1. "...scrunch up your nose because you don't like something."
2. "...roll your eyes while having a smile on your lips."
3. "...try to focus on one thing with your eyebrows knitted together."
4. "...kiss me on my forehead while I'm sleeping."
5. "...get excited at something so much, you start jumping up and down."
6. "...blush because I complimented you."
7. "...start babbling without realizing."
8. "...randomly do your little dance."
9. “…ruffle your hair when you get frustrated.”
10. “…pout because I’m not giving you enough attention.”

a prompt list by @novelbear 🐾

ALT

• 1 — 3 to 5 — Death is separation; the dead are less alive; very curious about death
• 2 — 5 to 9 — Death is final, but one might escape it!
• 3 — 9 to adult — Death is personal, universal, final, and inevitable

ALT

1. Character notebook. A character’s backstory colors everything the character wants, and what they’re willing to do to get it. Create a character notebook for your novel’s protagonist, where you can collect ideas for your main character, big or small. Include traits, attributes, impactful events, and objectives that you can always reference when exploring the character’s motivations. Obviously, this will not be published, so go as in-depth as you’d like.
2. Internal monologue. One way to create intimacy with your reader—and to get them to care about your main character—is to use internal monologue to allow the reader to see a character’s thoughts as they happen, laying their motivations bare.
3. Moral grey area. When creating motivations for heroes and villains, a key principle to remember is that making a decision between good and evil is never really a choice. All humans will choose what is good based on how they see it in their own story. You must elaborate on why your villain is choosing his own good (which to readers appears evil). This is where your moral gray area becomes important. ⚜ Morally Grey Characters
4. Complex character. Usually, the bad guy’s motivations will create a crisis for your hero, so spend time crafting a thoughtful character. Every villain needs to have his own morality. If a villain spends part of the novel killing people, you need to give him or her believable reasons for doing so. Make the reader understand exactly what desperation or belief has driven him to it.
5. Leave space in your character descriptions. Remember that the way you present your character speaks to what that person’s motivations are as much as what they look like or how they dress. Be spare with the words you use to describe a person or a scene. The more elaborate you try to be the more you betray your own biases into the text. You want to leave space for the reader to fill in the blanks.
6. Switch a character’s motivations. Real people change their minds all the time, for any number of reasons. Part of creating a believable character arc might involve a motivation change—when the characters’ desires shift to accommodate new information, for example.
7. Story pacing. Utilizing elements of time and pacing, like a ticking clock, is a great motivator often deployed in the thriller genre. You’ll find that desperation will very quickly distill a character’s goals.
8. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Sociologist Maslow’s pyramid places things like self-actualization and self-esteem above more tangible, concrete needs like food and safety, might be a good place to start when building believable motivations for complex characters. Only after someone satisfies their needs at the base of the pyramid are they driven to consider the more intangible, philosophical concerns at the top.

ALT

• This makes them particularly hard to hate, despite all their terrible deeds.
• In the character’s minds, they have justifiable, noble goals—how they go about achieving those goals is what eventually becomes a problem for the hero.
• Their means don’t justify their desired ends.

• A key principle to remember is that making a decision between good and evil is never really a choice: All humans will choose good as they see it.
• Your villain chooses their own good, which to readers, and the hero, appears evil in opposition.
• This creates a moral dilemma at the heart of the novel’s conflict.

1. One that starts out good. This anti-villain is a good person who has been pushed to the brink of their personal limits.
2. The one you feel for. A sympathetic anti-villain may do bad things, but they are ultimately a product of their circumstances or environment. They may have had a terrible upbringing, where people acted evil towards them as children making them evil as adults. They deserve to seek different circumstances, and were their means not so terrible, you might root for them.
3. The one who means well. When good intentions go crooked, and heroic qualities like tenacity and cleverness are aimed at the wrong target, you get your “well-meaning” anti-villain, who often takes things a step too far in pursuit of a noble goal. These anti-villains typically have a plan to save the world, with many, many casualties along the way in the name of the “greater good.” Think of Marvel’s “Mad Titan” Thanos and his plan to clear half the universe in order for the remaining half to thrive.
4. The one in the wrong place at the wrong time. This designated “villain” in name only typically falls into this category as a result of the existence of the hero. Their acts might be totally justified—vengeance for a loved one, or carrying out the corruption required of them by their job—but the protagonist doesn’t give them a free pass.

