This is something I actually ended up doing for homework, but thought could be a cool idea to apply to our characters. It’s a way for you to look into who they are, what their backstory is, and what makes them tick.
I introduce: The Culture Tree!
There’s the leaves, the trunk, and the roots. Leave a comment below for your characters to ANSWER ANY of the pertinent questions. Feel free to answer for as many characters as you want along with their names and the stories they’re from, but please don’t link your stories below. I hope this little exercise can help you flesh out some of those more “what the hell do I do with you?!” characters that tend to pop up every now and then.
HAVE FUN!
THE LEAVES - Made up of observable and concrete elements of culture such as food, dress, music, games, literature, stories, and holiday.
Guiding Questions:
How does your character’s family identify ethnically or racially?
Where does your character live - urban, suburban, or rural community?
What is the story of your character’s family in their world? Has their family been there for generations, a few decades or just a few years?
Was/is your character the first in their family to attend college? If not, who did - they’re parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents?
What are some of your character’s family traditions - holidays, foods, or rituals?
How would you describe your character’s family’s economic status - middle class, upper class, working class, or low income? What does that mean in terms of quality of life?
What family folklore or stories did your character regularly hear growing up?
Who were the heroes celebrated in your character’s family and/or community? Why? Who were the antiheroes? Who were the “bad guys”?
THE TRUNK - Made up of the unspoken rules around everyday social interactions and norms, such as respect, courtesy, attitudes toward elders, concepts of time, personal space, nonverbal communication, eye contact, ways of handling emotion, and gestures/animations.
Guiding Questions:
What metaphors, analogies, parables, or “witty” sayings does your character remember hearing from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles?
What has your character’s parents, neighbors, and other authority figures told them respect looks like?
What physical, social, or cultural attributes are praised in your character’s community? Which ones are they taught to avoid?
What got your character shunned or shamed in their family?
What family stories are regularly told or referenced to your character? What message do these stories communicate about core values?
How was your character trained to respond to different emotional displays - crying, anger, and happiness?
How is your character expected to interact with authority figures? Was/is authority of teachers and other elders assumed or did/does it have to be earned?
Was/is your character allowed to question, or talk back to, adults? Was/is it okay to call adults by their first name?
THE ROOTS - Made up of tacit knowledge and unconscious assumptions that govern your character’s worldview, such as notions of fairness, definition of family, spirituality, competition, cooperation, decision making, and connection with nature.
Guiding Questions:
What shapes your character’s worldview?
What messages did/does your character receive about success?
How does your character define family?
What was/is your character taught about competition and cooperation?
What messages did/does your character receive about failure?
What did/does your character learn about fairness?
Lmao ok so the first one references a folk tale about the Hero of One where she basically grows a tree up to the heavens and plucks the moon from among the stars and brings it back as a nightlight.
The other one references the Hero of Life’s death lol.
I guess I will do this with Max, since he is currently pretty fleshed out and it can be the first example of the tree in action (at the current time of writing this), even though some questions will be short.
Max’s Mom is Yelena, a Honduran who moved to California at age 15. She still keeps her traditions and celebrates them. Max’s Dad, Max Sr. is an American of Hispanic origin, but he doesn’t really follow his parents’ traditions.
Where does your character live - urban, suburban, or rural community?
He lives in Convoy Park, a working-class housing area in the suburbs of Angel Falls, a city in Southern California that I (Churro) made up.
What is the story of your character’s family in their world? Has their family been there for generations, a few decades or just a few years?
Max Sr has lived there for 49 years (all his life), and his parents moved there in their 20s (they’re in their 70s now). Yelena and her family moved there in 1988. She got pregnant with Felipe, Max’s oldest brother in 1989 and he was born later that year.
The Rivera family (Max Sr, Yelena, Felipe, Max, and his fraternal twin brother Mac) were a family unit from 1989, until 2013 when Max Sr. became estranged from Yelena (they never officially divorced) and went to live in Oakland, where he met a lady called Helen. He lives with her and her dog and son now.
Was/is your character the first in their family to attend college? If not, who did - they’re parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents?
