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Character Details to Hide from Your Readers

Hiding information from your readers on purpose will help you create tension in your novel. I know this doesn’t work for every novel, but if you’re writing something with elements of suspense and mystery, hiding details and revealing them later will improve your story. This also helps add dimensions to your characters and explore their motivations on a deeper level.

Here are a few things to hide about your characters to create tension:

Whether or not your protagonist is lying

Even good characters lie, especially if they feel like it will protect other people in the long run. There are ways to hint that your character is hiding the truth without actually revealing what the truth is. If your protagonist gets nervous or changes the subject when they’re asked about a specific detail, this will help show your readers that something isn’t quite right. If your character’s deception is hidden and then revealed at the right time, you’ll be able to add exciting tension and shock value to your story.

Who the real villain is

Some of the best tension is created when we’re uncertain about who the real villain is. In mystery/crime novels, for example, there’s often evidence that points to one person who ends up not really being the one we need to worry about. If you hide this information from your readers, you keep them guessing throughout the course of your novel and this will aid in creating suspense.

The truth about their past

When you hide your character’s past from your readers, you have the ability to use it as an explanation for something important later on. For example, if you character has these mysterious powers they can’t explain, you can use their parents and back story in order to reveal later on why it’s happening. Revealing past details slowly over the course of your novel helps build the mystery.

What their secondary goals are

Sometimes characters will have goals no one else knows about but them OR they will have a false goal that their using to cover up their real goal. For example, a character might say they’re rescuing another character because they want to help, but it really might be all about finding some hidden treasure along the way. There are many reasons why a character might want to hide their goals. Explore character motivations on a deeper level and you’ll be able to realistically include this type of deception in your story.

-Kris Noel 

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A note on writing characters with PTSD

so I see a fair number of people without PTSD writing characters with PTSD, and one of my major… I don’t want to say problems, because it’s not really a problem, so much as a something I see lacking is that people don’t always get that PTSD flashbacks don’t have to be someone reliving an exact memory.

In fact, PTSD flashbacks don’t have to involve visualizations/linear, immersive reliving of the event at all, but people often go for the stereotypical seeing and feeling the event like you’re back there again and it is what your reality is.

When I started therapy for my PTSD, I went in thinking I didn’t have “real” PTSD because I have no visual flashbacks. My therapist immediately pulled out a pile of material to read, and the gist of the material boiled down to that PTSD flashbacks can take other forms. They can include but are not limited to:

Implicit flashbacks, or reliving just the emotions you felt at time of trauma, which might just seem like unusually strong emotions for the situation you’re in or unconnected to the situation emotions. Or, you may try to explain it as a reaction to something in your current environment and not a response to a trauma related trigger. These are super confusing and stressful for both the survivor and those around them.

Body memories, where you feel sensations related to the event without visualizations or other more stereotypical flashback symptoms. For example, phantom hands touching you.

Auditory flashbacks, which can distort what a trigger sound like a door slamming or a certain phrase actually means in the present. For example, if someone says a trigger phrase, you might hear what is said in your memories of the trauma and not what they actually say

I’d really love to see some more diverse representations of flashbacks out there for people writing characters with PTSD is the point of the post. Personal, I wish I would’ve been told about this years ago, because I felt like a “bad” or invalid survivor for being what I perceived as atypical.

Maybe people do know about this, but I certainly don’t see much about it.

EDIT: More pieces like this can be found HERE. Such as one on Hypervigilance and one on helping your loved one with Flashbacks.

#inspo:writing #ideas #inspo

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faceless icons

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BLONDE FACELESS ICONS

Below the cut are #61 100x100 blonde faceless icons suitable for fall / winter. These were made with Quinn Fabray (Glee) in mind, yet can be used for a variety of blonde faceclaims. All icons were made by yours truly. Please like / reblog if you plan to use, and do not claim as your own. Thanks.

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don’t repost under any given circumstances » like or reblog if taken.

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below the cut you will find 30+ icons depicting images of various arrangements of flowers made with roleplaying purposes in mind. a like or a reblog would be nice but isn’t necessary.

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◟misc. aesthetic dash icons◝

i got a bit carried away making these , but under the cut you’ll find thirty-two ( 32 ) miscellaneous / aesthetic dash icons. none of the original photos belong to me , but i did make them all pngs / added a psd. you may use these / edit these however you want , as long as you don’t claim them as your own ! please like / reblog this post if you enjoy or plan to use ! ♡

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below the cut you will find 20+ icons depicting images of locations and buildings. made with roleplaying purposes in mind. a like or a reblog would be nice but isn’t necessary.

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Olivia Wilde GIF icons

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Under the cut are #19 rp icons of OLIVIA WILDE.  All of the pictures used were screencapped by me. Feel free to edit these icons but please don’t claim them as your own. These we’re created by Hannah. Please like or reblog if you use these! Happy RPing! Sorry about the number of icons here! i expected there be more scenes of her in this movie!

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Under The Cut are #18 gif icons of Tracy Spiridakos as Charlie Matheson from Revolution.  .GIFS WERE MADE FROM SCRATCH BY ME  so please like or reblog if using!! Please do not repost or re-edit in anyway. These were made for anonymous!

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Under The Cut are #72 icons of Tracy Spiridakos as Charlie Matheson from Revolution.. Screencaps came fron here  and these icons were made by me so PLEASE LIKE OR REBLOG IF USING!Please do not repost or re-edit in anyway. These were made in my J7 Style.

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Below the cut are 90 roleplayable 100x100 icons of Tracy Spiridakos! She is a 26 year old Canadian actress, famous from the show Revolution. Most of the icons are labelled, and yes, I made them all myself. Please like and/or reblog if you’re using them, as I’d like the credit :)

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Icon Pack #052: Chris Wood as Kai Parker

Contains 71 icons 

All 100x100

Original gifs are not mine ; I just cropped and resized

From The Vampire Diaries

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Requested by parxdthinx

Example:

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It’s the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane.

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134 bordered icons of chris wood.

All icons were made by me.

Chris Wood as Jake RIley.

Season 1, Episode 1     “Pilot”

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Please do not claim as yours.

PREVIEW:

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━ ♡ ❛ + chris wood gif icons.

- ̗̀ under the cut you’ll find #106 gif icons of chris wood requested by @jcmxspcttxr. none of the original material is mine; i only edited and cropped them, credit goes to the owners. please like/reblog if you use or save, and do not claim as you own, repost or edit. Thank you and enjoy! (✿◠‿◠) . ̖́-

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