While there are many kinds of stories, most of them today are about a protagonist navigating a change or growth arc. In this model, the character undergoes a personal journey of evolution; they realize that their hurts, habits, or hang-ups are keeping them from success and, over time, adopt healthier responses and behaviors that enable them to achieve their story goal and become fulfilled.

Now, this isn’t a straightforward process. It’s a two-steps-forward-one-step-back journey that will require a lot of difficulties and poor choices before the character realizes the need for change. So, as authors, we put a ton of thought into planning and incorporating those conflict scenarios.

What we don’t spend so much time on is the second half of the arc, when growth is underway.

Once the character decides to change course, they’ll start moving the right direction. But they won’t always stay on the straight and narrow. Their old responses may be ineffective, but they’re comfortable and familiar. And change is hard. So the path to success (or failure, if your story showcases a failed arc) will be messy, alternating between forward progress and regression.

But growth should gradually be happening, and readers need to see this because it provides hope that the character could actually succeed. Luckily, there are many growth milestones—changes in the character’s responses—you can include in your story to show they’re evolving.

Growth Indicators

Trying a New Response. As the character realizes their old ways are inadequate or even harmful, they’ll become desperate enough to try something new. The outcome may be positive, ineffective, or mixed, but it doesn’t matter. Just the act of stepping out of their comfort zone and taking a risk is a sign that growth is happening.

Recognizing Landmines: In the past, the character failed to spot danger until it was too late, and they suffered terribly. The upside of this experience is they’ve learned to be attentive and prepare more thoroughly. If something happens now, they can react from a place of strength, better positioned to save themselves from preventable fallout.

Setting Boundaries: The character sees how their inability to say no in the past generated unwanted results. Setting reasonable boundaries now to protect themselves is an indicator that they’re becoming more self-aware and are willing to make hard choices.

Asking for Help: Some trials are too difficult to navigate solo, a lesson that a stubborn, independent, or untrusting character may have to learn the hard way. Once they do, however, the desire to avoid needless suffering teaches them to recognize when they need help, and by asking for it, they demonstrate maturity.

Choosing Positivity: If a character tends to be negative, show growth by shifting their mindset. This could mean they focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, engage in positive self-talk, or practice gratitude. Transformation typically begins in the mind, so even a small change like finding the silver lining in a bad situation shows readers that change is underway.

Regulating Emotions: Self-control is a major aspect of emotional maturity. Things are simple when life is peachy but become harder when conflict rears its head. Recalling the problems that were caused by a past loss of emotional control in the face of difficulty may encourage the character to restrain themselves this time around.

Not Giving Up. The journey to change is hard, with the character getting knocked down repeatedly. At first, they may not get up right away; they’ll retreat to their old ways because they don’t want to be hurt again. But struggling back to their feet and pushing forward is a sign that they realize the value of internal change and are willing to take risks to achieve it.

These are just a few ways you can show a character’s development, and you’ll need to use many of them throughout the story because evolution is an active process. The character will need to choose, over and over, if they want to take risks and pursue change or cling to their status quo. It’s up to us to provide those opportunities and position the character for growth. How do we do that, exactly?

Use an Emotion Amplifier to Show Progress

Emotion amplifiers are perfect for this because the character’s response to these challenging situations will highlight their growth (or lack thereof).

Amplifiers are states or conditions, such as bereavement, attraction, and isolation, that activate the character’s emotions and increase the chance of them reacting impulsively rather than carefully. As a result, they often lead to mishaps and mistakes that create more problems. But they can also be used to show that change is happening. As an example, let’s look at one character’s growth journey fueled by an unsettling amplifier that everyone has faced: indecision.

Amir is a recent university graduate with great job prospects. Three companies have offered him positions that would kick-start his career in biometrics—exciting but nerve-racking, because it’s such a big decision. It doesn’t help that one of his classmates is a few weeks into her first job and already regrets her choice.

With each passing day, Amir grows more conflicted, unable to choose. He has trouble sleeping, and his temper flares at the smallest thing. His girlfriend, tired of getting her head bitten off, has had enough and calls it quits. Then, after weeks of waffling, the most promising offer is rescinded, leaving Amir with the two least favorable options.

Here, we see Amir’s default responses to indecision, and they’re not doing him any favors. As readers witness his reactions, they’ll know exactly how Amir will have to change if he’s going to thrive. We can create opportunities for him to do better and show his evolution by hitting him with the same amplifier later in the story.

Fast forward six months, and Amir is facing indecision again—this time, regarding his living situation. A big rent increase is coming, so he must choose to remain in a cramped, expensive apartment near his friends or relocate to a more affordable place closer to work. The hold on the new apartment expires in a few days; as the deadline looms, his old insecurities and panic rise.

Once more, everything seems to set Amir off. He becomes aware of how often he’s apologizing for being a jerk, and he remembers what that cost him last time. His decision paralysis is familiar, too; it cheated him out of a great job opportunity before, and he doesn’t want that to happen again. He realizes he must change the way he responds to indecision, so he sits down and creates a list of pros and cons for moving. An obvious choice emerges, and he informs his current landlord that he’ll be gone at the end of the month.

The first time around, Amir flounders and flails. But the second time he faces indecision, armed with hindsight and a new sense of self-awareness, he rises to the occasion.

There are other ways to highlight growth, but I find amplifiers to be effective because of their universal nature. Readers are familiar with indecision. They’ve all struggled with it to varying degrees at multiple times in their lives. They know the intensely uncomfortable feelings associated with facing a difficult decision, and they know the fallout that occurs when an important choice is put off—or when the wrong choice is made. Readers will feel for Amir because they’ve been in his shoes.

But amplifiers work even when they’re unfamiliar. Readers don’t have to experience addiction or compulsion to empathize with a character who’s enduring them. They’ll see the pattern of dysfunctional reactions, how they create conflict and push the character’s goals out of reach, and they’ll notice the shift in mindset and responses that signal change for the better.

So when you need to show a character’s growth, consider employing an amplifier. And as the character evolves, use the growth markers above to highlight their forward progress.

The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus will help you:

• Showcase a Character’s Hidden Emotions
• Write Realistic Responses
• Add Tension and Conflict
• Show Character Arc Growth
• Brainstorm High-Stakes Moments

Check out the emotion amplifiers covered in this book!

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Build These Seven Growth Milestones into Your Character’s Arc appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

When it comes to generating conflict, your character’s personality can help ensure that sparks fly, especially when their traits clash with someone else’s.

When people grate on one another their interactions become filled with misunderstandings, power struggles, one-upmanship, and impatience. Whether allies, enemies, or something in between, contrasting viewpoints and attitudes sharpen dialogue, and if tempers flare too far, friction can become all-out conflict.

And guess what–we want these escalations to happen! They keep relationships from getting stale, add plot complications, and keep the pace moving. So bring on those clashes, problems, and fallout, I say. Let characters get under each other’s skin. When people get along, it sucks the tension out of your story faster than a three hundred year old vampire enjoying a human buffet.

There are many ways to create friction– characters could have opposing goals, be competing for the same thing, or have opposite ideas about the path forward. These setups can all work, but only if they don’t come off like a plot device. For readers to see friction as natural, not manufactured, it needs to come from within the characters. An easy way to do this is to let their opposing personalities do the work.

Leaning into Opposites

The low-hanging fruit of clashing personalities is to play with opposites. Methodical and impulsive. Proper and flamboyant. Perfectionistic and lazy. These combinations can be fun to write while juicing interactions with friction. To find trait combos that will cause natural friction, check out these lists from the Positive Trait Thesaurus and the Negative Trait Thesaurus.