ALT

1. Accomplish a goal for the good of others, but loses sight of it over time
2. Assassinate the tyrannical king/president
3. Atone for a wrongdoing that led to a fracture in their relationship with someone
4. Be loved and admired, and go to extreme lengths to gain it
5. Be happy, but don't know how
6. Be remembered and will commit atrocities in order to achieve that
7. Be the person they envy
8. Become immortal
9. Check off a bucket list before their time is up
10. Destroy the world and start over
11. Develop a vaccine to beat your rival
12. Do evil because they love evil
13. Educate others about a disease before it spreads throughout the city
14. Ensure that no one will ever hurt or take advantage of them again
15. Experience various kinds of pleasure, often at the expense of others
16. Fight against something that caused them to suffer in their past
17. Find a kidnapped loved one, whatever the cost
18. Find a meaningful place in the world
19. Find a muse to inspire them
20. Find out who murdered a loved one
21. Fulfill a prophecy
22. Get rich before their father dies
23. Get noticed by their mysterious new neighbour
24. Go against a prophecy and prove it wrong
25. Help everyone, all the time
26. Humiliate their opponents
27. Improve their physique/looks/abilities
28. Journey to a faraway land to start over
29. Learn a new skill that could bring them closer to someone
30. Lift a generational curse
31. Live up to their family name and bring credit to their family
32. Make a scientific breakthrough that would save their partner's life
33. Make other people fall into despair and crush their hopes
34. Prevent overpopulation by any means necessary
35. Protect a vulnerable person
36. Prove their opponent's hypothesis wrong
37. Raise their self-esteem by adopting an egotistical attitude
38. Reconnect with a long lost sister
39. Recover from an illness that they have been told has no cure
40. Remain beautiful forever
41. Remodel the world based on their old-fashioned beliefs and/or interests
42. Resurrect a loved one who has died
43. Retrieve a stolen family heirloom
44. Return to their hometown, and fix up their old house
45. Search for love, in any form
46. See the person they love be happy, even at the risk of their own happiness
47. Solve a hometown mystery
48. Stop people from having fun
49. Watch someone else succeed in their stead
50. Win a local contest

ALT

• Active reading - reading with a purpose.
• When it comes to critical analysis, the purpose of active reading is to familiarize yourself with your primary text and secondary sources to create a thorough and accurate analysis.
• You can engage in active reading by paying attention to the type, author, audience, and purpose of a source.

• In writing, texts are often categorized based on the form, style, and purpose they share.
• Examples: Fiction, nonfiction, horror, fantasy, and mystery.
• Each type of writing typically follows a set of rules that can help us better understand the author’s purpose and the meaning of the text itself.
• When reading your text, consider how the type of text shapes your understanding of it by asking the following questions:

1. What type of text is it (e.g., essay, play, comedy, romance, etc.)? Keep in mind that a text may have more than one type.
2. What stylistic or literary elements are important to that type of text (e.g., imagery, rhyme scheme, dialogue, etc.)?
3. How does the type of text impact the author’s message? Is that type of text appropriate for the author’s purpose?
4. Does the author use any stylistic or literary elements uncommon to that type of text?
5. How does the type of text enhance or take away from the author’s message?

• Authors are the people who created a text.
• An author’s personal experiences often impact the type and content of his or her work.
• Researching an author’s background helps us recognize and understand what influenced his or her work.
• As you read through a text, ask yourself the following:

1. Who created the text?
2. When did the author create the text?
3. Where did the author create the text?
4. In what context was the primary text written (e.g., social, cultural, political, economic)?
5. Are there any significant events in the author’s life that may have influenced the type and content of the text?

• The audience consists of anyone who reads a text.
• Usually, an author considers his or her intended audience when making decisions about a source’s type, tone, and content.
• When reading a source, think about how the audience shapes the author’s decisions by asking questions such as:

1. Who is the intended audience of the source (e.g., artists, scientists, nobles, etc.)?
2. How does the audience view the author (e.g., credible, biased, etc.)?
3. How would the audience react to the content of the source (e.g., agree, disagree, indifference, etc.)? Why would the audience react that way?
4. Are there any other audiences the author may not have considered?

• Purpose is an author’s reason for writing a text.
• 3 of the most common examples of purpose include to persuade, to inform, and to entertain.
• Identifying an author’s purpose for writing is useful for determining whether an author’s text is written effectively or not.
• As you read your sources, consider whether the author accomplishes his or her purpose by asking a few questions:

• How does the author use ethos, logos, and/or pathos?
• How does the author use literary or stylistic elements (e.g., character, symbolism, setting, etc.)?

• The first time, read as a consumer. You are reading for enjoyment.
• The second time, read as an academic. You are reading to learn and understand.
• The third time, read as a critic. You are reading to question both the text’s meaning and the author’s decisions.

• It’s a good idea to take notes and record your thoughts throughout your active reading process.
• Actively reading your sources helps you consider them from more than one perspective.
• Active reading also fosters critical thinking.
• Once you finish actively reading your sources, you can begin drafting your critical analysis.