How to write an energetic character

[Agentt]

So, I gave @Napelynn a small piece to proofread, and this is how it went

This is fine. But you really have to work on sentence structure and consistency. For example, they are stuttering at one moment and then grinning menacingly the next. Also, grammar stuff.

It's not natural to stutter in excitement?

I don’t think someone who grins menacingly would stutter in excitement.

Eh? How does a person who is grinning will talk?

Someone who grins a lot should be energetic, right? So rather than stuttering I would probably make them excitedly exclaim it or something.

Yes, but energetic people stutter, right? Like, i wanna run so fast, i trip, I wanna talk so much, my tongue can't keep up

That’s more clumsy than energetic

@.@)?
What's the difference?

Clumsy is making many small mistakes out of carelessness or a lack of coordination. Energetic is having a lot of enthusiasm.

You can combine them. But someone who grins menacingly doesn’t seem like a clumsy person.

Energetic is this vague thing that can mean either clumsiness or determined

No… energetic doesn’t mean either of those things. Determined means that you don’t give up and are resolute on carrying out your plans and achieving goals. Energetic is closer to excited.

@.@)?????
But...an..excited person....stutters...

So, energetic is determined but with ADHD?

Wait, Napelynn, have we even ever met an excited person?

*sigh*

There’s no need to actually meet people when you have the internet.

Oh, yeah, it's like how those people say siwndjdkansnskos

So, how to write an energetic character?

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Like, oh, wow, just... incredible! This... feeling is amazing! Like, wow!

Stuttering comes from shock, and unfortunately has a biological explanation. If the person is so excited they literally can't form words, they may stutter, but that's an ocasional thing, not a permanent character trait.
Think of rappers when someone is excited, going into machine-gun mode of spewing out words. It could be nonsense, but not stutter.
Stutter, on the other hand, is a neurolingual impediment usually with social origins like anxiety or the like... not someone energetic would have, unless you have both and they stutter all the time to the point of annoying others which would cause their anxiety to kick in and keep them silent and overly conscious of how they speak, which would kill they energetic-ness.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

Uh... People can display more than one emotion at a given time. So, Shujin-sama, you can write an energetic person however you see them. A sad person can smile and cry at the same time. It is what makes human emotions so complex. So it is hard to place it in one term alone.

Also, it takes seconds for emotions to display and rarely lasts more than a couple of seconds before the face relaxes. For example, a person who is smiling constantly is a forced one. Their muscles would tire eventually, too.

This means someone can be stuttering one moment, then grinning or annoyed. It is hard to imagine, but think about it when you laugh. When you do it for so long, it hurts so much. Eventually, you will change your expression to one, not related to pleasure. But hey, you were just happily laughing a few moments, but the pain made it change.

I am placing this on real-life stuff, though. But it should apply to writing too. As that gives the vibe, the person is alive and feeling multiple things as the conversation carries out. Well, this is for me at least. Again, I am not a professional so I might be wrong. But in the actuality of life, this is true.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

So, I gave @Napelynn a small piece to proofread, and this is how it went






































So, how to write an energetic character?

You arent wrong. Energy is just that: energy. It doesnt mean you are exactly cheerful or happy or even excited.

It just means you got some stamina to burn. Filled to the brim with it. A bit over the top.

People with energetic stutters are just talking too fast and stumble over words. So explain that. " he had so much energy the boy was stumbling over his words in excitement "

See? It works

 

[Akivien]

You arent wrong. Energy is just that: energy. It doesnt mean you are exactly cheerful or happy or even excited.

It just means you got some stamina to burn. Filled to the brim with it. A bit over the top.

People with energetic stutters are just talking too fast and stumble over words. So explain that. " he had so much energy the boy was stumbling over his words in excitement "

See? It works

Yes somebody with too much energy, like a small cup filled with a big bottle of water, as thry have too much energy they tend to consume it quickly, for me an energetic is somemone that will burn burn so brightly for a moment then their enerjy just go back to low levels/normal

Like you need to have an explosion so that it's considered energetic, if your energy was on all time high then it would be passion? Not sure

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Yes somebody with too much energy, like a small cup filled with a big bottle of water, as thry have too much energy they tend to consume it quickly, for me an energetic is somemone that will burn burn so brightly for a moment then their enerjy just go back to low levels/normal

Like you need to have an explosion so that it's considered energetic, if your energy was on all time high then it would be passion? Not sure

Passion sounds like a good word for it, yeah

 