Is your character an obsessive rule follower afraid to step outside his comfort zone? Have him be swept up in friendship with someone spontaneous and a bit rebellious. Or is a coworker stealing the credit for your protagonist’s hard work, but she won’t speak up for herself? Pair her with a new cubicle-mate who has confidence in spades and a vengeful streak that ensures all wrongs will be put right.

Opposite traits can be negative, positive, or one of each. It’s all up to you. And, with a bit of extra thought, opposing traits can serve an even deeper purpose: to spotlight a character flaw that’s holding your protagonist back.

Introduce a Character Foil

A character foil is someone whose traits contrast with the protagonist’s, either in big, obvious ways or through a few key differences. This contrast helps readers see how the protagonist is navigating life differently, and maybe it’s not going so well for them.

When a foil character exhibits traits the protagonist lacks (but needs), it creates a mirror moment. The protagonist starts to see their flaws more clearly, and that realization can become a turning point in their character arc. If they want to move forward, something has to change.

Double Down on the Same Trait

Another method is to give two characters the same trait: controlling and controlling, manipulative and manipulative, idealistic x 2. Positive or toxic, characters with identical traits tend to cause the relationship pot to boil, and soon, the battle royale for dominance is on.

Clashing Traits Don’t Always Mean Fireworks

Sometimes writers get a bit too excited over creating relationship tension, as it can lead to some spectacular clashes. Realistically, though, friction is more about getting under each other’s skin just enough to behave like a passive-aggressive jerk.

When irritated, characters may get snarky in their responses, offer backhanded compliments, or deliver a narrow, you’re so stupid stare. Decisions in the moment can be emotion-driven, too. Maybe they withhold advice, information, help or even share a half-truth, knowing it will mess up the other’s plans. My point is, have fun with your friction, especially if it leads to well-deserved consequences!

Also, Friction Isn’t Always Negative

Not all friction is hostile. It can come from navigating healthy boundaries that characters aren’t used to. It can be a part of the learning curve of new cultures and customs. Even people who want the same thing must figure out how to work together, encountering friction through trial and error.

In romance, attraction creates tension. And much of what makes chemistry sizzle on the page is emotional friction—conflicting desires, fears, and how each handles vulnerability.

Friction happens in friendships, family dynamics, the workplace, and other relationships. Whenever two people are wired differently, there’s an opportunity for tension. Unravelling the ‘why’ behind it is what readers show up for.

Choose a Character’s Personality Traits Carefully

While it might seem like a fun way to add drama, clashing traits shouldn’t be assigned without thought. Each character’s personality is a unique window into who they are, where they came from, and the people and experiences they were exposed to before your story began. Credible characters have traits that make sense for their unique history–that’s a big part of what makes them authentic to readers.

If you’d like to understand more about personality traits and how to choose the right ones for a character, give this a read. Happy writing!

What clashing personality traits have you woven into your relationships? Let me know in the comments!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Using a Character’s Personality Traits to Generate Conflict appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

We’ve all heard the writing advice that we need to throw rocks at our protagonists. More obstacles, more tough choices, and more loss test them and force them to grow and change. This is all true and necessary.

But one of those most overlooked forms of safeguarding our protagonists is by making their problem an everyone else problem.

If their parents could just value them for who they are, your character would be a lot happier. Or if their significant other would understand them, things would be just right. Or if their kids would put in more effort, all would be perfect in their world. If their boss would see what they’re capable of and promote them, everything would be different.

Characters can sometimes focus on the way others are letting them down. And in that case, the behavior of other characters becomes the story problem. Your character’s wellbeing hinges on someone else changing.

Back to those “rocks” we need to throw at our characters. Yes, it’s important to toss obstacles and road blocks at our characters. But I would argue that the largest boulder we can throw at our characters comes in the form of a massive mirror. If our characters are forced to look at their own behavior, their own choices, and the way those things are blocking them from what they actually need, the hardest obstacle of all emerges—changing themselves.

While it’s easy to point the finger, to assign blame, to critique and find fault in others (and it might all be deserved, by the way!), the harder thing is to self-reflect. To have your protagonist evaluate their own behaviors in light of the behaviors of those other characters. To identify choices they can make that not only free them from whatever unhappy construct they’re trapped in, but that usher them toward what they ultimately need, all as a result of their own actions.

In the real world, we know it’s not only impossible to change someone else’s behavior, it’s also not our responsibility. In the world of writing, we want to be conscientious about the way we handle that truth, too. Our characters become the vehicle for conveying a deeper truth readers then carry into their lives.

If your character’s story is an everyone else problem, where is the space for your protagonist to exercise agency? To grow and change? To test out what they can control and to deliver themselves the satisfying ending they crave?

Let’s look at a few ways to move your character from thinking their problem is about someone else to understanding that their own choices will deliver them what they need:

1. Introduce characters that show your character what’s possible behavior-wise. Maybe another character is thriving despite being in a similar situation. Or perhaps another character challenges your character directly on their decision to stay stuck in an unhappy relationship. Who can come along to plant seeds that give your character the courage to try new behaviors? To let go of the expectations they’ve placed on others? To show them that we don’t have to fixate on how others can and will let us down?
2. Introduce characters that mimic your protagonist’s detrimental choices. Maybe your character meets someone and realizes how that character is holding themselves back or making poor decisions. Maybe your character meets someone in the same situation and who is very much stuck in a victim role. Mirror characters are a safe way for your protagonist to see the truth about their own choices and to give them aha moments about themselves. Sometimes it’s not until they see something in someone else that they can then see something about their own lives. Your character might even begin to support or mentor someone else, and that forces them to want to employ change in their own life.
3. Introduce subplots that invite your character to put energy and heart elsewhere. Maybe they take up a new hobby or job, or they go somewhere completely new. Where can they thrive? Under what circumstances can their strengths emerge? Where can they have greater autonomy and see how their own choices can and will lead them to what they need? Where can they be appreciated in ways that they’ve lacked? You might even have some new subplots that reveal what your character doesn’t want—new activities or new places that echo the unhappy aspects of their preexisting lives. That way, they’re empowered to walk away in a lower-stakes setup, and to see that doing so isn’t so bad after all.
4. Present a conflict that moves them away from the rut of missed expectations. If a more significant problem emerges that invites your character in, they can loosen their focus on the way they enter the story mired in unhappy circumstances. In overcoming an unrelated conflict, they may see themselves in a new light and realize their happiness doesn’t reside in others’ hands.
5. Force them to confront the past despite their journey. While we want new people and places and experiences to grow our protagonists, part of their story arc is seeing their past with a shifted perspective. Healing is about coming to terms with the past—not simply moving away from it. If your protagonist has a new support system around them as a result of their own choices, they’re better equipped to confront the past with courage. That way, we see the power those unsatisfying relationships once had as being diminished. Perhaps the protagonist can even reflect on their own counterproductive part in the way things once were.

It’s Important to Note That Blaming Others and Not Wanting to Make Changes Are Normal and Even Expected Reactions.

Your character might enter the story this way and spend your first quarter wrestling with the view that everyone else is their problem. But beware that readers are turned off to characters with a victim mentality. Also, readers come to a story expecting change. For the protagonist’s agency to emerge and story structure to function, the reader will expect that somewhere around the 25% mark, there’s a collapse in that everyone-else-is-the-problem perspective. The character will begin to see that being held hostage by missed expectations is what’s harming them above all, and they’ll begin driving their own quest toward well-being through those five strategies above. If we’re to reach the ending fully believing your character is going to be okay, it will take time all throughout those final three-quarters to see how and why.

