Something they do fleshes out a character.
A sub-index of Characterization Tropes. It overlaps with sister index, Characterization by Item, because most actions involve doing them with something, and if that something's important enough, then it goes in both indexes.
It also overlaps with Body Language (because bodies embody people, so what they say with their bodies says something about them) and Hobby and Pastime Tropes (because that's literally about an activity someone does, as characterization, but it also talks about plots and such, so it's not a clear sub-index).
Sub-indexes:
- Bookworm and its sub-tropes.
Tropes:
- Call to Agriculture: A badass/heroic character retires as a farmer.
- Camera Fiend
- Captain Morgan Pose: A casual, adventurous, lustful (if a man), or attentive character puts one foot on a raised object, leans forward, and puts one hand on their knee.
- Challenge Seeker: Character constantly looking for new ways to hone their skills.
- Characterizing Sitting Pose: The way a character sits tells something about their personality.
- Character Tics
- Collector of the Strange: Character who collects something strange, gross, or disturbing.
- Daytime Drama Queen: A Woobie character who watches soap operas.
- Deranged Dance: Dancing indicates a person is not of sound mind and is affected by mental illness.
- Establishing Character Moment
- Everybody Smokes
- Finger-Tenting
- Gasshole: Character has a tendency to burp and/or fart a lot.
- Glove Snap: A doctor, usually a Mad Doctor, puts on gloves and snaps them.
- Hand Rubbing: Shifty characters rubbing their hands together.
- Helping Granny Cross the Street
- Knuckle Cracking: A character shows how tough they are by cracking their knuckles.
- Map Stabbing: A character stabs a map to indicate an extreme emotion or commitment.
- Nerd Hoard: A character's nerdiness is established by their collection of items from their hobbies/interests.
- Perpetual Expression: A character hardly ever changes their expression.
- Primal Stance: Feral characters walk like gorillas.
- Rhymes on a Dime: A character who always speaks in rhymes.
- Shy Finger-Twiddling: A shy character (or an embarrassed ditz) twiddles their fingers.
- Significant Name Shift
- Smoking Is Cool: Smoking makes a badass.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: Unlikable and/or gross characters smoke to emphasize how disgusting they are.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Can chase a target seemingly endlessly, anywhere, and at all times.
- Synchronized Morning Routine: Two or more characters' Morning Routines are shown mirrored in the same scene.
- Tell Me How You Fight: Fighting styles reveal personalities and training.
- Zombie Gait: Zombies move around slowly and awkwardly.
