I want to write a book.

You remember when this big idea first hit, right?

Maybe you were browsing for books, waiting for an author’s autograph, or sitting in awe after finishing a great novel. The idea took hold of you, and soon you found yourself buying notebooks, pens, and sticky notes. You browse online for writerly things—a cute laptop sticker or a mug that says, “Writer at Work.” And then when it arrives, you fill it with your favorite drink, sit down at your computer, and open up a new document. Because it’s SHOWTIME!

You place your hands on the keyboard, grinning like a clown-obsessed maniac. This is it—the magic is about to happen.

Onscreen, the cursor blinks. And blinks.

Boy, the page is so white. How did you not notice before? And that infernal flickering cursor… is it just you, or does it seem kind of judge-y?

And that’s when you realize your big idea has a second part to it:

I want to write a book…but I have no idea where to start.

Thankfully, this truth, while inconvenient, doesn’t have to stop any of us from writing. It may seem daunting at first, and doubts might try to sway us (What was I thinking? I can’t do this!), but I’m here to tell you that, yes, you can write a book.

7 Tips for How to Write a Book When You Have No Idea What You’re Doing

Not knowing where to start is a problem countless writers before us have faced and figured out. So, if you are feeling a bit lost when it comes to your big dream, these seven things can help you move forward and even better, jump start your writing career.

1. Write

Sure, this seems obvious, but starting can be paralyzing. We worry about committing our ideas to the page because what if they resemble some four-year-old’s Cheerios-and-glue “masterpiece”? Well, guess what? They might, and that’s okay. Great storytelling takes time, and if that didn’t put off Stephen King, Susanne Collins, or Nora Roberts, it shouldn’t stop us, either.

To begin, think about your Big Story Idea. Jot down your ideas, or try outlining the story you envision using one of these methods or this outlining software. Or start with something small, like one scene. At the beginning of a writing journey our goal should be getting comfortable with putting words on the page and having fun, not pressuring ourselves into penning the next Game of Thrones.

2. Read Widely

Reading is so enjoyable we tend to forget how each story is a treasure trove of education on what makes a book good, bad, or off-the-charts great. So read widely, thinking about what makes each story compelling. Look for characters that stand out, story worlds that seem so real you feel part of them, and plots that keep you flipping pages long into the night. Ask yourself questions:

• What made certain characters larger than life?
• Did their personalities, complex motives, or a truth they live by pull you to them?
• What scenes and situations seemed the most real to you?

Studying where you fell under the storyteller’s spell can help you see how you can do the same for your readers.

3. Join a Writing Group

One of the best things you can do at the start of this journey is find others on the writer’s path. A community of writers puts you in touch with those who have the same goal, meaning you can learn from and support one another. Plus, having creatives in your circle helps to keep you accountable, meaning your butt stays in the chair and words get written.

4. Collect a War Chest of Knowledge

We all start with some talent and skill, but to write well we need to train up. Visit Amazon to find writing books with high reviews so you can judge which might be most helpful for your development. Make note of the title or ISBN and order them at your favorite bookstore.

Another way to build your knowledge is by subscribing to helpful writing blogs. Bite-sized learning can be perfect for a time-crunched writer. I recommend exploring all the resources on this page, studying up on character building, story structure, worldbuilding, and everything in between.

Getting to know who the people in our stories are and what makes them tick helps us understand what’s motivating them, and that makes writing their actions and behavior easier. To dive deep into who a character is so you can write them with authority, this tool will help.

5. Take a Course or Workshop

Investing in guided or self-guided learning can also kickstart your progress. The community is packed with great teachers. Below are some good options, but first, if you belong to a writing organization, check to see if they offer members classes for free or at a discount.

• Reedsy Learning Center
• Bang2Write Courses
• Lawson Writer’s Academy
• Jami Gold Workshops
• Jerry Jenkins
• Writing for Life Workshops
• Michael Hauge (Hero’s Two Journeys)

6. Look For Step-by-Step Help

As any writer will tell you, the road from an idea to a publish-ready novel is a long one, and it’s easy to get lost along the way. It’s no fun when we don’t know what to write next, or we don’t know how to solve a problem in the story. And, if we get too frustrated or our writing stalls for too long, we might end up quitting. Having an expert offer guidance as you write can keep you on track.

Some writers like to partner with a writing coach so they get personal feedback and support as they go. If this is something you might like, here’s a list to start with. A benefit is that you’ll learn a lot about writing as you go, but depending on how long you need coaching for it can get a bit costly. So another option might be the Storyteller’s Roadmap at One Stop for Writers. This roadmap breaks the novel-writing process into three parts: planning, writing, and revising. It has step-by-step instructions on what to do as you go, and points you to tools, resources, and articles that will make the job easier.

The Storyteller’s Roadmap also has built-in solutions for the most common writing problems, so whether you need to overcome Writer’s Block, Impostor’s Syndrome, or stop new ideas from derailing your story, the Code Red section keeps you on track.

7.  Above All Else, Be Fearless

Starting a book can seem like a monumental undertaking, and sometimes with big dreams, we have the tendency to try and talk ourselves out of them. We fear failing, because we think that’s worse than never trying at all. If you feel the passion to write, don’t let fear stop you. The world needs great stories!

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 Write Your First Book appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Some characters are so dynamic, we feel immediately close to them. Everything they say, do, and think is consistent with who they are, they have a past and present, and as we share their experiences, we never have to guess at what they feel, want, or need.

This authenticity happens when the author does the deep work to understand the character inside and out. And, I’m betting they did something else, too: created a reference file about the character, a.k.a., a Character Bible. This is a great way to avoid unintentional inconsistencies and mistakes.

And mistakes do happen, because we forget things —Does Emma fear lizards or birds?—or we change our mind mid-book, and the love interest, Liam, goes from being a skateboarder to the king of parkour. Oh, and name changes? Don’t even get me started!

The point is that nothing pulls readers out of the story faster than when details shift, so implementing a way to keep each character straight in our minds is key.

The Character Bible: A Writer’s Best Friend

A character bible document will contain important details about a character, everything from their appearance, personality, and preferences to their backstory wounds, goals, needs, and secrets. It has a trio of benefits:

1. It pushes you to explore a character’s inner layers to figure out who they really are and what’s driving them in the story
2. Once complete, the bible serves as a reference tool for you to ensure everything about the character is consistent
3. Writing is easier because how the character thinks, acts, and behaves will be second nature to you.

