Writing Tips for Creative Fun with Characters

This post from January on how on writing tips for creative fun with characters was one of my most popular article this year. Enjoy!

I’m a character writer. I start with developing characters and getting to know them. Once I understand them as well as my kids, it’s time to throw them into a story. When my writing isn’t going well, I look to my characters to rescue the narrative. And to put the fun back into a story.

Fun Ideas for Characters

Here are some ideas to write about characters for just the fun of it.

Create two very obnoxious characters. Then put them in a scene together.
Write from your pet’s POV, especially what it thinks of you.
Insert yourself in a scene with one of your favorite fiction characters like Sherlock Holmes or Bilbo Baggins.
Insert yourself in a scene with one of the characters you’ve created.
Reverse a famous hero-villain pair. For example, Superman terrorizes the world, and only Lex Luthor can save it.

Fun Ideas for Characters in Your WIP

If you’re writing on a deadline, you might not have time to write something outside of your WIP. So below are ideas to consider adding to your WIP, if you’ve found all the fun has gone out of your current project but you can’t step away from it.

Add a scene or two with your favorite supporting character.
Have two characters who don’t like each other meet.
Have your main character (MC) fight wither their closest friend.
Have your MC do something that’s outrageous for them.
Have your antagonist do something outrageous for them.
Bring together two characters who haven’t had a scene together yet.
Add a character who isn’t supposed to be in the story. For example, you decided you didn’t need your MC’s grandma in the story and sent her on vacation. Bring her back and see if she can fit in the story.
Write a scene that isn’t working from the POV of a different character.

What suggestions do have for writing fun with characters? For more character prompts, click here.

December 18, 2025 1

Use the Five Senses to Describe … Your Christmas Kitchen

If you love to bake and cook during the holidays, and love to write as well, here’s a writing prompt for you: use the five senses to describe … your Christmas kitchen.

My husband is a fantastic chef, and I’m the baker. So my Christmas kitchen is a bakery. Here’s a list of things I notice while whipping up my family’s favorite Christmas treats.

SIGHT: Shiny silver mixing bowl. Sprays of white flour or sugar on the burgundy counter. Brown or tan batter. Oily film on cookie sheets. Glowing screens on stove. Black wire racks.
SMELL: Cloves, cinnamon, chocolate.
TASTE : Quick tastes of sweet chocolate or batter.
TOUCH: Heat from the oven. Rumpled sugar and flour bags. Smooth utensils handles.
HEARING: Swish as flour or sugar is poured into a measuring cup. Sound of spatula mixing batter. Conversations. Laughter. Banging batter off utensils.

Now I can take those observations and work them into a story. Like working ingredients into the batter!

*****

I viewed the wreckage as my niece and nephews sat beached on the couch and watching Charlie Brown and Snoopy figure out the true meaning of Christmas with the smug smiles of kids who’ve eaten way, way too much sugar and know it.

Flour and sugar sprayed on every horizontal surface. My silver mixing bowl dull under a coating of flour. Tan batter from the apple bread smeared across the counter with few stains clinging to the backsplash, a reminder of when Noah and Ollie dueled with batter-covered spoons.

Myla hopped off the couch and dashed over to me. “Did we make enough cookies for Christmas dinner?”

“We have a dozen chocolate spritz cookies and ten gumdrop cookies.” I wiped back my bangs and warm chocolate came off my fingers. “That’s not nearly enough for the whole family.”

Myla stared at the two plates of cookies. “I thought you said we needed to make six dozen.”

“You guys sampled a lot.”

Noah twisted around, looking over the back of the couch. “Mom and Dad aren’t coming to get us until after lunch tomorrow, right? Could we bake some more tomorrow?”

“Could we?” Ollie echoed, plopping down beside his brother.

I smiled. “I guess we’ll have to.”

*****

Describe your Christmas kitchen. Here are more Christmas writing prompts.

December 15, 2025 2

Crafting the Perfect Character Names for Your Short Story

A post on crafting the perfect character names for your short story has received a lot of views this year. So I’m revising it since it’s been seven years since I wrote the original post and I’ve learned a few things about writing in the intervening years.

Because of a short story’s limited word count, creating names for short story characters is more important than just hanging an identifying label on them. You can convey a lot about their personalities is a tiny space by picking the perfect name.

In my short story, “Bovine”, the main character is a snobby New York novelist up to no good. I wanted even his name to sound snobby, so I went with Harrison Sharpe. Harrison is not a common, it’s long, and sounds very formal, perfect for my elitist novelist. Sharpe actually reveals his acid-tongued personality and the “e” on the end looks pretentious, like the man.

His wife is a supermodel. So I created an unusual first name, one that was memorable enough that she could use it alone, like Beyonce or Cher, and people would recognize her. I went with Ariella. Her husband calls her Ari. Nicknames make a character seem more real and down to earth. Many of us have nicknames for our loved ones. Ari has no nickname for Harrison, which hints at how snobby he really is.

Speaking of nicknames–in a short story, they can be a quick way for a writer to reveal what one character thinks of another. When Harrison Sharpe thinks about Sheriff Malinowski, he refers to him as the Blond Ox. That not only describes the character but shows better than any lengthy internal monologue Harrison’s contempt for the man. For more on using nicknames in your writing, see my post “Lesson #1 from The Deer on a Bicycle.“

Here are more posts with tips for writing short stories.

