Do you have any tips on writing a character that can be a bit quiet and weird/quirky yet confrontational and loud. She bites and picks her fingers when very anxious but she’s also a confident, and brave character who fights for what’s right and what she wants. I have a difficulty mixing a character’s personality sometimes, and wondered if you had any tips to help? :)
On Creating Beautifully Contradictory Characters ✨
Hey writer friend! Rin here.
I LIVE for these questions! 💕
Here's the thing about characters (and people). we're not single-note beings who fit into neat little boxes. The most real characters exist in the in-between spaces.
Let's talk about how to make this work...
The secret to contradictory character traits
What makes a character feel REAL isn't consistency. it's coherence.
• Your character doesn't need to be the same in every situation
• What they need is an emotional core that makes sense of their seemingly opposing behaviors
• Think of their personality as a constellation, not a straight line
When I'm developing characters like this, I always start with their wounds and values. What do they care about SO DEEPLY that it would make a normally quiet person raise their voice? What hurts have they experienced that make them bite their fingers when anxious?
Some practical ways to blend these traits
• Give her specific triggers for each mode. Maybe she's quiet in casual social settings but finds her voice when someone's being mistreated.
• Create physical transitions between states. How does her body language shift when moving from quiet observer to vocal defender? Does she take a deep breath? Square her shoulders?
• The finger-biting anxiety habit is actually perfect. it can be the bridge between her quiet and loud states. Maybe it's what she does while gathering courage before speaking up.
• Show us moments where BOTH traits are present at once. She can be nervously biting her fingers WHILE confronting someone.
What NOT to do (because it's boring)
Please don't fall into these traps:
• Don't make her "usually quiet except when..." That's not a complex character, that's just situational behavior.
• Don't explain away her contradictions with trauma (unless that's genuinely part of her story). Not every character trait needs a tragic backstory!
• Don't make her self-conscious about her contradictions. She doesn't need to apologize for being both quiet and loud.
Let's make some word magic happen
Try writing a scene where:
- We first see her in her quiet, observing mode
- Something happens that triggers her sense of justice
- We witness her internal thought process as she decides to speak up
- She exhibits her anxious behavior (finger biting) while ALSO stepping into her confrontational mode
- Afterward, she returns to quietness, but it feels different now
The magic happens in those transition moments. That's where readers will fall in love with her complexity.
Remember this always
The most memorable characters aren't the ones who are consistently anything. They're the ones who surprise us while still feeling true to themselves.
Your character's contradictions aren't flaws to fix or explain away. they're what make her human. They're what make readers say "I KNOW her" even if they've never met anyone exactly like her.
So embrace those contradictions. Let her be quiet AND loud. Let her be anxious AND brave. Let her be fully, messily human.
I hope this post helped you
-Rin T.