How detailed your bible is depends on how important the character is. Some things you may wish to capture:

Appearance

What does your character look like? Do they have any interesting features that act as clues to readers as to the type of person they are? For example, hair: is their go-to a messy bun, is it chronically unwashed, or is every curl carefully tamed? Or do their clothes suggest a style preference or level of wealth? Do they have scars, marks, or defects that hint at an experience or trauma? Chosen well, specific details do a lot more than just help readers imagine what they look like.

Backstory

Your character’s past affects the present, in good ways and bad. So, who has influenced them to date, either supporting them or limiting them? What personal challenges have they worked through? What negative experiences (emotional wounds) are unresolved, leaving behind fear, biases, and false beliefs about themselves and the world?

Answering these questions will give you a good sense of what their past was like, and the most likely things they will carry forward, like emotional baggage, a sense of duty, a compulsion to fix people, etc.

Personality Traits

Every character will have a unique personality made of positive traits (strengths & identity markers) and negative traits (flaws that keep people and situations at a distance so the character can avoid being hurt by them). Think about both halves – this character’s defining positive qualities, and those that create friction with others.

Moral & Spiritual Beliefs

All characters, even the baddies, will have a moral code. Do you know what beliefs your character hold to so strongly they make decisions and are willing to sacrifice other things to stay true to them? Where is their line in the sand, and what ideas are important enough to them to protect?

Emotional Range & Behaviors

Each person expresses themselves in their own way, and characters will too. Think about your character’s individuality – are they open and communicative about feelings, or keep them inside? Are they demonstrative, or more reserved, extroverted or introverted, or somewhere in the middle? What are their quirks and comfort zones? Understanding a character’s typical emotional range helps you choose emotional responses that feel authentic.

Fears and Misbeliefs

Every character has fears that result from negative experiences, because that dark seed is planted that the same sort of hurt could happen again. So, what fear is making your character a prisioner in some way, shaping their view of the world, themselves, and holding them back from being truly happy? Do they believe they are unworthy or incapable because of this fear, and this destructive lie is one they must cast aside to achieve their story goal?

Talents, Skills, and Abilities

A character should have a few things they are good at, or an ability that make them unique. Giving your character a talent or skill that aids them when it comes to their goal (even in an unexpected way!) will create a sense of synchronicity for readers.

Likes and Dislikes

What are some of your character’s preferences…and why? Will these preferences steer their behavior in the story in good ways and bad? (Yes, the answer is yes.)

Hobbies, Interests, and Passions

What does your character enjoy doing? For a character to be realistic, they should have a few personal interests that make life more enjoyable. These may not even tie into the bigger story, but they do humanize your character to readers.

Current Situation

Just like a character has a past, they have a present, too.  Note a few details about where they live, what their family situation is like, what job they do, the vehicle they use to get around, and any routines or habits that might show up in the story. Knowing your character’s life better will give you ideas on how you can poke their soft spots (people and places they are attached to) and choose conflict that will come with personal stakes attached.

What They Want Most

Every character wants something – a goal that will make their situation better and leave them happier or more complete. This is what your character is striving to do or achieve in your story.

This goal should be something tangible or quantifiable, so readers know the character has done what they set out to do.

What They Need

Sometimes what your character wants and what they need are a bit different. Maybe your character wants a new girlfriend to get past the pain of their latest breakup, but what they need is time to love themselves better and understand why they keep choosing toxic partners. Thinking about what makes them feel incomplete and why can set them on the path of a goal that will help them grow and make them feel more complete.

Secrets

Every character has a secret (maybe more than a few!) so think about what they hide from others. Is there something that could create big problems for them if it was revealed, or does it tie into their unresolved emotional wound? (Readers love secrets, and a hint of one will keep them flipping pages.)

Worldview

How do they view the world – do they believe most people are good, or untrustworthy? Do they put others first, or look out for number one? Do they have biases, avoid certain places and experiences because they have preconceived ideas about what will happen, or refuse to listen to certain opinions that go against their own? If so, try to understand how this might tie to their backstory experiences.

Insecurities & Sensitivities

Life is not always gentle, and experiences where your character’s ego was bruised, or their emotions upended may have left them feeling insecure or easily triggered. If there are emotions your character tries to avoid feeling, or situations they stay away from because they make them feel weak, inept, or emotionally volatile, make a note. These are pointing to past pain, and you might wish to use them in the story to push them to become more self-aware so they can start a journey to healing.

This may seem like a lot to know about someone, but think of how easy it will be to write this character’s thoughts, decisions, and actions. And by writing when you down these details, you’ll have a character bible to reference when you need it!

A Tool that Creates a Character Bible for You

It takes time to uncover a character’s inner layers, we know, so we built a tool to help with that: the Character Builder at One Stop for Writers. Using psychology, it asks you the question you need to know about a character and collects the details into a profile that can be saved to your computer or transferred into certain software programs like Scrivener.

The Character Builder makes brainstorming characters faster and easier because it pulls characterization options from a giant database and shows you how choosing one detail about a character (like their job, or a personality trait) can help you brainstorm other details that naturally connect to that first detail. For example, if you decide your character is a teacher, the Character builder will show you a list of positive traits and skills that a teacher will likely have. With a click, you can add these traits or skills to the profile.

One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder will help you plan your character’s backstory, behavior, skills, goals, personality, fears, and everything else you need to know about them.

This profile is easy to update if you want to tweak something about them, and you can even clone the character profile and adapt a second one if you are thinking about this character and how they change in a series, keeping core details in place like their backstory and personality, but changing their goal, motivation, and perhaps an unresolved wound of set of fears that will play a big part in this new book.

Here’s a Character Bible I created so you can get a feel for what all the Character Builder can help you brainstorm. If you’d like to try the tool for yourself, just start a free trial. Happy creating!

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 Create a Protagonist with True Depth appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

In this series on pain, we’ve covered everything from minor injuries to major and mortal injuries. But there’s another source of pain that can push our characters to the edge of coping: invisible injuries and conditions.