If you’re a writer, how do you create the perfect names for your characters? Readers, what are some of your favorite literary names?

December 11, 2025 0

Use the Five Senses to Describe … Your Favorite Christmas Decoration

When I reviewed which writing prompts and questions have been the most popular, the ones where I asked you to use your five senses to describe a setting have been by far the most viewed.

So I’m giving those prompts a holiday twist and asking you to use the five senses to describe your favorite Christmas decoration. My favorite is my mantel. I love pulling together a variety of decorations to make what is basically a work of art.

So here’s my list of some of the many things I put on display, using my five senses.

SIGHT: A lot to work with here. The garland is, surprisingly, pine green. The lights in the garland are multicolored. Red candles. Transparent hurricane shades. Many shades of red from Santa Claus’s coat to the ribbon on Rudolph’s neck. A color photo. A pencil sketch. Dull brown of the iron stocking hangers.
TASTE and SMELL: Nothing for those senses, unless my garland was made of real pine.
TOUCH: Another bonanza of sensations. The iron stocking hangers were cold when I got them out of the bin in the basement. Smooth hurricane shades and candles. Soft fur or cloth. Smooth plastic bricks. Bumpy, cool plaster figurines. Smooth glass or porcelain. Feathery fake birds.
HEARING: Not much for this sense except the crackles, crunches, and squeaks as different materials rub against the garland. Although I did find out that Rudolph is musical. I pressed a spot on him, and his song came out in a static-y, off-key way, like the battery is just starting to lose power.

So how could I works these sensations into a description? Read on!

“I need someone to decorate the mantel,” my boss Sandra said. “The box for it is …”

“I’ll do it!” I raised my hand.

The mantel in the old house that was now an antique store sat above a fireplace in what must have been the parlor a hundred years ago. And the man who’d visited us five times in five days without buying anything was hanging around in there again.

“The box is in the basement,” said Sandra.

Not my favorite place in the old house with its rickety steps, stone walls, and smell of dead air, but I got the box and spread the prickly fake garland on the mantel.

The man, maybe forty, was frowning at a roll top desk.

I placed a smooth hurricane shade on the mantel.

He moved over to a wall covered in paintings and photographs with more stacked against the wall on the floor.

What did he find so interesting in this room?

The antique iron stocking holders chilled my hands as I spaced them on the mantel.

Now he was examining a velvet settee.

As I nestled the smooth, glass blown ornaments in the garland, the man seemed fascinated with every object in the room. No, not quite. He didn’t look at anything in the center of the room. Just the items set against the walls.

The man appeared to look at each of the paintings leaning against each other. But he actually seemed more interested in the wall behind them.

I lifted a Santa doll to the mantel and then lowered it.

Was the man more interested in the room than the antiques? But why?

Here are more Christmas writing prompts.

December 8, 2025 3

Writing Shy or Stoic Characters

A reader asked for a repost on character development in writing, so here is my most popular post dealing with that topic this year, writing shy or stoic characters.

The Problem with Shy or Stoic Characters

Shy or stoic characters present a particular problem with the prevalent style of show, don’t tell. Show, don’t tell is becoming more and more visual, as Janice Hardy points out in her book Understanding Show, Don’t Tell ( and Really Getting It). People expect to be able to “see” a story like they do movies. So expressive characters with broad mannerisms and incisive, funny, or simply lots of dialogue are easier to build on the page. The subtleties an actor uses to convey a character’s shyness or stoicism can be difficult to put into words.

Drawing Attention to Shy or Stoic Characters

I have a few shy or stoic characters, and they’ve stretched my writing skills as I’ve tried to construct them realistically.

Chris Kincaid is a possible boyfriend for my main character, young adult amateur sleuth Rae Riley. He’s twenty-three with a fierce features that usually mask his true emotions. One way I’ve dealt with Chris’s lack of expression is for Rae to notice and correctly deduce what slight changes in his facial features mean. Rae is the kind of character who notices small details like that because she’s also an amateur photographer. So when she sees a muscle tense a ong his jaw or his eyebrows raise more than millimeter, she knows he’s experiencing a strong emotion. It’s also fun to write because I can make it funny.

“I don’t know what to do.” The muscle along Chris’s jaw tightened.

Wow. I didn’t know Chris found the situation so infuriating.

Another character, Luke Norris, is in his sixties and basically a shy man. He’s the father of Rae’s uncle. One way I can convey that trait is to place him on the outskirts of group scenes.

As the church members lined up for the potluck dinner arrayed on the various tables, Mr. Norris waited near the front door, tugging on the end of his moustache.

When he does speak, I need to make every word count even more than with other characters because he’d only speak when he felt it was necessary.

Other ways to convey shyness are hiding techniques–pressing into a wall, using an object as a shield, avoiding eye contact, shrinking into themselves, focusing on a task or object rather than a person.

Stoicism can be shown with mannerisms instead of dialogue. Nods or shakes of the head instead of “Yes” or “No”. Leaving a scene when angry or upset without a word.

What words or mannerisms have you seen a shy or stoic person use? Who is a memorable shy or stoic character?

Here are more tips on writing characters for novels.

December 4, 2025 1

JPC Allen Writes