Writers! What's the one thing you feel like your writing/characters are incomplete without?

[sxxaint]

this is so on point I can't write some of my characters without laughing at how much they hit the memes these days

[somewhatwallflower]

yessss, but my memes mostly lean towards dark humor so I don't think most people 'll enjoy them very much

[somewhatwallflower]

I do this too
Like Adham clicks his tongue in frustration
& Lina hides her prosthetic leg behind her real one when she's feeling insecure.
I agree with all my heart to ur statement

[somewhatwallflower]

We love tormenting our characters, don't we? It's therapy for us writers, which is kind of messed up if u think about it from a normal person's perspective

[CodeMonkeyArts]

Look I created them they are MINE to do as I please! I brought them into this world and I can take them out!

[Kuma]

I need to add elaborate descriptions and lore background details to most of what I write or I feel it empty. I can't just write the dialogue, I need to explain why that line has a socio-cultural meaning apart from the literal meaning.

[somewhatwallflower]

Yes​ we should promote having more character deaths just to make people cry, lol

[somewhatwallflower]

I understand how some people kind of feel the need to write every detail, because they have a really wild imagination.
But doesn't that make it too much descriptive? I've heard so much detail can drive people away, but
hey, as long as ur happy with what u write, nothing else matters

[CodeMonkeyArts]

I know this is not gonna sound great for me as a creator, but my entire story is basically "How much crap can one person put another person through emotional, mentally, and physically, until they both break from the weight of it all"

No one important dies in my story, so you know

[somewhatwallflower]

Nah, it's totally cool. I mean, they are 'your' characters. Writers should write what brings them satisfaction. If you have fun writing something, someone out there is gonna love it for sure.

[iHateFridays]

Honestly I think just how a character speaks. How formal are they? Do they use their hands a lot when they speak? And so on.

[Legendofgenii]

Big ears.

[somewhatwallflower]

well, that's an interesting one

[somewhatwallflower]

Gestures do add another layer to personality​

[NinaWrites]

Their purpose in life, even a lack thereof.

How they view their life and what they must achieve - that is one thing all my character must have.

[21stCenturyHero]

I write following two rules:

• what's is the single, most stupid thing that could happen? and;
• is it funny?

Albeit my speciality is horror and angst, there's always something deeply amusing and cathartic in my writing at the end of the day. Such feeling of emotional release through the other is essential, and something I pay a lot of attention to.

Other than that, I write using what I call a "rubberband method". It's fairly standard in horror, but I cannot let go of structuring my scenes like a crescendo with a release at the end.

[theB]

Every single character I've ever written or seen or even read has always had to have a background. I can see a picture of a character, and immediately, I have to give it a story, whether it be a simple, "has had a good life" or a more devastating, "everything goes wrong". Every single character, including those that aren't mine, have to have their own story, their own motives and insecurities. For me, having a story, a background, is what gives them life.
I have noticed that it's our stories, our experiences that we as people use to connect and communicate with each other. And if that really is how we identify other people in our mind, by how they relate to you whether it be through looks, stories, or experiences, then getting a character to come to life means giving them something that others can relate or identify with, even if that connection is simply a reminder of someone they know in real life. After all, there's a reason why even aliens oftentimes have very human characteristics. And it's almost always a human or human-like creature that is the main character.
But that's just my two-cents...