When readers see a bruise, cut, or gunshot wound, it’s easier for them to fill in the blanks about what happened, and imagine the pain that goes with it. But when the source is internal, writers have to work harder to connect the dots for readers, especially if the character themselves is unaware of what’s causing their distress, or they choose to mask their pain.

So what are some examples of internal conditions or injuries?

A concussion, brain injury, stroke, or another condition affecting the brain. Maybe your character fell on the ice and seemed to have escaped with only a few bruises, until a headache or migraine shows up. There are changes in vision and nausea. Or they’re having trouble forming thoughts, words, or remembering things.

Internal organ damage, bleeding, or ruptures. Physical trauma, being poisoned or exposed to toxic elements, a surgical complication, bone fractures, or even an ectopic pregnancy can all be sources of internal bleeding and damage. While initially a character may not realize they are in distress, it doesn’t take long to know something is off as internal bleeds can cause significant pain, and manifest in different ways depending on where they are located. Organ damage can cause a rapid or irregular heartbeat, make the character feel nauseous, lead to confusion and lethargy and fever and chills. Untreated, organ damage can lead to organ failure.

Chronic Pain. Your character may have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or recurring pain from an old injury or condition without visible markers. Because the pain is chronic, it may impair their ability to enjoy everyday things, cause mood swings and irritability.

Neck injuries (like whiplash) can be caused by things like car accidents, pinched nerves, contact sports, or being shaken, and don’t necessarily have visible signs of swelling. Characters can experience stiffness and debilitating pain in the neck, shoulders, and head.

Hearing conditions that lead to sensitivity. Some characters may feel pain when exposed to certain noises, due to hearing loss or other conditions. They could even have Misophonia (an aversion to specific sounds that causes panic attacks and causes one to feel as though they are losing their sanity).

Neurologic disorders, diseases or lesions. A character with a condition like Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Long Covid or even a spinal injury may experience neurological pain, paresthesia, tingling or numbness that is difficult to manage and impacts their quality of life.

Autoimmune Disorders. A character who has a condition like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, IBD, or Crohn’s disease will experience internal inflammation and invisible symptoms that can range from fatigue, joint pain, fevers, and uncomfortable digestive issues.

Cardiovascular Conditions: Heart conditions, such as arrhythmias, certain types of heart disease, and attacks can cause pain in the chest, upper back, and neck, lead to discomfort from experiencing indigestion and nausea, and even cause dizziness. Some arrhythmias have no signs, others can be quick and fatal.

Digestive issues. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastric ulcers, food poisoning, gallstones and a variety of other gastrointestinal conditions create discomfort in the form of cramps, diarrhea, nausea, and bloating.

Other forms of disease like cancer. Tumors pressing against an organ, bone or tissue can be painful, and the radiation or chemotherapy the character may have to undergo no less so.

Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder (BPD) and other mental conditions and struggles. Not all invisible conditions cause physical pain; many cause emotional distress, anxiety, panic attacks, etc. as well. The psychological battles being fought may not be visible to others, but this doesn’t make the emotional pain your character feels any less real or debilitating.

The little things. Pulled muscles. Toothaches. Infections. Minor nerve pain. Even small hurts can cause your character to feel irritable, spoil events, or ruin their day.

Tips for showing internal injuries

Regardless if a character doesn’t know what the invisible injury is, or they are purposefully hiding it, we still need to help readers realize something’s off. Here are a few ideas on how to do that.

Seed some hints. Is there something a character is avoiding, like bending down, getting out of bed, or cleaning the house? This can plant a clue that pain is a factor.

Give the character a few tells. Is your character consistently rubbing at their neck rolling their wrist, or they’re extremely irritable for no reason?

Know the signs of internal conditions. This one is one of the most important. Each non-visible condition or injury will have specific symptoms for pain. Do your research to make the character’s behavior authentic.

Show their struggle to manage or hide pain. Is your character overcompensating, breathing in a strained way, or struggling to form words?

Have the character talk it out. If the character is around someone they feel comfortable sharing with, they can talk about what they feel, but only if it makes sense for your character to be open like this.

Have a character make an observation. Characters can be very observant. A pointed question, “Is there something wrong with your knee? You keep rubbing it.”

Reveal something they can’t do. There’s nothing worse than discovering something you used to do is no longer possible: tying a shoe. Being sociable at a family barbecue. Talking about anything without becoming emotionally upset.

Add urgency. Internal injuries get worse when not treated. This can happen slowly, or quickly. Raise the stakes by showing your character’s condition worsening, making it crucial to find an answer to what’s hurting the character.

Invisible injuries and conditions have a superpower: they create tension.

Visible signs give readers a good idea about what’s wrong and how bad the pain will be, but when it’s something invisible, the reader wonders, what’s wrong? How bad is it? And because they’ve experienced that feeling of ‘not knowing’ in their personal life, they will feel unease until the story provides answers.

Internal injuries can also be a false front. Readers might believe a character has gotten away unscathed, only to discover a clock inside them is ticking, and if they don’t get help soon, the consequences will be significant…or fatal. So the next time you need to hobble your characters with pain, consider an invisible injury!

Other Posts in This Pain Series:

The Three Stages of Awareness
Different Types to Explore
Describing Minor Injuries
Describing Major and Mortal Injuries
Factors that Help or Hinder the Ability to Cope
Taking an Injury from Bad to Worse
Everyday Ways a Character Could Be Hurt
Best Practices for Great Fiction

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 Writing About Pain: Invisible Injuries and Conditions appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Staying organized as a writer can be a huge challenge. We all have other responsibilities, and the crazier life gets, the easier it is for stuff to fall between the cracks—important stuff we can’t afford to forget.

Angela and I are constantly juggling a thousand things, so organization is kind of vital for us. We’ve done a couple of things over the past few years to help with this. First, we hired Mindy, our amazing blog wizard. She’s incredibly capable and enthusiastic, and the work she’s taken off our plates has enabled us to keep on chugging.

But we recognize that this isn’t an option for everyone. Heck, it’s why we took so long to do it ourselves. So I’d like to share another idea with you that anyone can use to stay organized. It’s free and has been a game-changer for us.

Trello, for the Win!

Trello is an online visual tool that allows you to organize projects and track tasks. It’s meant for teams, and Angela and I do use it for our projects, but it has been just as useful for me personally, to keep my own jobs and responsibilities organized.

