Comments on: Character Trait Entry: Kind

By: Character Traits Thesaurus Collection | Writers Helping Writers

Character Traits Thesaurus Collection | Writers Helping Writers — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 17:30:01 +0000

[…] Kind […]

By: Sebastian Clouth

Sebastian Clouth — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 03:14:13 +0000

Hi,

I'm the editor for the Books section on Before It's News,‭ ‬and I came across your website.

It’s fantastic! We'd love to republish your RSS feed on our site, accompanied by a description of your blog and link back to your website. You'd benefit from having some of our millions of readers see your posts and go through to your blog.

Let me know if this sounds like something you're interested in‭!

Best regards,
Sebastian Clouth
SClouth@beforeitsnews.com

By: Traci Kenworth

Traci Kenworth — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:43:25 +0000

An unusual trait to put to story use, but a blessing to us all in real life. I mean unusual in that I have seen it done to death in kindly grandparent role. I like your examples to get away from that.

By: Sharon K. Mayhew

Sharon K. Mayhew — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:30:26 +0000

Great tips on kindness. One thing I enjoy when I am reading is a character that appears to be rough and gruff, but slowly a kind streak sneaks out of them.

By: Angela Ackerman

Angela Ackerman — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:00:47 +0000

Hi FunTo--YOu hit the nail on the head--a grandmother who bakes cookies is fine as long as her character had depth. If her cookie baking is but one thing about her, great. But if the author relies only on this to characterize her, then she becomes flat.

Elise and Lee, I absolutely agree. Pulling in multiple traits, especially those that are often NOT paired together creates complexity and the result is a well rounded and fascinating character!

Thanks everyone for the comments! Happy writing!

By: cleemckenzie

cleemckenzie — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:52:45 +0000

I’m drawn to kind characters, but it’s good to see their not so kind side, too. Characters without flaws are terribly flat. I like your “Conflicting” approach here. Very clear and helpful.

By: nobu

nobu — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:17:41 +0000

I want to learn writing and I find your post very helpful. I am very glad that I found you.

By: Elise Shedd

Elise Shedd — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:49:52 +0000

This was great post on adding more dimension and depth to the kind characters in one’s story. Kindness is just a quality in people but that doesn’t mean that person can’t have issues, problems or challenges. Books that are written today need to have characters that reflect a real person with real qualities. A kind person with no flaws or hangups wouldn’t be realistic to the reader to relate to unless its a fairytale.

By: Leslie S. Rose

Leslie S. Rose — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 01:43:38 +0000

I go straight to Melanie Wilkes in Gone With the Wind for kind. I wanted to grow up and be just like her, sadly I’m more like Scarlett. Oops.

By: FunTó

FunTó — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 21:35:04 +0000

Thanks for this Angela! Quite uselful. I actually recently read a book with the cookie-baking grandmother cliché and surprisingly enough it worked well. And a huge part of the novel was focused on the grandmother yet the author managed to pull it off.

By: Angela Ackerman

Angela Ackerman — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 01:41:45 +0000

Shelly, I hope you are super happy with the book. Thanks everyone for the great comments! 🙂

By: Angela Ackerman

Angela Ackerman — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 01:13:51 +0000

Sophia,

Thanks so much for your outlook here. First, I'm not quite sure how you inferred I meant that all females are supposed to be kind--I think we've all seen enough female characters in books and film (heck, in real life) to know this isn't true, so I can't really address that part of your comment. But for the rest, I believe you have made the assumption that I believe kindness is a female trait. I do not think this--it's a human trait shared by both sexes. :)

What I'm pointing out here is that males are often influenced by male role models and are aware of society's view of masculinity. Therefore, how they show kindness will often factor this in. That all. :)

Hope this clears up what I meant! This isn't about men being macho, or that 'real men don't X'. It's simply acknowledging that men and women think and act differently. :)

Happy writing!

Angela