While we’d all love to change something about the people around us, controlling others isn’t feasible and it renders us powerless. In story, it’s no different. The more we empower our protagonist to step into new relationships and new experiences, the more we lessen the grip of missed expectations. We position our characters to face a problem that is fixable and give them that satisfying ending they deserve.

MARISSA GRAFF - Resident Writing Coach

Marissa has been a freelance editor and reader for literary agent Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary Agency for over seven years. In conjunction with Angelella Editorial, she offers developmental editing, author coaching, and more. Marissa feels if she’s done her job well, a client should probably never need her help again because she’s given them a crash-course MFA via deep editorial support and/or coaching. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Marissa below.

The post Five Ways to Get Your Protagonist to Realize They’re the Problem appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Writers hear it all the time: Show, don’t tell. This advice is so iconic that I wouldn’t be surprised if a few tattoos are kicking around the community. After all, our job as writers isn’t to explain what’s happening to readers, it’s to help them experience the story themselves. And show, don’t tell is how we do it!

Showing Creates an Experience.
Telling Hands Out Information.

Imagine your story as a culinary masterpiece and your reader a dinner guest. Sure, you could slap a plate down and say, “It’s lasagna, enjoy,” or you could slide the steaming dish in front of them and let those saucy layers, bubbling cheese, and heavenly aroma rev them up for the first bite.

Telling has its place -and for more on that, zip over here- but showing engages readers. It will bring them in close, make them feel involved, and awaken their emotions and memories.

One problem with show, don’t tell?

Somewhere along the way, it became so integrated with character emotion that writers didn’t necessarily think to use it for other things.

To be clear, showing emotion is great advice! I’m sure you’ve attended workshops and been told not to say your character is sad—instead, describe them standing at their school locker, clutching a break-up note, blinking fast and swallowing hard. If you’ve read The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, you know Becca and I preach loud and proud about showing emotion. But it has so many other applications, so let’s recap a few.

Showing Can Anchor Readers in the Setting

When it comes to worldbuilding, readers should be able to imagine the character’s world and feel part of each scene.

Telling: The castle was massive, with stone walls and high towers.

Showing: The castle loomed over the village, its stone walls etched with centuries of wind and war. Torchlight flickered along the high towers, where banners snapped against the night sky.

Telling works for delivering details that aren’t important, but showing can draw a reader in, help them imagine what they reader, convey the history or importance of a location, and more.

Showing Can Set the Mood

Part of creating an experience is steering how readers should feel. The details we share, especially sensory description, can nudge them to view a setting a certain way—safe, dangerous, calming, worrying. It’s up to us.  

Telling: The alley was dark and scary.

Showing: The alley narrowed, its brick walls leaning inward, swallowing the last flickers of streetlight. Garbage bags sagged against dented cans, the air thick with something damp and rotting.

Here, telling is factual, but showing creates foreboding. Only one will push readers to eagerly read on to see what sort of bad thing is waiting in the dark.

Showing Can Define a Relationship Without Labels

Characters shouldn’t have to say they’re best friends, mortal enemies, or hopelessly in love. Their actions should make that obvious.

Telling: Jake and Connor had been best friends for years.

Showing: Jake barely knocked before pushing open Connor’s door. “Bro, I got a problem with someone and need backup.”
Connor shut his textbook. “Let’s go. I’m driving.”

Best friends? Yup! Telling would work if this friendship wasn’t relevant, but if it is, we need to see that closeness in action. Showing does that, pulling the reader along for the ride.

Showing Can Reveal Character Motivation

Characters need to have agency, doing and saying things for a reason. But if we just tell readers what’s driving them, it falls flat.

Telling: Olivia wanted to prove she was just as capable as her older brother.

Showing: Olivia tightened the laces on her running shoes. She could still hear her brother’s voice from last night: “You won’t last a mile.” Gritting her teeth, she stepped onto the track. She’d make it ten.

A character’s motivation is more likely to land with readers if they empathize with their reasons. Showing here utilizes a common human experience—a lack of support and voiced doubt—and places readers in Olivia’s corner. They want her to succeed.

Showing Helps Deepen Conflict and Stakes

If the stakes matter, readers should feel it.

Telling: If Sam lost, he’d have to leave town for good.

Showing: Sam rolled his poker chip across the felt. One hand. One chance.

Across the table, Mason smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll pass on your goodbyes to everyone at the wedding tomorrow.”

Here, telling readers what’s at stake is equivalent to a sad trombone (womp-womp). Showing makes readers care about Sam and invest in what happens next.

Showing Can Showcase Characterization

Each character will have their own personality, talents, beliefs, tendencies, quirks, etc. How you convey who they are can mean the difference between a cardboard character and someone so authentic it feels like they stepped out of the real world.

Telling: Jonas was a germaphobe.

Showing: Jonas pinched the edge of his plate, avoiding contact. Across the table, a man sneezed into his palm, then grabbed the breadbasket. Jonas stiffened. Bacteria—everywhere. He chewed fast, breathed shallowly. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could scrub this place off his skin.

When we show it, Jonas’ fear feels authentic. Readers can surmise how this phobia will shape his life in the story.

Look for Opportunities to Make Your Story Immersive!

Showing can vastly improve a story, but crafting the right descriptions is not easy. This is why it can be so tempting to slip into telling. It’s worth the worth, though, when the situation in the story warrants showing.

It comes down to knowing what to show, and what to tell. Readers never need to know every little thing about the story and your characters, but they know the important stuff that helps them follow the story, care about the characters, and feel invested in the outcome.

Focus on what’s important, what readers need to know, and what makes them care the most. If you need help finding telling that you suspect needs to be converted to showing, try 7 Ways to Find Telling in Your Writing.

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How to Use Show, Don’t Tell to Strengthen Your Story appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Likeable characters can become the beating heart of your narrative. Readers root for them and stick with them throughout their journeys. But what exactly makes a character likeable? It’s not just about being nice but making them relatable.

So, let’s look at how to write such characters!

Kindness WITHOUT An Agenda

A likeable character is helpful, compassionate and patient with others because it’s part of their personality … NOT because they want something in return. They will even be kind when it’s not convenient to themselves.

Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables) can be dramatic and impulsive, but her deep kindness shines through everything she does.

Forrest Gump’s kindness is pure and never changes, even when others attempt to take advantage of him.

Ted Lasso always gives others grace, even when they’re contemptuous of him.

Give Them an Optimistic Outlook

Optimism can be endearing, especially when it’s grounded in awareness. An optimistic character can seem clueless or over-privileged if they are overly naive. Likeable characters acknowledge reality, but choose to see the positive in it.

Jo March in Little Women is a good sister to Meg, Beth and Amy. Jo also wants to earn her own money and is determined to succeed as a writer. Jo does not mention love, a rich husband, or children like many women of her time. When she gets her first pay cheque then, we cheer for her.

Phil Dunphy in Modern Family is goofy and sometimes child-like, but that is not where his characterization ends. He is a committed father and husband, providing for his family. When his real estate business is not going so well, he hides this from wife Claire as he doesn’t want her to worry. This makes him lovable rather than a man-child like Homer Simpson.

Have Them Lift Other Characters Up

A character become likeable when they put others first. They validate the other characters and support their own journeys. They help them deal with setbacks, as well as celebrate others’ wins.

In Lord of the Rings, Samwise Gamgee is a constant support to Frodo. Sam accompanies Frodo on his epic quest and encourages him through its trials and tribulations.

Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice is quite reserved, but offers constant support for her sisters. She understands the sacrifices she may need to make to ensure the family is financially secure. Her acceptance of this makes readers root for her.