Each board you create consists of lists, and the lists contain cards that can be dragged and dropped to different spots. Here, I’ve created a board for the year, and I’ve used it to break out my tasks by quarter. There’s a list for each quarter, then in each list, I started adding cards—one for each task. This enables me to track what I need to do and prioritize it all by importance and time sensitivity.

I have a number of boards that I use for different purposes. As a writer, you can use Trello boards to do so many things:

• Collect story ideas you might want to explore
• Make a list of recommended craft books you want to read
• Compile research links for a book project
• Store passages or whole chapters that were cut from your manuscript (to be used later in the story or utilized elsewhere)
• Curate crutch words or overused phrases to search for when editing
• Track edits that need to be made for certain chapters or across a whole manuscript
• Create a list of questions for beta readers to answer once they’ve finished their initial read-through of your manuscript
• Make a to-do list for publishing your next book
• Organize a book launch or other marketing event
• Store the names and contact information for book reviewers, ARC readers, street team members, and other key people
• Record processes so you’ll know exactly the steps for importing a file to Scrivener, editing a digital book file, uploading books at a distributor site, or publishing a blog post
• Gather links for cool writerly gifts you can give to critique partners, your agent, an editor, or your cover designer
• Keep links to spreadsheets, Google Drive folders, Word docs, and YouTube videos for a project all in one spot
• Store marketing information (bios, cover images, logos, testimonials, press kit info, etc.) in one place for easy editing and access
• Track upcoming speaking engagements or podcast interviews, along with the tasks to complete prior to each one
• Gather guest post ideas to pitch to blog influencers
• Track any tasks that have to be done eventually, but maybe not right now

My To Do board shows how Trello can be used to organize tasks throughout the year. But it could also be helpful to create a board for your current book project. It might look something like this, with each card containing links and attachments so you can easily access all the items you need.

As you can see, this tool is great for keeping things organized and reminding you when certain tasks need to get done. Whatever you need to track, create a board for it (10 are included in the free membership) and click the +Add A Card option in any of the columns. Add a title, then double-click it to record whatever details are most helpful. Here are a few features that can be added to each card/task:

1. Write a description: Write an overview of this task, and add any links that might be helpful.
2. Attach files for easy reference.
3. Assign a start date or due date. This is super-handy when you have a task that won’t be coming due for a few months, but you don’t want to forget about it. Any date you assign will show up on the card so you can see it from your board. You can also set a reminder so you can be sent an email prior to the event.
4. Create a Checklist (or two, or three…). This is my absolute favorite feature, because what’s better for organization than a list?

Just create a checklist, give it a title, and start adding items. If those items change in priority, you can drag them into a different order, easy-peasy. As you complete items, check them off, and you’re given a status update indicating how much of the checklist has been completed.

This is helpful because there are times when I think a project is finished, or I get sidetracked with something else and forget about it. Seeing the status line on the card acts as a reminder that I still have some tasks to do.

5. Categorize cards with labels. Sometimes, you have tasks spread across your board that are related in some way. Maybe they’re all part of a certain project, they require more research before a decision can be made, or they’re tasks that someone else is responsible for. Create a label and add it to the appropriate cards. Then you’ll be able to see at a glance the cards that go together. Here, I’ve added a blue label for tasks that are One Stop for Writers related.

Use Trello for Collaboration

Writing is more collaborative now than ever before—meaning, you might find yourself one day co-authoring a book, working with other authors on a boxed set, or joining forces for a launch or marketing event. Communicating with other people is super easy on Trello. Just invite the person to your board, and they’ll have access to any lists and cards created there. There’s also a place on each card for comments, so the tasks and projects can be discussed among collaborators.

Let’s face it: there’s so much more to being a successful author than just writing well. Thinking of all the things you have to do can be overwhelming, especially if organization isn’t your strength or you’ve got so much going on that staying on top of it all seems impossible. But as with any area of struggle, sometimes you just need the right tool. Trello has been a lifesaver for me, and I’m happy to share it with you. Because we writers have to stick together.

What tools or resources do you use to stay organized?

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 Need Organization Help? Try Trello appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

I’m talking about using archetypes and tropes — characters who play a specific role in a story or who have a blend of characteristics that make them instantly recognizable: the Rebel, the Bully, the Hot Billionaire, the Chosen One…you get the idea. Readers recognize these types of characters and may even expect to find them in certain stories.

So, our job is done, right? Pick an archetype or trope, put some clothes on them and shove them into the story. No, ‘fraid not. Character types and tropes can provide a skeleton, but to avoid a stock character or overdone cliché, they must stand on their own and mesmerize by being unique.

And that’s where this thesaurus comes in.

Characters need layers, full stop, so trope or not, we want to dig for what makes them an individual, give them a soul, and make adaptations that will challenge a reader’s expectations.

What this thesaurus will cover:

A Trope or Type Description and Fictional Examples. Before we can think about how to adapt a trope, we need to know more about who they are. This overview and examples will help you know if this baseline character is right for your story.

Common Strengths and Weaknesses. A character who aligns with a trope or type tends to have certain positive and negative traits, so we list those as a starting point. But don’t be afraid to branch out – personality is a great place to break the mold.

Associated Actions, Behaviors, and Tendencies. Because tropes have a mix of traits, qualities, and a worldview baked in, you’ll need to know how to write their actions, choices, priorities, and certain tendencies…so you can then decide how to break with tradition.

Situations that Will Challenge Them. Every character faces challenges in a story that are extra difficult because of who they are, what they believe, fear, and need. A trope or type character is no different. We’ll cue up ideas to get your brains whizzing on what this can look like in your story.

Twist This Type With a Character Who… is where we give you ideas on how to break expectations, so you deliver someone who has fresh angles, and isn’t a typical stand-in.

Clichés to Avoid is where we alert you to some of the overdone versions of a type or trope so you’re aware of them as you develop your characters and plot your story.

Readers are hardwired to look for patterns and familiarity

Which is why we see tropes used so often, but good storytellers know that in 99% of cases, using one is the starting point only. We want rounded and dynamic characters, not flat ones. So, unless you require a stock character to fill a background role, any character who starts as a trope should be as carefully developed as those who did not. Readers want–and deserve!–fresh characters, so dig into those inner layers and bring forth someone unique.

Join us each Saturday for a new entry, and if there’s a character type or trope you’d like us to cover, add it in the comments here, and we’ll add it to the list of potentials!