Felipe went first to study business and ended up as a hairdresser. Max went on a scholarship for three years and ended up becoming a mechanic in the end. Mac went at the same time and became a graphic designer who lived in San Francisco before moving back to Angel Falls.
What are some of your character’s family traditions - holidays, foods, or rituals?
They mainly celebrate Easter, Christmas, birthdays, and the day of the dead (well, Yelena celebrates it) but Max doesn’t go because his friend Julio is a medium and hears the voices of the dead. Yelena also has a family get-together once a month and insists everyone come (except Max Sr, for obvious reasons, and she has a new boyfriend called Jeremiah).
How would you describe your character’s family’s economic status - middle class, upper class, working class, or low income? What does that mean in terms of quality of life?
They are working class, but can afford everything they need; Max works full time as a mechanic and gets decent money, Yelena has her own baking business, Mac has his graphic design business, and Felipe has his wife, kids, and his hair salon.
What family folklore or stories did your character regularly hear growing up?
The one about his “Uncle” Ricky beating up Chuck to protect Yelena and Max. (He never hears the end of that one). The story about Felipe almost dying as a kid when the dog tripped him up, the one about himself almost drowning at three, and the ones that Jeremiah tells him about his family.
Who were the heroes celebrated in your character’s family and/or community? Why? Who were the antiheroes? Who were the “bad guys”?
The “heroes”: “Uncle” Ricky (Max Sr.'s best friend, whose family adopted him for a while growing up. Ricky was basically his brother, then hence Uncle Ricky). He also helped Yelena a lot when Max Sr. left.
His older cousins: Taught him a lot about the world. Helped him grow up and taught him a lot of life hacks.
Yelena: She is the best Mom ever
The “bad guy”: Max Sr. Didn’t accept Max coming out, left Yelena suddenly, fought with everyone in the family, and left a massive hole in the family.
THE TRUNK - Made up of the unspoken rules around everyday social interactions and norms, such as respect, courtesy, attitudes toward elders, concepts of time, personal space, nonverbal communication, eye contact, ways of handling emotion, and gestures/animations.
Guiding Questions:
What metaphors, analogies, parables, or “witty” sayings does your character remember hearing from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles?
Nothing really much. He didn’t really stick around to hear that sort of thing from them. He was too busy causing trouble, haha
What has your character’s parents, neighbors, and other authority figures told them respect looks like?
Ricky: “Don’t be soft, and don’t let people play you. Assert and stick up for yourself, but don’t be bull. Speak when you’re spoken to and don’t be nasty for no reason.”
Rafi (friend): “Don’t be a dickhead.”
Yelena: “Be kind, and honest. Never belittle anyone. Treat people how you want to be treated.”
What physical, social, or cultural attributes are praised in your character’s community? Which ones are they taught to avoid?
To be honest, men are taught to protect women, be a provider, not be a coward, and stand up for the weak and help them and sacrifice themselves when they have to (not literally, but make sacrifices for the people important to them).
Men are discouraged from being too weak, emotional, and overly effeminate. And not to give up easily. Especially in Max’s family. Mac had it a bit hard because he was a bit “weird” and overly emotional/weak growing up but he has grown into himself (became independent, less ‘hyper’ and has had better social skills. He stands up for the weak and makes sacrifices, but is still quirky and his own person).
Max, on the other hand, embodies these qualities well. He protects Alicia (his ‘girlfriend’ well and helps her out, and they are equal; he provides for himself and his Mom with the housework, money, and fixing things for her, he doesn’t give up easily and is calm and assertive; he doesn’t back down from a challenge at all, and he stood up for Mac growing up.
He is also in a motorcycle club (Vaqueros), which can be overwhelmingly toxic in general. They settle things through fights and have a set of rules that go by, and one of them involves getting beat to death if you burn the uniform.
What got your character shunned or shamed in their family?
Max came out as a lesbian, and later transgender (FtM). Max Sr. didn’t take this well (for religious and political/cultural reasons), but Yelena was supportive, and Mac and Felipe are accepting of it too.
What family stories are regularly told or referenced to your character? What message do these stories communicate about core values?