Last Points

Remember there are three elements that contribute to a likeable character: kindness, optimism and uplifting others. Just ensure they are not naive or over-privileged in doing so. Then you will have a likeable character that resonates with readers and viewers alike.

Good Luck!

LUCY V. HAY - Resident Writing Coach

Lucy V. Hay is a script editor, author and blogger who helps writers. She’s been the script editor and advisor on numerous UK features and shorts & has also been a script reader for 20 years, providing coverage for indie prodcos, investors, screen agencies, producers, directors and individual writers. She’s also an author, publishing as both LV Hay and Lizzie Fry.  Lizzie’s latest, a serial killer thriller titled The Good Mother is out now with Joffe Books, with her sixth thriller out in 2024. Lucy’s site at www.bang2write.com has appeared in Top 100 round-ups for Writer’s Digest & The Write Life, as well as a UK Blog Awards Finalist and Feedspot’s #1 Screenwriting blog in the UK (ninth in the world.). She is also the author of the bestselling non-fiction book, Writing & Selling Thriller Screenplays: From TV Pilot To Feature Film (Creative Essentials), which she updated for the streaming age for its tenth anniversary in 2023.

The post How To Write A Likeable Character appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Facts are facts: writers throw a lot of rocks at characters. Enemies. Obstacles. Maybe a rabid zombie or two. And we aren’t nice about it, spacing out each projectile, no. We like to line up our canons and see just how many hits a character can take…all in the name of character arc growth.

Whether it’s marriage problems, a car breakdown, or a killer taunting our character by choosing victims they know, at a certain point, our character is going to blow up. And when they do, they’ll set aside rational thought and act. Luckily for us, this almost always turns out bad for them, but good for the story because poor judgment, rash decisions, and risks usually generate conflict.

When characters become volatile, it doesn’t matter if they have a good reason or not, only the mistakes and missteps that often follow. But what does ‘acting on emotion’ look like—is it all road rage and smashed windows? Heck no!

What a Loss of Control Can Look Like

Impaired Decision-Making

When someone is emotionally activated, they aren’t thinking clearly. Feelings are so close to the surface they can crowd out everything else. In this state, your character may. . .

• Fail to apply common sense
• Jump to conclusions
• Think irrationally
• Adopt an all-or-nothing mindset
• Be swayed by personal bias
• Refuse to compromise

It never bodes well when a character acts without thinking. All the above can lead to a delicious stew of misjudgments, poor decisions, risk-taking, and mistakes. Hello, conflict!

Damaged Relationships

If a character’s emotions are elevated, whatever is causing them to be upset is their focus, not the people around them. Even though they may not intend to hurt anyone, they may do so anyway, especially if your character . . .

• Shuts loved ones out
• Lashes out in frustration
• Questioning someone’s motives or loyalty
• Spurns an offer of help
• Makes a false accusation
• Says something hurtful or rude

Things said and done in the heat of the moment usually end with regret as the fallout and misunderstandings will take time to undo. Most likely the character will feel bad for anything unfair said or done, but they will need to take accountability and make amends to undo the damage.

Questioning Themselves

Sometimes a small burden comes along that is small on its own but becomes the ‘one thing too much’ when added to everything else. The feeling of being undone by something small can cause self-destructive thoughts and a crisis of faith in themselves. This might be shown through. . .

• Feeling less than
• Heightened vulnerability
• Becoming self-critical
• Tearing themselves down to others
• Making self-destructive choices as punishment
• Giving up

Characters who break under an additional strain that on its own they could handle will have a hard time moving past it because they will be left feeling like they’ve let themselves and everyone else down. They will need to regain perspective and see the entire load they carried, not just the one thing that broke them.   

Compromised Values

When a character experiences a heightened state of emotion, they may do things they never thought they would do. Maybe others are pressuring them and they give in, or an emotion like frustration, desire, or anger has taken over. In any case, this might cause them to . . .

•  Cross a moral line
•  Break the law
•  Act on their biases
•  Give in to violence
•  Do what’s easy, not what’s right

Of all the messes that can result from losing control, a character going against their morals or beliefs will be the most difficult thing for them to reconcile, especially if others are hurt by their actions. A person’s beliefs are tied to their identity, so crossing a line may lead to an identity crisis over who they truly are. Depending on what they’ve done, it may be very hard for the character to live with the consequences.

Reputational Damage

In many situations, when a character loses control of their emotions, they aren’t alone, so what they say and do is on display. This includes when they . . .

• Spout flawed logic
• Lose their temper
• Forget their filter
• Break under pressure
• Make mistakes

People tend to judge others for their loss of control, meaning many of the people around your character will think less of them, even if they say otherwise. To repair damage to their reputation the character will have to exhibit strong emotional control moving forward. If they do, others will be more likely to view the past lapse as a one-time thing, not a pattern.   

Making Things Worse

When emotions run high, the character acts without considering the consequences. They may . . .

• Take risks
• Act rashly
• Forego logic
• Fail to spot a danger or mistake
• Endanger others

If a character is too blinded by their need to ‘do something’ to care about anything else, people get hurt, mistakes are made, and complications arise. In the aftermath, the character realizes they only have themselves to blame, and now they need to fix whatever they broke. Mistakes are also lesson, however, and to avoid making this one again, the character will be motivated to manage their emotions better in the future.  

Characters are unique. Some will be more in control of their emotions than others.

But make no mistake, all characters have a tipping point where they lose control. One strategy to help this along is to deploy an emotion amplifier–a state or condition that will activate your character’s emotions and push them toward volatility. Pain, Confinement, Hunger, Competition, Attraction, Scrutiny…these and other amplifiers can weaken or strain a character’s ability to self-regulate their emotions.  

Try this list of emotion amplifiers to brainstorm ways to mess with your character’s control and bring their hidden emotion out into the open. For more on the benefits of emotion amplifiers, check out our companion to The Emotion Thesaurus: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility.  

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How to Show Emotional Volatility appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

I truly believe that excellent stories require excellent characters. And with so many books already out there, we’ve got to be able to deliver compelling and realistic characters to set our stories apart. How do we do it? By focusing on the details. And one of the markers that can really boost individuality and memorability for a character is their particular talents or skills.

Every person has something they’re good at. Sometimes it’s a gift they’re born with that comes naturally; for others, it’s a carefully nurtured and honed ability. Many times, a character’s talent says something about who they are: it may tie into their belief system, meet a missing need, honor an influential person in their life, or reveal associated personality traits.

But despite the many talents and skills out there, we tend to see the same ones in books all the time. Now, if your story requires your character have a certain ability, that’s fine; sometimes, we don’t get to choose their special abilities. But if you’ve got more latitude, consider one of the following techniques for coming up with a skill that’s a little more original.

Go for Something Unusual

Sometimes it’s as easy as thinking beyond the obvious options. Instead of being a strong runner or artist, maybe your character could have a talent that’s a little less mainstream, like sleight of hand, lip-reading, or a knack for languages. Do you need them to be an athlete? Consider a sport readers haven’t seen a million times, like cricket, curling, water polo, or parkour. Your skilled forager could be urban rather than rural, fishing goodies out of storm drains or dumpsters. If you’re writing in a genre with fantastical elements, you can get really creative by giving your character an extrasensory ability or something that’s specific to your fantasy or paranormal world. Their skill will obviously have to work within the overall story and the world you’ve created, but you have more choices than you know, so don’t be afraid to branch out and try something new.