Here are all the types and tropes we’ve covered so far.

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 Introducing…The Character Type & Trope Thesaurus! appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Fear is a disruptive force, even though its job is to keep us safe. When there’s a perceived physical or psychological threat, our brain blasts us with a shot of adrenaline so we respond, fight, flight, or freeze, whichever helps us navigate the danger we’re in.

But fear is also insidious. It can sink into our thoughts and memories and become an ongoing dark force that cloaks us, changing our behavior and how we see the world. We become ever-watchful for new threats, and avoid things that have the potential to lead to another painful experience.

In fiction, characters also feel this dark weight, and it can be as detrimental to them as it is to us.

Fear may cause a character to…

Hold back in relationships
Underachieve (by choosing ‘safe’ goals below their potential)
Avoid certain places, events, and people
Misread situations and overestimate threats
Feel stuck in life
Struggle with self-worth
Retreat into themselves
Stay within their comfort zone
Settle for less
Find it harder to make decisions
Hold onto the past in an unhealthy way
Have a more negative view of the world
Doom cast (decide something will fail without trying)
Become triggered by certain events and circumstances
Project fears onto others (damaging relationships)
Develop phobias
Not take advantage of opportunities
Have unmet needs (that grow deeper as time goes on)
Develop health conditions
And more.

Whatever your character wants in the story, fear stands in their way.

Strong characters have agency, meaning they make choices and act, steering their own path toward their goal. But this goal will be hard to achieve, and if fear is in the driver’s seat, it affects their choices and actions.

If they stay within their comfort zone rather than take a risk, avoid something they must do because they don’t want to be judged, or convince themselves an effort will only end in failure, their decisions and actions are impaired, and whatever they choose to do instead won’t be enough to win.

There are many debilitating fears which can hold someone back. Knowing what your character’s exact fear is, be it rejection, intimacy, competition, or something else, will help you write their actions, behaviors, and decisions in the story. It will also help you plot events to purposely challenge that fear, in the hopes that they will grow and come to control it, rather than it controlling them.

How to find a character’s deepest fear

Fears can be learned (like a child who fears dogs from being exposed to their mother’s phobia of them), but for the most part, fears are born of negative experiences, especially trauma.

For example, being surrendered to the state by a parent who no longer wants to be tied down would be a devastating experience for a character. This trauma likely would create a fear of rejection, abandonment, or both. They will move through life worrying that if they let someone in, that person will eventually get tired of them and the character will be discarded once again.

To find your character’s fear, think about their experiences, especially emotional wounds. What happened to them, and how did this shatter how they see themselves and the world? What insecurities do they now have? What triggers them, what do they avoid more than anything, and what do they refuse to do because the mental barrier of fear is too strong?

Help for brainstorming your character’s fears

We’re thrilled to announce that our Fear Thesaurus is now part of our THESAURUS descriptive database at One Stop for Writers.

This thesaurus dives into deep-level fears so you can show how one changes who your character is & how it steers their thoughts and actions in the story.

Each entry looks at what the fear looks like, the behavioral fallout it leads to, what might have caused it to form, the inner struggles your character may be facing as a result, and the triggers, possible disruptions to their life, and more.

Use this thesaurus to build deeper characters, understand the role of fear in character arc, and plot events that will be specifically challenging for your character so they struggle but also have an opportunity to grow!

Wondering what One Stop for Writers is about?

One Stop for Writers® is a site Becca and I created to help you beyond our thesaurus books. It’s packed with tools designed to make planning, writing, and revising easier, and teach you to become a stronger storyteller as you go.

If you’d like to take a look, join Becca for a tour, and then start a free trial to test these tools and resources for yourself. See you at One Stop!

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 Uncover Your Character’s Deepest Fear appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

As writers of historical fiction, we might be tempted to believe our job is to teach readers about a certain event or era. While that might be part of what we’re doing, I would argue it’s not the most important part. The number one job of a fiction writer is to tell a story. A history textbook tells about history, but historical fiction should bring it to life by showing it. That’s our true mandate. It’s the difference between reading a menu and eating the meal.

But historical fiction doesn’t make this easy. Sometimes facts and figures need to be included; there are real events and people to take into account.

The thing we’re striving for in fiction is authenticity. We want our work to have the ring of truth to it. To that end, research is crucial. If we don’t do our research as historical fiction writers, we lose credibility with our readers. But researching comes with its own pitfalls. Information is dry and boring to read. The trouble is, we authors can get pretty fired up about our research. It’s cool stuff, plus we’ve worked hard to find it. The temptation is to use as much of it as we can. Indeed, the more research we’ve done, the more strongly we’ll feel about this.

But there’s a good chance that, for the sake of the story, a sizable amount of our research will never make it into the novel. We need to make our peace with that because research can easily get in the way of good storytelling. We’ll want to find a way to weave our research into the story seamlessly.

If we don’t, we’re likely to end up with an info-dump.

The Dreaded Infodump

An infodump is an extended section of telling (rather than showing), a chunk of information that is “dumped” into the reader’s lap.

Introducing readers to a historical era, explaining the political situation or a technical procedure—these are difficult things to do. The infodump makes it easy. You simply take a couple of pages—or an entire chapter—and explain it. This is why infodumps often show up either in prologues or first chapters. The author explains all the important bits to the reader up front before starting the story.

While an infodump might tell us about the world of the story, it doesn’t do anything to develop character, it doesn’t advance the plot, and it doesn’t really help the reader because usually there’s so much information crammed into one section, the reader won’t remember it. And it’s not presented in scene. It’s presented as information. Those are the moments in a story when a reader’s mind wanders.

Readers want to be immersed in the moment of the story. They want to feel like they’re standing beside our main character experiencing all the exciting things alongside them.

Infodumps also fail to create an emotional reaction in the reader. Most infodumps are written in a way that is cold and flat. When we fail to engage a reader’s emotions, we fail to engage the reader.

            To Avoid This Kind of Writing:

• Look for anything that isn’t happening in the present moment of the story. Have a close look at your sections of exposition. Backstory and world-building are common offenders.
• Figure out what needs to be explained only at that moment. Ask yourself: what does the reader need to know right now? If they don’t need to know it now, cut it, and save it for when they do.
• Trust your reader. They can piece things together; in fact, they like figuring things out. That’s part of the process of discovery involved in reading.
• If you’re unsure of whether you’ve given the reader enough information, try it out on someone. But beware of going from zero to overload if your reader asks for more information. Often, a subtle hint is all that’s needed.

