I need some help. How do you write stoic and reserved characters?
Don't confuse Stoicism with lack of emotion.
From Google:
1.
the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint.
2.
an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge; the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.
A Stoic (one who practices Stoicism) still feels emotion. They still suffer and feel, they simply work to avoid showing it. I would have to think a bit harder about this, but off the top of my head, Uncle Iroh (Avatar The Last Airbender) is a good example of a character I would be willing to describe as Stoic.
He practices restraint and avoids overt emotional displays, but still very clearly "feels".
Iroh is visibly hurt when Zuko is being a shit. He gets angry, he feels down, but he doesn't let it hold him back. He is always looking forward.
Ok, I have a character in my story who is an angry person but they keep most of their anger inside. They really only direct their anger at one person who they view as annoying. In addition, they don't care about, for instance, how blue the sky is or how pretty the flowers are. I have been told that my story lacks description and I have also been told that I need to connect the descriptions to my characters. How can I do that with a character who doesn't care about those things?
This should be fairly simple. Make them curt in dialogue. When asked, "Nice weather today, isn't it?" Instead of giving an answer describe how they shrug in an irritated manner. If the person tries to continue the conversation, have this character go out of their way to close it down asap. Use statements that are borderline rude, and indicate that they aren't listening. "Is that so?", "Oh, that's nice.", "Glad to hear it!"
When interacting with the character they actually direct their anger at, broaden their statements and attach a few snide remarks. Dig at the character who annoys them. "Of course that's what
you think.", "Could
not have said it better myself.", "You
would say that."
When showing this character's internal thoughts, there are a few possibilities. If they are supposed to be easily angered, use raw language.
The sun is so damn hot. / The bees won't stone their incessant droning as usual. / The damned wind is going to make me lose my hat.
Another option would be for if this character is supposed to be highly practical. (Do they not care about the beauty of the flowers, because beauty is supposedly superfluous?) In this case, be
very analytical. Have them notice things like how many flowers there are, what color they are, if there are bees around, but don't ever describe them using flowery language.
Next, how do I write reserve characters? In my story I have characters who are college professors. Now, when I was in college, I viewed my professors as being reserved and boring so that's pretty much how I write my characters. How can I keep their reservation and make them interesting at the same time?
In this case, there is a difference between being reserved, and being boring. Boring people exist in real life, but in fiction, you don't want to make characters boring unless your intention is for them to be bland and forgettable. Especially not when they are the main characters (I believe you are referring to Thomas and the ant stomping lizard here?) They are both college professors if I recall.
You can have them appear reserved by refraining from having them share their opinions unless they are asked to do so, or required to. And give them some things they are willing to go into great detail about. Thomas has his ants for instance. Lean into that and make him wax at length about the majesty of ants. But do your research and make sure he is correct, he is a college professor.
Like other users have pointed out, just because a character is reserved doesn't mean they don't have thoughts; they just don't share them as often.
These are only ideas, at the end of the day there are many ways of doing this. The best advice I could give is to look at other Stoic, Angry, and Reserved characters. See what other people have done that worked, and look at other people's failures.