Encourage Your Character to Specialize

One way to come up with an unusual ability is to take a popular one and make it more specific. If your character is mechanically inclined, they may be particularly adept with machines from a certain region, time period, or industry. A marksman might specialize in one weapon, and maybe it’s not the typical rifle (Crossbow? Darts? Slingshot?). Your assassin may prefer to work with and have extensive knowledge of poisons. Breathe new life into a ho-hum strength by narrowing the focus.

Give a Common Talent a Twist

It’s not always necessary to reinvent the wheel; often, you can come up with something new by tweaking a popular talent. If musicality is your character’s thing, don’t make her a singer or piano player; maybe she really shines by writing music or crafting certain instruments. A character’s photographic memory may only be reliable for a few hours after events have happened. A person who blows off steam by knitting might use their talent to create blankets for preemies or hats for the homeless. In the latter case, the talent can also hint at personality traits (empathy, selflessness, generosity), hobbies, or other areas of passion. We get more bang for the buck when our characterization and description elements do double duty, so if a character’s skill can also say something about who they are, that’s a bonus for readers.

Pair It with an Unexpected Personality Trait

Many skills are associated with certain traits because they often go together. For instance, people who are good with numbers are usually pretty analytical. But that doesn’t mean the two have to go together. A character with this ability could be highly creative or emotional, instead, and you’d end up with someone unexpected. Likewise, you could have a gifted public speaker who is painfully shy, stumbling their way through one-on-one conversations. This trick can be especially helpful when your story requires a common talent; get creative with your character’s traits, instead, and you can come up with something new that will pique readers’ interests.

In conclusion, an area of skill is a great way to individualize a character—but remember that it can’t be random. There are reasons people embrace and nurture certain talents. They come from somewhere: a natural aptitude, a shared passion with a loved one, the desire for approval or acceptance, etc. So, a special ability shouldn’t be chosen at random. Always know the why behind it. Once you’ve ensured it ties naturally into their overall character profile, use these suggestions to take a character’s talent or skill to the next level.   

Would you like help
finding the perfect
talents and skills
for your characters?

Check out the Talents & Skills Thesaurus
at One Stop for Writers!

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How to Choose the Perfect Talent for Your Character appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Like many other kids, I got my first job as a babysitter. You’re probably picturing me as a competent, CPR-trained teenager armed with craft supplies and a boatload of determination. But this was 1981, which means I was a whopping nine years old when someone put me in charge of their kids.

Who does that? The mom who couldn’t get anyone else to watch her little hellions, that’s who. Those kids were everywhere, into everything. And they weren’t listening to me, because just the day before, I was making mud pies with them in my backyard.

It wasn’t pretty, but we survived the afternoon. They ate as much ice cream as they wanted, the mom got a few hours to herself, and I walked away (directly to the arcade) with 75 cents in my pocket. In ‘81, we called that winning.

Some days, being an author feels like the same gig. I think I know the characters. I’m sure of their roles and where they need to go in the story. But they just look at me and laugh. No one does what I tell them to do, and I spend most of my time trying to keep them from burning the place down.

Any babysitter worth their salt has a bag of tricks to help them manage the difficult kids, and the same should be true for authors.

Some of the most challenging characters are those that are emotionally stunted in some way; they’re unable to experience a full range of emotions, or past trauma has forced them into a guarded position that shields them from uncomfortable feelings. The tricks we’d use to motivate a run-of-the-mill character just don’t work.

And this is a problem, because our job is to guide every character through a journey of self-discovery and revelation that will enable them to achieve their goals. But if they’re unwilling or unable to be emotionally vulnerable, they’ll never face their past, work through their issues, and reach that place of healing and fulfillment. So we’ve got to use methods that will provide the necessary learning opportunities and reflective moments. A tool that works really well for this is a strategically employed emotion amplifier.

An emotion amplifier is a specific state or condition that influences what the character feels by disrupting their equilibrium and reducing their ability to think critically. Addiction, confinement, boredom, hunger, and exhaustion are all examples. These states heighten the character’s emotions and make them more volatile, pushing them to act or respond in ways that often create more difficulty. Employ enough amplifiers, and the character’s situation will worse until they eventually hit rock bottom and will be forced to evaluate their situation and themselves.

In short, amplifiers serve as catalysts to push characters into action and propel them along their arc. Because of their universal nature, they’ll work on most characters, but they’re especially helpful with those who fall outside of the emotional norm.

Sociopaths and Psychopaths

Like their well-adjusted counterparts, these characters have goals they’re struggling to achieve. Where they differ is that they lack empathy and are less likely to lose emotional control. But at some point, that’s what we need them to do: lose their cool, act rashly, and see the need for change so they can get whatever it is they want. It takes a bit more work to trigger a blowup for a psychopath or sociopath, but a potent amplifier like pain, arousal, or danger can strong-arm them into an unfiltered or explosive reaction that will start them on the journey to self-awareness.

Emotionally Numb Characters

Characters who are disconnected from their emotions may appear to readers as if they don’t feel anything. Forging connections between readers and these characters is especially challenging; using an amplifier can nudge them toward volatility, producing feelings readers can recognize and relate to.

Another reason amplifiers work well for an emotionally numb character is because of their commonality. The character may be unable to express what they feel in the wake of an amplifier, but if the writer can make the cause and effect clear, readers will be able to fill in the emotional blanks. This works even for amplifiers the reader hasn’t experienced but has heard or read about, such as psychosis or possession.

Highly Traumatized Characters

Past trauma is another universal element of the human experience. It can upend a character’s life, sowing dysfunction in key ways.

Painful experiences force characters to emotionally protect themselves, and not always in a good way. They become skilled at keeping people and hurtful situations at a distance, but their methods often cause isolation and difficulty connecting with others. When negative feelings do break through, unhealthy coping mechanisms like detachment, disassociation, or avoidance keep the character from experiencing them. If this repeated buffering prevents them from working through the past and moving forward in a healthier way, the damage from trauma remains ongoing.

Unresolved trauma can also lead characters to believe they’ll be hurt again if they let their guard down. This outlook erodes one or more of their basic human needs, and the emotional shielding they’ve adopted to protect themselves keeps them from achieving the goals that would bring their needs back into alignment.

A highly traumatized character who isn’t open to healing won’t be able to tackle their past head on, all at once. Instead, their confidence and self-worth must be built up a bit at a time. This can be done by introducing amplifiers the character can successfully navigate. Here’s an example:

Mikhail paces a path in his living room carpet, sweating and aching while substance withdrawal sinks its claws into him. As his anguish increases, his determination to get clean weakens. He scrolls through his mental list of places to get what he needs to take away the pain. Those names, those faces, those places . . . all are waiting beyond his apartment door.

He takes a step toward it.

“Daddy?” A sleep-heavy voice cuts through his thoughts. Abel, in his duck-print onesie, stands in the bedroom doorway. “Can I have a drink?”

“Of course.” Mikhail’s voice cracks and he hurries to the kitchen faucet before Abel sees his tears. Remember why you’re doing this.

While putting the three-year-old back to bed, he notices one of Abel’s stuffed animals on the floor. He carries it to the living room, wedges a chair against the front door, and places the bedraggled giraffe on it. All night, through shakes and fever, he stares at the stuffed toy, an unlikely guardian against the darkness on the other side, until the sun rises and the shadows disperse.

The trauma that created Mikhail’s addiction is still there, and he may not be ready to work through it yet. But introducing an amplifier in the form of substance withdrawal provides a stepping-stone opportunity for him to successfully navigate just one night of his recovery journey. This gives him strength and purpose, both of which set him up for more growth in the future.