Incorporating Research into a Scene

            There are a few tricks we can use to weave research into a story as seamlessly as possible:

• Integrate it into the scene. Make it relevant to something that’s happening in the moment. That way, it moves the plot forward. 
• Add tension. Make the information something that causes problems for the characters. Show their reaction. This engages the reader. If the information matters to the characters, it will matter to the reader. 
• Write it in such a way that it conveys something about a character’s personality. Then it adds to character development. 
• Keep it brief. A sentence or two of information is enough.
• Break it up. Don’t stick all your information in one spot. Sprinkle it throughout a scene. Remember, the story comes first.

Use Your Research Elsewhere

There will always be a difference between the amount of research we do for a historical novel and the amount that makes it into the book. But why not use that extra information in other ways?

• Write some non-fiction pieces about the things you discovered while researching your novel. This is also a great way to generate some additional buzz for your work.
• Add the additional research to your website or on social media for readers who want to know more.
• Get creative: turn your facts into a trivia game or add them to presentations when you’re promoting your work.

Research is never a waste of time. Even if it doesn’t make it into the novel, it will show in subtle ways. The more we read about the world we’re building, the more we internalize it, and that is guaranteed to lend authenticity to our work.

MICHELLE BARKER - Resident Writing Coach

Michelle Barker is an award-winning author and editor who lives in Vancouver, BC. Her newest book, coauthored with David Griffin Brown, is Story Skeleton: The Classics. They are also the authors of Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling. Her novel My Long List of Impossible Things, came out in 2020 with Annick Press. The House of One Thousand Eyes was named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year and won numerous awards including the Amy Mathers Teen Book Award. Her fiction, non-fiction and poetry have appeared in literary reviews world-wide.

Michelle holds an MFA in creative writing from UBC and is a senior editor at The Darling Axe. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Michelle below. Michelle’s books

The post Historical Fiction: The Story Comes First appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

So, three things about me:

1. I like to help (really, I’m a bit psycho about it – be warned)
2. I like to build unique storytelling tools
3. I like to share great resource finds with other writers

Online, I try to match people with the information they need. Sometimes people reach out through email or a Facebook page to see if I can help them solve a problem they’re having. Many writers tend to have similar struggles, and so I often end up recommending the same tools or sites again and again. I thought it might be fun to round up the resources I recommend the most.

#1: The Critique Circle

A lot of writers reach out because they’ve 1) written a book and need guidance on the next steps, 2) they’ve become frustrated because they can’t seem to sell their book and need to know if there’s something wrong with it, or 3), they need an editor for a manuscript. While it sounds like these writers may need different things, likely they don’t. All three could benefit from the same thing – unbiased feedback.

Critique Circle is an online community where you can submit your work for critique and offer feedback to others in turn. You’ll get a variety of critiques (six, ten, maybe more) from writers at different levels. Having six sets of eyes (or more) on your work means collectively you’ll get some good guidance on what to fix, and multiple critiques can help with spotting patterns. If several folks are all pointing out the same or similar issues, you know there’s a problem to fix.

You might be wondering why I would send someone who is submitting to agents and publishers to a critique group and not an editor, right? Well, it’s simple: many writers submit before they’re ready. (I sure did, back in the day.) And taking your book to an editor right off the bat is going to cost money, whereas the Critique Circle is free (they do have a paid plan, too). Starting with a free option is a good first step.

So, unless a person tells me they’ve extensively workshopped a book and have already used critique groups, I recommend starting at Critique Circle, even if a person just needs an unbiased opinion on whether a book is ready for submitting. Once the writer has learned what they can at the critique level, they can decide if they need to move to an editor, or focus on their query letter & targeting to achieve a better response rate.

#2: ProWritingAid

Another handy-dandy tool I suggest to writers all the time as they polish and tighten is ProWritingAid. It’s a brilliant tool with a free and paid version (and the cost is reasonable and offers great value). As I mentioned above, hiring a freelance editor can be costly, so the stronger you make your writing before seeking one out, the better. And if you are querying, or sending a synopsis and sample pages, you don’t want typos, grammar or weak writing to distract an agent or editor from your brilliant story premise.

#3: Jane Friedman

One reason why it’s such a great time to be a writer is that our community is packed with experts willing to share their experience to help us navigate publishing. In the old days, it was straightforward – you wrote the best book you could, got an agent, and then submitted to publishers. Straightforward, but far from easy. Like today, you needed a stellar book with a fresh premise, a killer query, and then to win the lottery by finding the right agent and editor at the right time, who was looking for a project just like yours. That’s traditional publishing.

Of course now we have self-publishing and hybrid publishing options, too, and so we need to think about the right path for us. Once we decide, we need to buckle in and get ready for a mountain of work. But fear not, writing friend, because we have Jane Friedman‘s beautiful brain and her step-by-step guidance as we navigate the publishing path we’ve chosen.

Jane been in the industry for a long time and knows it inside and out. She’s taken a deep dive into different publishing routes and so has many articles and resources to help writers. (Her blog is also filled with tons of great articles on craft and marketing, too!)

#4: Buffer

Ah, marketing, the necessary evil. We can write a book, and publish it, but if we don’t market it, chances are, no one will find it. So, we need to proactively think about our audience and how to reach them. I know you’re worried about coming across as car salesman-y, but here’s a secret – marketing isn’t about selling books. It’s about having a focus, being authentic, and building relationships. (You can read more about my FAR Marketing Method here.),

If we want to find our reading audience across the entire world, we should get online and embrace social media to some degree. Don’t worry, we don’t need to do it all, but we should do some, focusing on platforms where our ideal audience hangs out.

A big problem with social media is that it can steal a lot of time, so using tools in the right way can help us be more efficient. A tool I couldn’t live without is Buffer. It allows me to schedule content on all my social platforms, so I’m always sharing helpful articles and occasional items to help people discover how I can help them. Scheduling this content means I get time back to use my social media time to hang out and chit-chat on feeds and DMs, as being social is what it’s really about.