Nothing really, except the above-mentioned stories in the family folklore section.
How was your character trained to respond to different emotional displays - crying, anger, and happiness?
Max trained himself to try and stay as stoic as he can, but when he gets angry enough, he lashes out but tries to limit that to the gym and his homemade punchbag in his workshop.
He doesn’t like crying so he tries not to but when he has to, he locks himself in his room and tries to do it quietly. He smiles when he’s happy, and occasionally cheers.
He’s not a very strongly emotive person, or overly expressive (unlike Mac, who wears his heart on his sleeve) but doesn’t totally deny himself emotions if he has to have them. One time, when he was comfortable, he let out his emotions naturally around Alicia in an intimate moment, and it brought them closer even if it was difficult for him to do.
How is your character expected to interact with authority figures? Was/is authority of teachers and other elders assumed or did/does it have to be earned?
Max respected everyone that respected him, and was wary and didn’t respect back people who were nasty to him, regardless of rank.
Was/is your character allowed to question, or talk back to, adults? Was/is it okay to call adults by their first name?
He did that anyway, regardless of if he was allowed to or not
THE ROOTS - Made up of tacit knowledge and unconscious assumptions that govern your character’s worldview, such as notions of fairness, definition of family, spirituality, competition, cooperation, decision making, and connection with nature.
Guiding Questions:
What shapes your character’s worldview?
His uncle Ricky, the members in the Vaqueros, his own online research, and his life experiences.
What messages did/does your character receive about success?
“Work hard, be persistent, aim high, and stay humble and it will eventually come to you.” - Ricky
How does your character define family?
Anyone he is close with, who accepts him and he accepts them, and they share core memories together (i.e. Yelena, his brothers, his friends, Alicia, and the Vaqueros).
What was/is your character taught about competition and cooperation?
Max has his own mantra on this: “Never settle for second best, when you can strive for more” in competitions. He’s a very competitive person, and unless he is beaten fair and square, he will not back down.
He generally is agreeable and cooperative outside of that, if he is respected, and things make sense to him. He knows to take turns, and not to push himself unnecessarily.
What messages did/does your character receive about failure?
“Keep trying and aim high. Never give up, or you will never realize the fruits of your labor.” -Yelena
What did/does your character learn about fairness?
Growing up with Mac and Felipe, he learned to share and wait for his turn. He also learned that bein selfish was unfair to other people. He also thinks that justice needs to be practiced more, and he tries to be impartial and fair in his decision-making choices
I hope you enjoy(ed) reading this It’s a bit long, lel.
I know The guy that founded the gang, Domingo is kinda emotionally unstable; one moment he’s amazing, and the next he’s arguing with his second in command and almost killing him. But he’s an interesting character and Alicia’s big brother. He watches Telenovelas and has joined a fan forum for them but don’t tell anyone I told you
It was a big and amazing moment.
I agree.
If he can, yeah.
No problem haha. It took me a while to answer but this is a good concept, I like it a lot. Thanks for posting it here.
Okay, we’re doing this for only one of my many MCs because she’s the one I’ve got most figured out. I might do another later
My character’s family identify as Lyriumian
A mix between urban and rural depending on what’s happening at any given time. They go between their house in the forest and the Palace in Lapide (one of the capital cities)
Oooo boy this is where it gets complicated
So, Amneris’ family goes all the way back to the First Queen. Well, only in one bloodline and there are a lot of bloodlines that come into play after several hundreds of billions of years. They’ve been on Lyriumia since the very beginning since that’s where Lyriumian heritage first started, long before they let themselves be known to the lower planes.
The story is where it gets very complicated because there’s just too much history between Amneris and the First Queen, and not all of them were chosen to become Rulers. Really, the fact Amneris got chosen and just happened to be related to the First Queen was a giant coincidence.
