Characters Who Speak For Themselves: Chatting With KWL Authors
KWL authors share their experiences of how their characters came to life and took the story into their own hands.
KWL EP 151 – Moving Beyond Archetype: How to Write a Compelling Villain with Sacha Black
Sacha Black joins us to discuss the archetypal villain and how writers can stop writing boring clichéd villains. Sacha gives tips on how to write a kickass protagonist that stands out and why copywriting is a skill all writers should continually work on.
Play Time: Fun and Pain in Characterization
A character in a story is an action figure . . . a fun, functional component necessary to a story. Just like literal toys, characters have pieces and joints, edges and options, a fixed appearance and range of motion that begs to be played with
Using Triggers to Poke at a Character’s Emotional Wound
When it comes to acknowledging what hurts us, the old saying, Deny, deny, deny! comes to mind. It’s no different with our characters, and in both cases, refusing to deal with wounding events carries a steep price.
Maim Your Characters: The Structure of an Injury Plot
[The following is an excerpt from the book Maim Your Characters by Samantha Keel] which originally appeared on ScriptMedic: A Medical Consultant for Writers] An…
The Long and Short (but mostly long) of Writing Short Stories
By Chris Mandeville Many writers begin their careers with short stories—they’re easier to tackle and faster to complete. But not me. I dove into novel writing…
Cut & Paste Your Way to Inspiration with Collages
by Chris Mandeville Arts and crafts, anyone? Get out your old magazines, some scissors and glue, and a poster board because—believe it or not—creating a…
Down the Rabbit Hole? Tips and Tools for Naming Characters Quickly
By Chris Mandeville Some writers don’t worry much about naming. They slap a label on a character and run with it. Other writers dive down the rabbit hole…
Memorable characters: Snow
by Felicity Heaton Kobo asked me to write about creating characters who will steal the hearts of readers after hearing about my readers’ passion for Snow,…
The Laws of Attraction: How to make sure the sparks fly when would-be lovers meet
Romance novels and films are not supposed to mimic real life. Forget small talk about movies and music. Instead, give your characters something to do that pits them against each other or gets in their way.
Elements of Dialogue from The Writing Show Host Paula Berinstein
We learn to talk as toddlers, we do it every day, you’d think it would be a snap to write, right? Not so fast little author,…