#5: Trello

Between writing, publishing, marketing, and running a business, well, writers juggle A LOT. Lists can be our friend, but having a way to visualize our action items and track important spreadsheets, links and sites in one place is really helpful. Becca and I use Trello, which allows us to create boards, lists, and cards for everything we do from our publication process for each book, to marketing objectives and goals, to brainstorming ideas for blog posts, books, and new tools for One Stop for Writers. Cards can be dragged from one column to the next, reordered, labelled, etc. It’s a brilliant way to map out a to-do list or process, or even brainstorm ideas for a new book. Did I mention Trello has a generous free version? Check it out!

#6: One Stop for Writers

As you know, Becca and I work to help writers strengthen their description skills because the better we get at showing the things that matter in a story, the more readers can truly experience the story, and a good book becomes exceptional. Many are familiar with our Thesaurus Writing Guides, and so write us to see if we have a thesaurus on a particular topic they need help describing.

Ironically, more often than not, we point them to One Stop for Writers because we have many more descriptive thesaurus topics there (16) than we do in book form (7). Our thesauruses are all centralized in one database, meaning it’s all in one place, saving writers time.

The site has a lot of other special lists, generators, worksheets, and crazy-helpful tools (like the Character Builder) that can help writers with everything to do with a story, so even if something isn’t covered in a thesaurus, it’s tackled somewhere. If you’d like to poke around to see all the resources and tools, test drive the 2-week free trial.

#7: Wide for the Win Facebook Group

If there’s one truth in this world, it’s that writers work freaking hard to get their books into the world. And that work doesn’t stop at writing “the end” or hitting the publish button at Ingram, Amazon, or elsewhere, either.

When we choose to be authors, we’re also choosing to become business owners, marketers, publishers, publicists, and accountants. And boy, is there a lot to know.

One of the best sources of information I’ve found is the Wide for the Win Facebook group. It’s over 10,000 strong, and each member is motivated to share knowledge and experience to help one another succeed.

If you’re an indie, this is the group for you. But honestly, I think even if you’re traditionally published, I think there’s a lot to learn here about how to sell. One thing to note – this is a “going wide” group, meaning discussion is around leveraging multiple platforms to reach readers, not restricting a book to Kindle Unlimited.

#8 The Storyteller’s Roadmap

Another thing people ask about is where to hire a story coach (here are some options). A story coach can be wonderful for someone who needs guidance, but for some, the cost is not in the budget. Becca and I created a solution for writers who want step-by-step help but are on a budget – the Storyteller’s Roadmap.

There are a lot of steps to planning, writing, and revising a powerful novel, meaning more than a few places where writers can become stuck, blocked, lost, and frustrated enough to quit. It’s important to keep going because this story called out to be written, right? There’s a diamond within, and if it’s written, it can be fixed.

The Storyteller’s Roadmap is your writing GPS, helping you navigate your way to a publish-ready novel. It guides you to what you need as you need it, too, pointing out tools, resources, and advice that help make your job easier. You loved your story enough to start it, and the Storyteller’s Roadmap at One Stop for Writers will help you finish it.

#9: I Need Help With… Resource Mother Lode

Finally, last year when we redesigned Writers Helping Writers, we built a powerful I need help with… section on the home page with our very best articles, tools, tip sheets, and more. You’ll find a ton of help in key areas, not only to help you write a stronger story, but also market your book, and manage your mindset and business. Just choose your topic to find what you need:

These are my top recommendations…what are yours?

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 The Sites I Recommend the Most to Writers appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

This year I won’t be entering but I’ve won NaNo a few times in the past (and failed once). That failure was due to a misstep of mine which I’ve never repeated.

What happened, exactly? Well, things were stupidly busy for me and long story short, I went into it unprepared. All I had was a nugget of an idea and figured I’d “get everything sorted” as I went along.

I was wrong.

Halfway through the novel, the story petered out. I never finished. Worse, I felt like I’d wrecked what could have been a great story idea…had I planned it out a little more. UGH.

Some people like to pants a novel (meaning they don’t need to plan and they can create on the fly). And while back then I would always pants a little, I still needed to know my story’s bones – who the protagonist was, what was at stake, and have ideas about where things were going.

So lesson learned: plan the important stuff. Since then, I’ve brainstormed what I’ve needed to. No more novels running out of steam, and no more quitting a book before it’s finished!

Whether it’s NaNoWriMo or not, I’ve realized that planning my characters so I know who they are deep down means they are so much easier to write. I always know how they will behave because I understand who they are and what’s motivating them.

Whether you plan a little or a lot, there’s one go-to place to check out: One Stop for Writers.

Planning is part of my routine but time is always tight, so having the right toolbox at my keyboard makes all the difference. Here’s how One Stop can help.

Ideas. Oh, where to start when it comes to planning a novel? A character’s secret, fear, or emotional wound? A plot complication, an area of internal growth, story stakes, or a story prompt? The idea generator is packed with options for planning your characters and plot.

Characters. At the heart of your story, characters must be well-developed with needs, motivations, and goals that make sense for who they are. The Character Builder not only helps you plan the people in your story, it also can recognize which key details will be part of their character arc. It will gather this information and create an accurate character arc blueprint showing their internal journey in your story. (Yes, really!)

Worldbuilding. Whether the story takes place in the real world or one of your own making, the details matter. For readers to be immersed in the protagonist’s struggles and the logic of the world has to hold up. One Stop has customizable surveys can help you plan the people, places, and systems that power your world.

Timelines. Is your character going on a quest? Do you need to plan a series of crime scenes where a killer leaves clues behind? This tool can help you track places, dates, and important details. And if you need to, you can drag the tiles around to play with the order of story events.

Plot & Structure. Need a solid outline to follow? Story Maps leads you through the 3-Acts step-by-step, helping you plot the outer story and prompting you to think about what developments should happen and when for change, failed, and static arcs.

Scene Outlines. If you want to keep your scenes on track so each one pushes the story forward, we have two different styles of Scene Maps to help.

Depending on what you need, there are other resources too. You can take it slow with Templates and Worksheets by planning the character, plot, and settings in smaller pieces. Or dive into everything that touches your character’s specific goal like the obstacles, stakes, and preparations using the Character Motivation Thesaurus. One Stop has the largest description database available anywhere so even during NaNoWriMo you’ll never run out of ideas on what to write.