Amplifiers are super useful for getting a character where you need them to go—especially if they’re resistant to change or have some emotional challenges. To get them there, we need to stop babysitting and start life coaching. Use amplifiers to provide opportunities that will help them grow personally, generate tension and conflict in the story, and keep readers glued to the pages.

The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus will help you:

• Showcase a Character’s Hidden Emotions
• Write Realistic Responses
• Add Tension and Conflict
• Show Character Arc Growth
• Brainstorm High-Stakes Moments

Check out the emotion amplifiers covered in this book!

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How to Use Amplifiers to Motivate Emotionally Challenging Characters appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

There are a lot of Dos and Don’ts for a story’s first pages. Do introduce the protagonist(s). Do start in medias res. Don’t start with a dream sequence. Don’t info dump.

These techniques are important because they accomplish one of the main purposes of your opening: they encourage reader connection. And that’s key because if the reader doesn’t make that connection in the first few pages, they likely won’t read on to chapter two or ten or The End.

Because of the first page critique contests I do, I have a lot to say about story openings—what works and what doesn’t. And today I’d like to share some story elements you can include in your first pages that will pull readers in, along with some opening-page examples from fiction that show this in action. You don’t want to include them all, but if you can add even one, you’ll increase your chances of hooking readers right away so they become invested in your story.

1. Characterization

We know readers connect primarily with characters. When you can start characterizing right away—showing readers how the protagonist is likable or relatable, their defining traits, where they’re vulnerable—the connection is forged.

In the following example from a classic, we learn quite a lot about one of the main characters in the very first paragraph. This is an older book, published before show-don’t-tell became a cornerstone writing technique. Even so, we begin to form a picture of this character—her personality traits and a few physical features—that starts the process of us getting to know them.

In Fort Repose, a river town in Central Florida, it was said that sending a message by Western Union was the same as broadcasting it over the combined networks. This was not entirely true. It was true that Florence Wechek, the manager, gossiped, yet she judiciously classified the personal intelligence that flowed under her plump fingers and maintained a prudent censorship over her tongue. The scandalous and the embarrassing she excised from her conversation. Sprightly, trivial, and harmless items, she passed onto friends, thus enhancing her status and relieving the tedium of spinsterhood. If your sister was in trouble and wired for money, the secret was safe with Florence Wechek. But if your sister bore a legitimate baby, it’s sex and weight would soon be known all over town.

~Alas Babylon

Tools to help you build relatable, vulnerable, and well-rounded characters: The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and One Stop for Writer’s Character Builder.

2. What’s Missing?

If your character’s navigating a change arc, there will be something wrong or missing in their life from the get-go. This is important for readers to see early on, because it plays into those vulnerability and relatability pieces. We’ve all been there. We all have things in life we wish were different, or we feel stuck in some way. If you can hint early on at something missing for the character (their inner motivation), readers will empathize with them and immediately want that void to be filled.

It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache.

The school bus wheezes to my corner. The door opens and I step up. I am the first pickup of the day. The driver pulls away from the curb while I stand in the aisle. Where to sit? I’ve never been a backseat wastecase. If I sit in the middle, a stranger, could sit next to me. If I sit in the front, it will make me look like a little kid, but I figure it’s the best chance I have to make eye contact with one of my friends, if any of them have decided to talk to me yet.

The bus picks up students in groups of four or five. As they walk the aisle, people who were my middle-school lab partners or gym buddies glare at me. I close my eyes. This is what I’ve been dreading. As we leave the last stop, I am the only person sitting alone.

~Speak

Most of us could empathize with this character simply because it’s the first day of school, and we recognize the associated nerves and angst. But in these opening paragraphs, we learn that this character has lost all her friends. She is utterly alone. There’s a lot we don’t know about her situation, but at the very least, we know that for her to find fulfillment, she’ll somehow have to reconnect with others.

3. The Story Goal

In a story with a change arc, the character’s overall goal (their outer motivation) is often (subconsciously) chosen because it’s going to meet their internal lack. Getting into Harvard Law and becoming a lawyer will help her get the boy (Legally Blonde). Catching the serial killer will help the quadriplegic ex-detective once again fine purpose in his life (The Bone Collector).

It’s not always possible to include the goal on the very first page, but if you can pull it off, do it. Then, readers will know straight away what has to happen for the character to succeed, and they’ll know what to root for.

Blue Sargent had forgotten how many times she’d been told that she would kill her true love.

~The Raven Boys

Here, we see in just one sentence what Blue’s story goal will be: she’ll have to somehow subvert the curse to find true love. There’s so much more to her situation, but this is all that’s needed to create a killer opening line that pulls readers in.

Tools for understanding character arc, inner motivation, and outer motivation: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus and One Stop’s Story Maps.

4. Foreshadowing and Conflict

When we see a character in conflict, we feel for them. We know how it feels to be in conflict, whether the conflict creates awkwardness and discomfort or impending pain and death. Including conflict in the opening pages is a good way to tweak the readers emotions and get them firmly on the character’s side.

When possible, we want it to tie directly to the main conflict or storyline. In other words, it’s not random. Let readers see a small piece of the character’s overall struggle that will plague them throughout the story.

Foreshadowing is a great way of enticing readers with future conflict, or the promise of it.

“We should start back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.”

“Do the dead frighten you?” Ser Waymar Royce asked with just a hint of a smile.

“We have a long ride before us,” Gared pointed out. “Eight days, maybe nine. And night is falling.”

Will could see the tightness around Gared’s mouth, the barely suppressed anger in his eyes under the thick black hood of his cloak. Gared had spent forty years in the watch, man and boy, and he was not accustomed to being made light of. Yet it was more than that. Under the wounded pride, Will can sense something else in the older man. You could taste it; a nervous tension that came perilous close to fear.

Will shared his unease. He was a veteran of a hundred rangings by now, and the endless dark wilderness that the southron called the haunted forest had no more terrors for him.

Until tonight. Something was different tonight.

~A Game of Thrones

Tools for writing conflict: The Conflict Thesaurus, Volumes One and Two

5. Questions

One of the best ways to keep readers reading is to create intrigue. Raise questions that will only be answered if they keep going. In the first pages I critique, I look for at least one question—something that isn’t fully explained that whets my whistle and makes me want to know more.

Pip knew where they lived.

Everyone in Fairview knew where they lived.

Their home was like the town’s haunted house; people’s footsteps quickened as they walked by, and their words strangled and died in their throats. Shrinking children would gather on their walk home from school, daring one another to run up and touch the front gate.

But it wasn’t haunted by ghosts, just three sad people trying to live their lives as before. A house not haunted by flickering lights or spectral falling chairs, but by dark spray-painted letters of “Scum Family” and stone-shattered windows.

~The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

What happened to this family?
Why do their lives look so different than before? Before what?
Why are the people in town so afraid of them?

Full disclosure: I haven’t read this book. I found it in a stack of library books in my kid’s room when I was paging through first pages, looking for examples. But I’m adding it to my list simply from reading the first four paragraphs and wanting answers to the questions the author raised.

6. An Unusual Character or Authorial Voice

This one is impossible for every story because not every narrator has a stand-out voice. And that’s perfectly fine. But if yours does, get it out there right from the start. This gives readers an immediate feel for the character, and they’ll know they’re in for a treat.

Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.

If you’re reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.

Being a half-blood is dangerous. It’s scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

If you’re a normal kid, reading this because you think it’s fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.

But if you recognize yourself in these pages­—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it’s only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they’ll come for you.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

~Percy Jackson and the Olympians

I’ll close with this example because it hits a lot of the points: strong voice, some some characterization, foreshadowing, and questions. It’s a great example of how multiple techniques can be included on the very first page to pique the reader’s interest.

