Fiction Workshop: How to Write a Gemini Character

Astrology is one of the best tools we have for character development: not because it boxes people in, but because it offers relatable energetic patterns that help us understand how people move through the world. Characters are living, breathing contradictions, and astrology is just one tool we can use to help us name those contradictions with a little more grace.

Each astrological sign contains both evolved and unevolved expressions. We’re all messy, layered, growing beings, and a character should reflect that same beautiful duality. So, I’m not saying Geminis are “bad” (though they do get a bit of a bad rap). I’m saying: if you’re writing someone who’s magnetic and complicated and occasionally self-sabotaging, tapping into Gemini energy might help you understand them better.

Enter: Louie from my still-being-written third novel, Best Served Cold. He’s a glittery mess of a man who’s both the life of the party and the reason everyone leaves early. I see him as a Gemini, and here’s why. 

Core Gemini traits: Duality, curiosity, and charm

Duality

A lot of people reduce Geminis to being “two-faced.” And while they are literally “the twins,” I prefer to think of them as multifaceted. They’re the person who’s cracking jokes at the funeral, then sobbing in the parking lot five minutes later. They contain more multitudes than most any other sign, and that makes them ideal for fiction.

For example: Louie can be both seductive and grating, wise and delusional, sweet to Jack (my protagonist and Louie’s cousin), and then—without warning—stab him in the back. It doesn’t mean he’s evil; I see him more as someone who doesn’t know who he is when he’s not performing.

Curiosity

Gemini energy is all about the search. For thrills, knowledge—the next big idea or person or project. They chase stimulation the way some people chase love.

Louie has this insatiable hunger for both attention and experience. He’s the guy who’s tried every drug and been in love with six different people in one week. He’s never still. Not physically, not emotionally.

Charm

Geminis are hilarious. They’re magnetic. They know exactly how to disarm you with a one-liner or a flash of vulnerability. But they don’t let you all the way in—at least, not easily.

Louie can light up a room, but don’t expect him to stay. He’s the kind of character who gives the best toasts and the worst apologies.

Gemini’s strengths and shadows

Strengths

• This sign is adaptable, inventive, clever as hell.

• They’re the story-starters. The chaos agents. The wild cards.

• They bring life into a scene just by entering it.

Louie is the reason half the wildest stories in Best Served Cold happen in the first place. He gets Jack into trouble, and sometimes he leaves him there. He talks people into doing things they know they shouldn’t. He makes things move.

Shadow Side

• The potential to be unstable, restless, and sometimes a little fake.

• Emotionally slippery: there, but not really there.

• Prone to self-sabotage in dazzling, frustrating ways.

Louie doesn’t know how to sit still in his own pain, so he performs his way out of it. Drugs, sex, stories, flame-outs. He is all big gestures and no follow-through. And he might just be the loneliest character in the book.

Gemini archetypes in fiction

If you're building your own Louie-type character, all panic AND all disco, here are a few common Gemini-coded archetypes:

• The Trickster 

• The Charismatic Screw-Up

• The Gossip Who Knows Too Much

• The Talented Performer with a Secret

• The Charming Relative Who Might Burn It All Down

Louie lives somewhere between Trickster and Burning Relative. You kind of love him and hate him at the same time: a.k.a., the exact vibe I wanted when bringing him to life.

How to use Gemini energy in your writing

Gemini characters can bring so much richness when they’re handled with care. Here’s how to deepen them:

• Let them contradict themselves — it’s not a flaw; it’s texture, and your writing will thank you for it. 

• Write their dialogue fast and playful, like they’re always dancing.

• Give them a moment of stillness. Make them feel something they can’t talk their way out of.

• Play with structure: dual POVs, flashbacks, unreliable narration. These are all Gemini-coded tricks.

In Best Served Cold, Louie appears less often than Jack, but his presence is everywhere. He’s the ghost of Jack’s worst choices. A mirror. A warning. A wound that talks too loud.

Writing prompt for you

Okay, now it’s your turn. Here’s a writing prompt for you to start playing with the idea of characters as the zodiac:

Write a scene where your Gemini character finally tells the truth, but they do it in the form of a joke. What are they really hiding?

Alternatively, you can just reflect for now:

Which Gemini traits do you see in your characters, or in yourself?

And if you want to meet my personal Gemini muse, Louie, don’ worry. You’ll meet him very soon in Best Served Cold. He’s a wild one, and you’re going to love him—or love to hate him.