Nope, Amneris is very very very very very very very very far from the first
The more common ones are more “planetary traditions” than “family traditions” because the whole world is part of them. There’s holidays like The Freeze, Winter Solstice, Bennu’s Fire, Summer Solstice, Day of the Sun, the Sky Races, and the Seasonal Markets. Then there’s the more kiddy stuff like the Academy Sports Day
Then there’s the Ruler Traditions, so stuff only the Rulers do like learning certain histories and the Old Language, and a whole bunch of stories that most either don’t know about or dismiss as mythology. The Rulers also pass the pendant that acts as a conduit to the Patron Deity to the next Ruler when the time comes (unless they die first).
As for family traditions within Amneris’ family, I’m still working on that one. The ones I have so far are:
the family pendants that get passed from parent to child
learning Kemetic and the Old Language
Amneris and her daughter Hathor have a tradition of playing Senet on weekends when Hathor isn’t at the Academy
Honestly, there’s probably more that I can’t think of right now
Amneris is quite literally the Queen of Lyriumia. Believe me when I say money isn’t a problem. Quality of life is very good (and this actually goes for most of the planet) when there isn’t someone trying to kill them
Mostly the stories from The Chronicles, historical stories, stories about the Gods and some of Amneris’ predecessors
Dang where did I put that timeline . . . [loud rustling noises as I search through many papers on desk]
Heroes:
Lvaane (Amneris’ adoptive father) was the prior King and is still very much beloved. Definitely a hero
The First Queen because she begun the Time of the Ancients after some very dark times in Lyriumia’s history
Celestus Alim (historian) because of all his research and adventures. A lot of his knowledge is still used in the modern day, and that’s really saying something
Certain characters in The Chronicles: Bellanaga, Crux, Amneris (different person), Akhella, Zuzja and Nova (just to name a few)
Antiheroes:
Definitely Amneris. A lot of people like her and a lot of people don’t, and there are a lot of reasons for this
Majority of the Gods. Long story
Bad Guys:
The Terpolites. They are the begins who inhabit Lyriumia’s sister world named Terpola. They’ve been at war since the beginning of time
Adria. He was one of the past Kings of Lyriumia and did some pretty stupid things, the impact of which is still being dealt with in the modern day
Mainly just being a decent person
Overall, the world is above most of these things. Everyone is unique and majority of people accept that
As for the ones taught to avoid, things like discrimination and unnecessary violence are big no-nos. But it does start to get a bit hypocritical because the people with things like Time Magic are shunned (but this is being worked on)
Geez, where to start with Amneris. . .
Immortality
the destruction of Ilsbrook and what is now known as the Wasteland on Terpola
the mass murder of Ilsbrook
the destruction of Hetsipara
the fact her daughter has Time Magic
the fact she has a little too much magic
the fact she often vanishes for months at a time
the Enliatu incident
the Attack on the Academy
the fact she chooses violence instead of taking the diplomatic approach more often than not
the attack on Iraliya
the attack on Kiloqua
the fact she constantly accidently destroys things because of her super strength
the whole Items incident
the Enliatu incident
the Xix incident
There’s a lot more, and these don’t actually just apply to Amneris’ family but to the entire planet and their allies
Adria - don’t be an idiot or get greedy
The First Queen - be good to your people
Vivunadai - don’t break the rules
Pretty much the same way a lot of us do
Except anger often ends in mass destruction
And so does sadness
And fear
And general annoyance and frustration.
Yah.
Amneris is the authority figure But she is expected to be nice and understanding to the Council and the allies, but this is easier said than done.
As for the Elders, well, if you live long enough to become an Elder, you’re doing a bloody good job and deserve respect.
Yes, yes and yes. Well, talking back depends on what you mean by “talking back” because some people count “talking back” as just voicing minor disagreements or differences in opinion
Experience. Life and death. The usual
When it happens, that’s great. When it doesn’t happen, you can still work to it. If you fail . . . well that depends on the context
Bond, not blood. Amneris’ family is mostly made up of friends she picked up along the way, but there’s also her daughter, sister and hubbie
Whatever it was, it was enough to make her very competitive and uncooperative
In the very beginning it was failure = major punishment. Then, after that particular person was kicked off the planet, it was about how you learn from failures (depending on the context) and that they are some of the best life experiences you can have (depending on the context)
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It’s a bit long, lel.
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(glad to know my homework is good for something other than annoying me lol)