So next time you’re revising your opening, see if your first few pages tick any of these boxes. If not, revise to include one or two of them, and you’ve got a better chance of pulling readers in right from page one.

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post 6 First Page Inclusions for Drawing Readers In appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Has an editor or critique partner said, “Your character is flat” when offering feedback on your story? Or perhaps they worded it another way: “Your protagonist didn’t grab me,” or “This character needs more depth.”

However it’s phrased, being told we’ve missed the mark on a character is a bit of a gut punch. But it’s okay. Flat characters, like anything else, can be fixed.  

A flat character is one-dimensional, lacking the depth and human complexity required to feel true to life. Not only do they seem unrealistic, they also fail to capture a reader’s curiosity or interest.

Flat characters can be written as such on purpose: a surly shopkeeper unwilling to bargain on price or the nosy neighbor trying to unearth your protagonist’s secrets. These types of characters have a small role or specific function (comic relief, mentorship, etc.) and don’t need a lot of depth.

But if an important character is seen as
shallow or boring…we have a big problem.

Characters are the heart of a story. For readers to care about them, they must feel like real people. Distinct personalities, belief systems, emotions, and histories shape them and their behavior. Personal needs, desires, struggles, and worldviews give them depth. All this, and a capacity for growth, is the magic recipe that will draw a reader in. 

What Causes a Flat Character?

Characters can feel underdeveloped for many reasons, but it often comes down to one thing: something essential about them has been overlooked. Some common offenders:

Shallow Backstory

A character’s past influences who they become, how they behave, and how they view the world around them. If a character’s backstory is missing, weak, or generic, their behavior may lack credibility or be inconsistent.

The Cure: Go deeper. Explore their past, including their emotional wounds, experiences, life lessons, fears, and insecurities.

Tools to Fix Backstory Issues: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus and One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder Tool.

A Too-Basic Personality

A character’s personality should contain specific traits that emerge because of their history/upbringing, the people who influenced them, and formative their life experiences, both good and bad. When writers gloss over the building out of a unique personality, they tend to give character ‘typical’ traits and so they come across as generic and unrealistic.

The Cure: People are complex, and characters will be, too. Spend time thinking about who your character is and why, and the traits most likely to appear in their personality. Be sure to also understand how negative experiences lead to personality flaws (and the behaviors and tendencies that go with them). Each character should have a mix of traits as no one is ever all good or bad.  

Tools to Fix Personality Issues: The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder Tool.

Over-Reliance on Character Tropes or Stereotypes

Due to their familiarity, using character tropes (e.g., the villain, reluctant hero, or absent-minded friend) can fast-track the reader’s understanding of a character’s role. But leaning on one too hard turns them into a stereotype or cliché, which is a huge turnoff.

The Cure: Use any trope generalizations as a starting point only. Do the work and make each character someone fresh. Readers loved to be surprised by interesting and meaningful qualities that elevate the character in ways they didn’t expect.

Tools to Help Fix Overused Character Types: The Character Trope and Type Thesaurus or One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder Tool.

Tunnel Vision

Characters who are only about one thing—the mission or goal, proving loyalty, success, etc.—come across as one-dimensional and unrealistic. For readers to connect with characters, they need to have relatable life layers. Relationships and social interactions. Dreams and desires. Responsibilities. Quirks, interests, problems.

The Cure: Real people can get obsessive about certain things, but they have other things going on. To give your character a better balance, imagine their entire life, not just the plot of your story. Explore how your character’s professional life or obsessions may collide with their personal life.

Tools to Help You Create Dynamic Characters: One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder Tool and The Occupation Thesaurus.

A Lack of Drive

In the real world, it can take time for us to know what we want, but in fiction, characters must be motivated and act. If your protagonist is wishy-washy about what they want or can’t settle on a goal, they’ll come off as weak.

The Cure: Characters who lack urgency when it comes to choosing or achieving a goal need to be put in the hot seat. Raise the stakes. Add conflict and tension. Make it clear that doing nothing leads only to pain and consequences. Additionally, know your character inside and out (#1) because past trauma, fears, and negative interactions will point you to their soft spots and unmet needs.

Tools to Fix Unmotivated Characters: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Conflict Thesaurus Volume 1, Volume 2, and The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus.

Distanced Emotions

Showing a character’s emotion, even when they’re trying to hide what they feel, is one of the most important tasks a writer has. Emotions are central to the human experience, and readers expect a front-row seat to whatever the character is feeling. When someone is closed off or seems imperviable to vulnerability, readers find it unrealistic.

The Cure: Become an expert at showing your character’s emotions, even when they try to hide what they feel from others. Readers must always be in the loop to empathize and feel invested. Understand how each individual will express emotion in their own way based on their personality, comfort zone, and backstory.

Tools to Help You Show Authentic Character Emotion: The Emotion Thesaurus, The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus, and The Emotional Wound Thesaurus.

Inadequate Internal Conflict

A well-developed character should have inner struggles, doubts, conflicting needs, fears, and insecurities, all of which make certain actions and decisions agonizing for them. If a writer doesn’t know a character well enough, their struggles will seem generic and readers will feel disconnected from their struggles.

The Cure: Understand your character inside and out, especially backstory and unresolved wounds that haunt them (#1). Know their life, their stresses, their pain, and how loyalty, expectations, or beliefs may tear at them so you can show powerful, meaningful inner conflict. Use psychology in fiction to show inner turmoil in ways readers recognize as they’ve experienced the same tendencies themselves.  

Tools to Help You Show Internal Conflict and Psychological Processes: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Conflict Thesaurus, Volume 1, and The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus.

Little to No Growth or Change  

In any story, characters will face challenges—often life-changing ones. Even in a flat arc, where the protagonist remains steadfast in their beliefs, they should still learn, adapt, and navigate obstacles in a way that feels authentic. Primary characters who respond to every problem the same way, repeat mistakes without growth, or remain rigid in their viewpoints can feel unrealistic and unconvincing to readers.

The Cure: All roads lead back to characterization. Go deeper. Get to know your character, and why they think, act, and behave as they do. Choose specific conflict scenarios that force them to confront misconceptions and fears that lead to change and growth.

Tools to Help You Write About Change and Growth: For growth journeys and the path of change, try The Emotional Wound Thesaurus. The Conflict Thesaurus Volumes 1 and Volume 2 are packed with help to craft powerful conflict that will strengthen and support character arc. The Character Builder Tool will take all your character-building information and create a character arc blueprint for you.

You can fix a flat character. It’s worth the effort because once readers bind themselves emotionally to a character, they’re hooked. If you’re lucky, they’ll enjoy your characters so much they’ll seek out your next book, too!

READ NEXT: How to Write a Protagonist with True Depth

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How to Avoid Flat Characters in Your Story appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Stakes are a crucial part of your story because they define what will happen if the protagonist fails. To build reader empathy, you need this piece in place because when the reader sees what’s at stake, and they recognize why it matters to the character, the story becomes important. It matters.

Stakes also create tension when the reader realizes what’s on the line. So when the stakes are referenced early on, readers are more likely to be drawn in and root for the character’s success.

But that empathy connection only happens if the reader can see what’s at stake. And that can only happen if the author knows what’s on the line. Sometimes, it’s obvious. What are the consequences if Sheriff Brody doesn’t catch the shark in Jaws? Death and dismemberment. In the original Inside Out, if all of Riley’s emotions aren’t acknowledged and won’t work together, her identity is at risk.

But other times, it’s harder to identify what’s at stake in a story. So I’d like to share a simple method for figuring that out.

