretty much the opposite. There's something fun and exciting about coming up with a fictional personal and seeing how deep the rabbit hole goes so to speak with their various hangups, flaws, and behaviors.
 

AliceL

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(For the record, I do actually like the description vapes like a steam train. It's evocative and witty with its metaphor, and if you just tossed that in to a story as an aspect of somebody's personality, I wouldn't mind and probably wouldn't even question it. But the list o' stuff just reads like a grocery list

Haha thanks for the compliment. I probably should have led with something interesting like that, as my original list is admittedly bland
 

The Urban Spaceman

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Haha thanks for the compliment. I probably should have led with something interesting like that, as my original list is admittedly bland

No problem, I think I've actually got my head around what you're asking. I think part of the issue with 'quirks' can be how they're introduced, f.e. if you had a conversation like this:

Jane: Hey, I'm supposed to meet up with a sherpa named Pablo. Do you know him?
Don: Pablo? Sure. Nice fella, really knows his stuff. You'll spot him from a mile away; guy vapes like a steam train. Last year, he and two climbers got stuck on the mountain after a blizzard, and the rescue team spotted him from his smoke trail.

That introduces me, the reader, to Pablo before I've even met him and gives me something of a visual picture on him. Further vaping incidents, even if they're only occasionally described, would then reinforce this first image.

I think my problem with your list is that taken out of context of a story, they're just a tell-y descriptions of random and pointless eccentricities. If random eccentricities is all you want, I could easily come up with a buttload of them. However, they wouldn't be anything I would actually use, as they lack context and would feel tacked on to any character to which I attributed them. I am, however, thinking about this with my novel-writing head on. In short or flash fiction, where it's necessary to quickly establish the identity of two or three characters who're only going to be around for a couple of thousand words, I could integrate eccentricities more easily if the story called for it without running the risk of them becoming repetitive and tedious. Hell, you could probably use most of those quirks as flash-fiction prompts.
 

Roxxsmom

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I see where you're coming from.For me I'm pretty much the opposite. There's something fun and exciting about coming up with a fictional personal and seeing how deep the rabbit hole goes so to speak with their various hangups, flaws, and behaviors.

Oh, I enjoy going down the rabbit hole. I start by daydreaming about the character and visualizing a scene or two. Then, if I get pulled in, I start writing those scenes and fall down the rabbit hole that way.

As long as I can shut out those nagging voices that keep whispering that there's nothing unique about this story and no one will possibly find these characters as appealing as I do.

In short or flash fiction, where it's necessary to quickly establish the identity of two or three characters who're only going to be around for a couple of thousand words, I could integrate eccentricities more easily if the story called for it without running the risk of them becoming repetitive and tedious. Hell, you could probably use most of those quirks as flash-fiction prompts.

This is a good point. I was thinking in terms of writing novels as well. For short fiction, especially very short short fiction, the situation might be different. It could be fun to use random character quirks as story prompts to see where it takes you.
 
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indianroads

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Physical quirks (IMO) usually are associated with mental states.
People frown when they're concerned or angry, smile and laugh when they're happy, rub their forehead or scratch their chin while thinking. When anxious some stutter or fidget, and when angry they get restless and tap their feet.
I think that quirks ought to be tied to a character's emotions, that way they add a dimension to dialogue.
 

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I have a lot of databases for my writing, to save time, but quirks is one I would not do. I think such a database would hinder the character arc (one I define as I write). This is me though. I want the chapters, scenes, and development to tell me what quirky mannerisms characters have and don't. These can be great for conflict.