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Writerly Ways
Feb. 15th, 2026 11:33 pmI've been thinking about writing hard to write emotional states, beyond say the actual words we can find in the emotional thesaurus (which is a great resource) How do we carry forward these states. I'm not sure I know the answer but I do have some examples.
One of the harder ones to write is naivety. So often naive ends up reading as stupid. That's not the same thing. two examples Mrs. de Winter from Rebecca and Charlie Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel. Both of these ladies I believe are meant to be naive (especially Charlie)
They are similar in how this naivety is shown. They make mistakes but they don't learn from them. The nameless Mrs de Winter is a passive twit without a brain in her head (which is a different problem) She is meant to be young and naive and caught up in the manipulations of older, vicious people but at what point do you learn from this and move on. 250 pages is almost it for her (which she immediately turns around and nearly ends up dead but that's another story as well) Without a character learning and moving on, becoming less naive you end up with a character who comes off dumb.
I see this again with Charlie. She is a sheltered princess of hell. In S1 she is naive but she seems to learn. Instead of continuing that, in S2 she digresses. She doesn't learn, worse she is so naively convinced she's right she listens to no one and then lashes out at them when it blows up in her face. This bad naive representation and it has had a high cost. The character is getting tons of hate and many fans left over how bad she came across.
Conversely, Luz from The Owl House is naive. I mean it's portal fic and she has a whole world she has no knowledge of. Like the other two ladies, she makes mistakes. But she learns from them. She apologizes when people get inadvertently hurt because of her lack of knowledge. And maybe this is the difference. Luz uses her naivety as a place to start learning. She's not a passive nitwit. She's not a wellmeaning person who refuses to own her mistakes.
I don't know. What about you? What would make/break a naive character for you? How do you handle one?
Open Call
5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in February 2026
149 Review: Now Seeking Submissions
Unsettling Settings Stories with a dark environmental setting, where the setting itself plays a significant role
Earth Resists and Reclaims Climate as an intelligent force, a reckoning, or an uncaring system ready for vengeance. Stories where nature is not necessary “evil,” simply done negotiating
Wyldblood Magazine March Window Speculative fiction (primarily of the science fiction and fantasy varieties)
Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores March 2026 Window.
From Around the Web
Six Ways to Keep Characters in the Danger Zone
The Big Mistake That Keeps Writers From Finishing a Novel
What Novelists Should Do After Rejection.
From betty
Five Common Mistakes That Put Your Heroes in the Wrong
Description Makeover: Creating Magical Atmosphere
Which of These Six Prose Styles Are You Writing?
Using Contradictions to Create Masterful Microtension – Part 1
The Playground Effect: Play Turns Readers into Ride-or-Dies.
Why Tough Choices Create Stronger Stories
Story Genius
Good News for Indie Authors – Bookshop.org partners with Draft2Digital
Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Seeking Balance.
Write What You Love: How Passion Can Shape Your Purpose as a Writer
What Writers Should Do After a Book’s Sales Slow Down
3 Things Writers Should Never Do on the Road to Publication
The Mirror Moment in Fiction: A Midpoint Method for Plotters and Pantsers
When Friday the 13th Meets Valentine’s Day
How to Make Use of Incidental Characters
In the Beginning
Write What You Love: How Passion Can Shape Your Purpose as a Writer
The Parent Trap: Regulations for the Fictional Parent
One of the harder ones to write is naivety. So often naive ends up reading as stupid. That's not the same thing. two examples Mrs. de Winter from Rebecca and Charlie Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel. Both of these ladies I believe are meant to be naive (especially Charlie)
They are similar in how this naivety is shown. They make mistakes but they don't learn from them. The nameless Mrs de Winter is a passive twit without a brain in her head (which is a different problem) She is meant to be young and naive and caught up in the manipulations of older, vicious people but at what point do you learn from this and move on. 250 pages is almost it for her (which she immediately turns around and nearly ends up dead but that's another story as well) Without a character learning and moving on, becoming less naive you end up with a character who comes off dumb.
I see this again with Charlie. She is a sheltered princess of hell. In S1 she is naive but she seems to learn. Instead of continuing that, in S2 she digresses. She doesn't learn, worse she is so naively convinced she's right she listens to no one and then lashes out at them when it blows up in her face. This bad naive representation and it has had a high cost. The character is getting tons of hate and many fans left over how bad she came across.
Conversely, Luz from The Owl House is naive. I mean it's portal fic and she has a whole world she has no knowledge of. Like the other two ladies, she makes mistakes. But she learns from them. She apologizes when people get inadvertently hurt because of her lack of knowledge. And maybe this is the difference. Luz uses her naivety as a place to start learning. She's not a passive nitwit. She's not a wellmeaning person who refuses to own her mistakes.
I don't know. What about you? What would make/break a naive character for you? How do you handle one?
Open Call
5 Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in February 2026
149 Review: Now Seeking Submissions
Unsettling Settings Stories with a dark environmental setting, where the setting itself plays a significant role
Earth Resists and Reclaims Climate as an intelligent force, a reckoning, or an uncaring system ready for vengeance. Stories where nature is not necessary “evil,” simply done negotiating
Wyldblood Magazine March Window Speculative fiction (primarily of the science fiction and fantasy varieties)
Cosmic Roots And Eldritch Shores March 2026 Window.
From Around the Web
Six Ways to Keep Characters in the Danger Zone
The Big Mistake That Keeps Writers From Finishing a Novel
What Novelists Should Do After Rejection.
From betty
Five Common Mistakes That Put Your Heroes in the Wrong
Description Makeover: Creating Magical Atmosphere
Which of These Six Prose Styles Are You Writing?
Using Contradictions to Create Masterful Microtension – Part 1
The Playground Effect: Play Turns Readers into Ride-or-Dies.
Why Tough Choices Create Stronger Stories
Story Genius
Good News for Indie Authors – Bookshop.org partners with Draft2Digital
Coping Mechanism Thesaurus Entry: Seeking Balance.
Write What You Love: How Passion Can Shape Your Purpose as a Writer
What Writers Should Do After a Book’s Sales Slow Down
3 Things Writers Should Never Do on the Road to Publication
The Mirror Moment in Fiction: A Midpoint Method for Plotters and Pantsers
When Friday the 13th Meets Valentine’s Day
How to Make Use of Incidental Characters
In the Beginning
Write What You Love: How Passion Can Shape Your Purpose as a Writer
The Parent Trap: Regulations for the Fictional Parent
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