Outer Motivation + Inner Motivation = Stakes

All you have to do is figure out a couple of key elements for your story.

First: the protagonist’s goal. This is their overall objective. It’s what they’re hoping to achieve: getting the girl, enacting revenge, catching the criminal, etc. This is also called the Outer Motivation because it’s what the character is visibly working toward; everything he or she does is in pursuit of this objective. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo’s goal is to destroy the one ring. In An Officer and a Gentleman, the protagonist’s goal is to become a Navy officer. The story goal should be pretty obvious because it’s what your character is actively seeking and pursuing.

But, often, there’s also something internally driving your character toward their goal. This is called the Inner Motivation because its private and is usually related to self-esteem or personal fulfillment. Figuring this out requires some digging into the character’s psyche and their past, but on a basic level, you can simply ask: Why is the goal so important to them?

In An Officer and a Gentleman, why does Zach Mayo want to become a Navy officer? There are lots of possibilities, but the true reason becomes clear when you know his backstory. His mother committed suicide, abandoning him as a ten-year-old. He was sent to live with his father, who was an excellent drinking buddy but not good for much else. And his dad’s military career had them moving all over so he could never put down roots. What Zach craves more than anything is belonging, and becoming a military officer will provide that for him. This is going to meet an internal need that’s missing. Belonging to a group is his inner motivation.

One interesting connection to note:
the inner motivation will often point back to a missing human need.

If you’ve followed Angela and me for long, you’ve likely heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs and how it fits into character arc. The full explanation is here, but to summarize, there are 5 needs that are common to all human beings. If any of these are missing, people become vulnerable, and they’ll take action to fill the void.

Very often, that missing need is the inner motivation.

So, when we’re thinking about how to create meaningful stakes for a character, it’s helpful to zero in on which need is missing or most important to them—and be sure it’s tied to their inner motivation. For Zach, he’s missing love and belonging. He’s chosen a goal that, if he succeeds, will usher him into a ready-made community. So what’s at stake if he fails? Not belonging—continuing to live in isolation, alone.

SIDEBAR: It’s important to note that not every protagonist has an inner motivation. This happens a lot in stories that are plot-driven rather than character-driven: thrillers, action/adventure, etc. Think: Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, and vintage James Bond. Those stories are all about the character achieving the goal rather than them growing and maturing, so that internal piece isn’t necessarily needed. In stories like these, the stakes will be very obvious: the end of the world, someone dying, the Nazis getting the Ark of the Covenant and becoming all-powerful, etc.

Bonus: You Can Start from Anywhere

The cool thing about this method is you don’t have to know all your story elements at once; you can start with the inner or outer motivation to figure out the rest of the pieces.

Example 1: Start with the story goal. You know you’re writing a romance with a protagonist who’s looking for true love. What missing human need will be filled if they succeed (inner motivation/human need)?  What’s at stake if they fail?

Example 2: Start with the human need/internal motivation that’s driving their behavior. You know your character inside and out, so you’ve already identified their wound and the human need that’s been compromised. Let’s say it’s Esteem and Recognition. What story goal might they pursue that would fill that void? What’s at stake if they fail to reach their objective?

And now you know how to figure out what’s at stake for your story. Convey that to readers early on, and you’ll show them why the story matters, making it engaging and difficult to put down.

Additional Stakes Resources:

Make the Stakes Personal
Tips for Raising the Stakes
Use Stakes to Establish Reader Expectations

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Use This Method to Identify Your Story’s Stakes appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

We’ve talked a lot around here about why characters need flaws. Those negative traits make characters relatable to readers, they contribute to their arc, and, oh, a whole bunch of other things. Flaws are especially important for any character navigating a change arc, where their weaknesses are keeping them from success and growth is necessary for them to realize the need for change.

Most of the time, creating flawed characters isn’t too hard. But it’s more difficult for certain kinds of characters than others—particularly if you’re writing a character defined by kindness or niceness. This is the nice guy/girl trope, and while it can work for a protagonist, it’s most often reserved for secondary characters, such as a friend, ally, or love interest.

The nice guy or girl is defined as being a decent, kind, and morally upright character who tends to make good decisions. That makes the question of flaws more challenging because this person, by definition, is good. It’s their defining trait, what readers should associate with them. The key to making to make this kind of character realistically flawed while still maintaining their defining goodness is to be careful which negative traits you give them.

Pick Forgivable Flaws

Not all weaknesses are viewed as equal; some are more accepted than others and are easier for readers to ignore or write off. If your nice guy character is prejudiced, violent, or cruel—those flaws are strong and could easily override their positive qualities to the point that readers will no longer see the character as good. So consider weaknesses that are less extreme and more acceptable, as we see with the following nice guys and girls:

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Esmerelda’s kindheartedness and empathy are offset by her naïveté. This is often a sign of weakness, but it makes her vulnerable and often goes along with her positives, making it an easy one to overlook.
• Pride and Prejudice: Charles Bingley lacks assertiveness, letting his sisters and Mr. Darcy influence him and override his own desires.
• Birdbox: Olympia, by her own admission, is too soft, and you know straight off that she’s not going to make it. (Extra points for the backstory in this movie that lays the foundation for her flaw.)
• Frozen: Olaf is so friendly and eager to help, no one really notices that he’s not so bright.
• The Bear: Pete, the main character’s brother-in-law (whose niceness is a welcome change in this dysfunctional family) is a little too nice. His attempts to help make him look awkward and not very capable and show that he has no clue how to work within the family.

Show How the Flaw Creates Vulnerability

Vulnerability is the primary driver for reader empathy, because when you can show that a character is vulnerable, readers soften toward them. And when their flaw is the thing putting them at risk, readers tend to focus their antagonism more on the trait and less on the character.

Know (and Show) the Why

Why is your character disorganized or impulsive or a worrywart? Where does their flaw come from? There’s a reason people are the way they are. Many factors can play into flaw development, including

• Negative influencers, bad role models, and abusive caregivers.
• Emotional wounds and painful memories.
• Unjust/unfair experiences.
• Negative life lessons.
• Environmental exposures (such as growing up in a dangerous neighborhood and developing certain flaws that aid in survival).

PSST: The One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder helps you explore these and other factors that contribute to the development of authentic and well-rounded characters.

Delve into their backstory to see which flaws make sense and where they might have come from. Then you can give readers a plausible and heart-tugging reason for the character’s unattractive trait—something outside of their control that has made them the way they are. Readers will overlook even a really unpopular trait if they see it’s the result of the character being hurt, wounded, or influenced in some way.

One of my favorite examples of this is Melvin Udall from the movie As Good as It Gets. (Okay, so he’s not a nice guy; he’s a total jerk. But the vulnerability principal applies to flaws in all kinds of characters.) Abrasive, prejudiced, selfish—you dislike Melvin on sight. But then you see that his behavior is the result of an untreated mental health condition that has left him isolated and alone. He actually craves community, but his off-putting flaws make it impossible for him to connect with anyone. And suddenly, you’re rooting for him. You want him to be and do better.

Showing the “why” also ensures that the negative trait you’ve chosen makes sense for the character. It wasn’t picked off a list and just plugged into their story—which is good, since that’s not how traits form. It developed like real-life flaws do, from past experiences, wounding events, and influencers. So make sure you know where the flaw came from, and be sure to show that to readers.

This post is a response to a question from one of our readers, which I originally replied to via a quick video in one of our newsletters. If you have writing- or industry-related questions you’d like us to answer, we’d love to address them. And to receive our occasional newsletter that contains answers to these questions along with other helpful writing advice, sign up here.

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Making Nice Guys & Girls Realistically Flawed appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.