What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story's end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal's going to be and they'll know … [Read more...] about Character Motivation Entry: Protecting One’s Home or Property
Search Results for: what killed it for me
Character Motivation Thesaurus: Rescuing Someone from a Captor
What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story's end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal's going to be and … [Read more...] about Character Motivation Thesaurus: Rescuing Someone from a Captor
Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them
I recently read a Huff Post psychology piece on Turning Negative Emotions Into Your Greatest Advantage and immediately saw how this could also apply to our characters. Feel free to follow the link and read, but if you’re short on time, the rundown is this: negative emotions are not all bad. In fact, … [Read more...] about Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them
Seven Writing Fears That May Be Holding You Back from Greatness
Eleanor Hecks joins us to share seven writing fears common among writers and how they may be holding you back. Writing is a journey filled with challenges, many of which stem from internal fears that can stifle creativity and hinder progress. Recognizing and addressing these fears is crucial for … [Read more...] about Seven Writing Fears That May Be Holding You Back from Greatness
How to Choose the Perfect Talent for Your Character
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 … [Read more...] about How to Choose the Perfect Talent for Your Character
How to Use Amplifiers to Motivate Emotionally Challenging Characters
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 … [Read more...] about How to Use Amplifiers to Motivate Emotionally Challenging Characters
6 First Page Inclusions for Drawing Readers In
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 … [Read more...] about 6 First Page Inclusions for Drawing Readers In
How to Hook Readers with Character Descriptions
I think we can all agree that characters are the heart of a novel. We build worlds around our story’s cast, spend dozens of hours plundering their psyche to understand needs, motivations, and beliefs, and even envision complete backstories. Then, of course, we go on to produce tens of thousands of … [Read more...] about How to Hook Readers with Character Descriptions
Character Thesaurus Entry: Using a False Identity
What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What's at stake if it's discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain hidden? This is some of the important information you need to know about your character's secrets—and they will have secrets, … [Read more...] about Character Thesaurus Entry: Using a False Identity
Could a Raptor Play the Protagonist Role?
Raptors are some of the most successful predators on the planet. From owls, eagles, and vultures to hawks, falcons, and other birds of prey, raptors are skilled hunters with incredible senses, like binocular vision, that help them detect prey at far distances. The secretary bird even carries … [Read more...] about Could a Raptor Play the Protagonist Role?
Using Clothes to Characterize
“Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.” This quote by Karl Lagerfeld is pretty heady. I’m still chewing on it, but what I gather is that clothing and other appearance choices are one way we interpret and reflect reality—the reality of who we are, of our … [Read more...] about Using Clothes to Characterize
Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Queen Bee
In 1959, Carl Jung first popularized the idea of archetypes—"universal images that have existed since the remotest times." He posited that every person is a blend of these 12 basic personalities. Ever since then, authors have been applying this idea to fictional characters, combining the different … [Read more...] about Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Queen Bee