[Mysticant]

I don't think this is more about an energetic person than a person stuttering. I usually associate stuttering with someone who is at a loss for words, shocked or nervous. Basically, something unaccounted for. Some excited people stutter, though it is usually because their words travel faster than their brain processes it (probably). Otherwise, it isn't a natural excited person trait. In my opinion, people with ADHD don't stutter. In fact, what they do the most, to be honest, is not shut up. Basically, the pressure of speech where the listener cannot interrupt.
If you are talking about writing energetic people I WOULD SAY JUST UNLOCK THE CAPS BUTTON. That is it. Otherwise, just dose your character with a few monster energy drinks....it would probably work out...

 

[Agentt]

I don't think this is more about an energetic person than a person stuttering. I usually associate stuttering with someone who is at a loss for words, shocked or nervous. Basically, something unaccounted for. Some excited people stutter, though it is usually because their words travel faster than their brain processes it (probably). Otherwise, it isn't a natural excited person trait. In my opinion, people with ADHD don't stutter. In fact, what they do the most, to be honest, is not shut up. Basically, the pressure of speech where the listener cannot interrupt.
If you are talking about writing energetic people I WOULD SAY JUST UNLOCK THE CAPS BUTTON. That is it. Otherwise, just dose your character with a few monster energy drinks....it would probably work out...

The ADHD part was mainly a joke, but still, I don't think the caps lock can do justice

 

[Maromar]

Energetic in what way? Framing it from The Big 5 personality traits, that can describe someone with great levels of neuroticism, agreeableness or conscientiousness mixed with extraversion (or introversion + neuroticism for the skittish, anxiety-prone types). The key to pulling off any character is internal consistency, even someone that stutters in one situation but "grins menacingly" in another can get a pass with the right setup.

If Kitty is an outspoken, lovable person who went to the mage's collage to learn how to do lightshows for children, she can come across as cutesy and naïve because that's the kind of face that's the most well-received by her audience and she likes feeling that way. To the mafia members running a protection racket against the orphanage she just performed for, however, she may very well look and act like a monster with a maniacal, unreasonable temperament as they learn that separating sunbeams into pretty lights requires her to suppress the face melting properties of her magic.

Kitty's party members may have never seen this side of her, and may be rightfully scared spitless after she shows it to them. Note that the shift from what we knew about Kitty (lightshows, friendly, loves children) pays for any disconnect the readers may feel because it plays off of previously displayed traits instead of bringing a new one in out of left field, even if the other characters and the reader doesn't expect it. Batman picks up a gun, Morgan Jones sharpens the end of his non-lethal weapon. What pressures characters into "betraying" their nature fleshes out said nature instead of breaking it, but you need to lay the groundwork first. More importantly, you need to follow up with the logical conclusion of a character's displayed traits. Kitty might not be trusted by some people after she goes off the deep end, even if she goes back to her happy-go-lucky self afterwards. Her friends' hesitance to treat her normally might hurt her heart ("Why won't they understand? I HAD to turn them all into glue!"), leading to friction that may never be resolved by the end of the book. This is an aspect of characterization that I see skipped over often in newbie fiction.

TLDR: As long as the context (traits, personal experience, displayed attributes) aligns with the character's actions, their energetic behavior will be believable even if they do something that goes against their archetype.

 

[Cipiteca396]

For an energetic person, it's mostly action. Speech can sort of convey energy, but writing really can't. It's a static thing by nature. Caps lock won't do it. Exclamation points help... A little. But action is everything. Have your character pace, skip, race around. Have them tilt and lean and throw themselves around. Have them overexaggerate normal actions.

Instead of a stutter, you probably want to break thoughts midway through. Instead of t-talking about st-stuff... Just talk normally about whatever comes to mind. And if it takes too long, move on.

I can totally see someone swapping from a stutter into a menacing grin though. It implies the stutterer got caught off guard or was nervous, but then something changed the situation in their favor. You got startled by a friend, but then you had a nasty idea of how to avenge yourself.

 

[TheUnsaid]

The tools you have as a writer are dialogue and action.
If a character is bouncing around, always walking in front as they try to lead the party because everyone else is moving too slow, the first to wake up in the morning, and uses exaggerated body language because it gets their body moving more you can see that person has energy.

 

[Yamazaru]

Make the character feel energetic.
Give them a stuttery form of speech.
Make them bouncy and stuff.
Just basic stuff if you see energetic people.