Each of us plans differently…we get a feeling in our gut that guides us. Whatever you personally like to know about a story going in, I’m guessing One Stop for Writers can help. (But hey, I’m totally biased!) If you want to check the site out, give the 2-week free trial a spin.

Now, to totally kill it on the NaNoWriMo front…

Grab this Ultimate NaNoWriMo Prep Guide. It is PACKED with help on how to plan your story & characters, and set yourself up for success in others ways, too!

Are you entering NaNoWriMo? Is this your first year, or have you done it before? 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 The Best Resource for Planning Your NaNoWriMo Novel appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Giving a character a trauma or mental health backstory seems like an easy way to add internal conflict to our characters – and it is. But where do you start that research? What should you be looking for?

No one likes to read a story and find the writer just plain got something wrong. It ruins the story. It’s important to get the details right, most writers agree on that, but I think we need to raise the bar of what we expect of ourselves. People read fiction to be entertained primarily, but through our characters we can impart factual information instead of maintaining harmful perceptions and stereotypes. 

Know How Much Trauma Your Character Will Live With

First, be sure you know what level of trauma or mental health you want your character to struggle with. Is this a minor annoyance or a major stumbling block? Is this something they need to overcome by the end of the story or something they simply have to learn to manage and live with? Do they need to be able to maintain a healthy romantic relationship? Do they need to hold down a high-stress job?

Understanding this up front will help you decide what kind of trauma or mental health issue to start researching. I’ve seen way too many movies and TV shows that give characters PTSD, but the only symptom they have are combat flashbacks. Their life is not impacted in any other way.

*face palm*

That’s not how PTSD works. If you give your character PTSD, they should struggle (a lot) with many, many aspects of life including holding down a job or maintaining a healthy romantic relationship. 

Labels Help Authors More than Readers

When doing research, being able to label what your character is struggling with will help you target your research better. Be sure you’re using the correct label in your research. The way we use these words in conversation is not necessarily how they’re used in a clinical setting, but you need the facts from credible sources, so labels will be important.

Do you want your character to have an anxiety disorder or just be anxious? Those can be different things. Does your character have PTSD or c-PTSD? Do they have any co-existing issues? People with anxiety can also struggle with OCD, depression, panic disorder, suicide ideation, etc. Flashbacks are specific and debilitating, not a convenient vehicle to deliver backstory. Sometimes, symptoms can appear to be contradictory, but once you’re in that person’s head you realize it’s not contradictory at all. People who struggle with PTSD are often preoccupied with feeling safe, yet risky behaviour is a common symptom. You get to decide how complex to make their inner struggles. 

Low-Hanging Fruit: Friends And Family

The low-hanging fruit for your research will start with your family and friends. Ask around. Hey – you’ve mentioned you struggle with x. I’m writing a character who struggles with that. Would you be willing to help me out by answering a few questions?

Ask them if they know anyone who might be willing to talk to you. If you have an author page, Insta or Twitter following, ask on social media. Most people are happy to help an author with research. And they don’t need to have had the exact same problem or past. Talk to more than one person, if possible.

When you do talk to them, avoid phrasing questions in a way that makes it seem like you already know the answer. You’ll get your presuppositions echoed back often. 

Instead of: What’s the scariest part about having anxiety?
Try: Can you describe what your anxiety feels like when it just starts up?

Most of the time, what you need is that first-hand experience. What it FEELS like. Let them talk. It’s always more helpful to get their experience in their own words—not so you can copy them, but you begin to get a sense of their attitude towards things, you sense where the emotion surfaces, where they carry shame or anger, etc. 

Utilize Experts And Websites

Try your best to stick to accredited websites for your initial research. Charities, hospitals, and support groups will tend to address the issue with sensitivity and facts. You can parse where careful language is used – what words they don’t use. People with PTSD often feel “broken” and they will use that word to describe themselves, but you won’t find that language on accredited websites. Instead you’ll find descriptions of why PTSD is the brain’s natural coping response to overwhelming trauma.

Read widely, and pay attention to the publishing dates. Of course, there are tons of books out there on these topics. Research who the leading experts are in that field. Do they have any books out? Have they endorsed any books? Try those first. 

Find the most current content you can. I tend not to consider something for my fiction unless I’ve seen it verified on at least three credible websites/books within the last two years. Psychology and mental health information is changing rapidly, so avoid relying on anything more than five years old at the very least.

Reach out to experts in that field. University faculty lists are a great place to start. Many of these people are willing to answer questions or read pages to help you make sure you’ve got it right. I like to offer these people scenarios rather than ask them simplistic questions I could find the answers to on Google. They’ll lose interest if your questions demonstrate you’ve not put any effort into research on your own.

Angela Tip: The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma covers at over 118 types of real-world trauma, and was reviewed by a psychologist. It offers ideas on how a character may respond in the aftermath of a traumatic event, even if they try to bury the pain rather than work through it.

What If You Don’t Know Anyone To Interview?

In this case, start surfing Reddit threads, Quora, and other sites where people post questions and get responses. Read newspaper articles and watch news videos from events that were similar. Look for witness accounts. Memory can be faulty, so look for quotes immediately following an event. If this is a historic trauma for your character, you can watch or read testimony of survivor accounts. Where are they filling in the gaps in their memory? What do they do with their hands, their expressions, as they recount the parts they do remember with clarity? 

I’ve found lots of gold watching Holocaust survivors tell their stories, particularly when people were children during the war. They retell aspects of their experience they clearly got from another source much later, and their own memories stand out. They remember images – what things looked like, a smell, a sound – things that were out of place. The snow turned bright red and my mother didn’t move again. Every step crunched under my feet. I couldn’t figure out why, but later I realized it was because I was walking on shattered glass.

Researching mental health and traumatic experiences may seem daunting, but it can be done. I hope these tips give you the information needed to get you started and moving in the right direction.

Do you have any other tips on researching for mental health or trauma responses for your characters?

LISA HALL WILSON

If Lisa had a super-power it would be breaking down complicated concepts into digestible practical steps. Lisa loves helping writers “go deeper” and create emotional connections with readers using deep point of view! Hang out with Lisa on Facebook at Confident Writers where she talks deep point of view.

The post How To Research Mental Health and Trauma For Your Characters appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.