Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
A couple letters ago, I talked about External Conflict – all those forces in the universe that are bumping up against the protagonist. Now we’ll discuss Internal Conflict – the sometimes black hole of doubt within the hero. Like External Conflict, Internal Conflict must get in the way of the hero achieving his goal. Most …
Continue reading “I is for Internal Conflict”
Although every protagonist is the hero of their own story, the hero is a step above the typical character. The hero is the fearless leader of the space mission. Creating a hero every reader will bond with and root for can make for some memorable fiction, the kind of story where the hero walks off …
Continue reading “H is for Heroes”
It’s appropriate that I got letter “C” since Character Change is something I frequently write about on this blog. That’s because it is so crucial! I think it might even be the most important part of a good story. So, with that in mind, let’s launch this baby! 3 Tips for Writing Character Change Don’t …
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Welcome to day one of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. Cue the cheering! Heather and I are so excited to be participating again. Today we start the Write On Sisters 3, 2, 1 … BLASTOFF to Stellar Writing series with A for Antagonist. Much like space travel, writing the antagonist is venturing into the …
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Two weeks ago I blogged about How to Create a Character Arc from Plot, followed my own advice, and came up with… multiple character arcs for my heroine. Yep. At least four or five, and I’m not sure which one is the right one for the story. What’s an I-have-too-many-ideas writer to do? Well, here …
Continue reading “Choosing the Right Character Arc”
Most writers understand the value of creating contrast in their stories and characters. We’ve all been told to write our characters with dissimilar looks, and to give our antagonist and protagonist different types of skills and flaws. But when a writer takes any story differences and sets them up in parallel for the purpose of …
Continue reading “3 Ways to Use Juxtaposition in Your Writing”
There are lots of things that make a story good. In fact, I’m constantly overwhelmed trying to keep track of them all. But what elevates most stories above the rest is a satisfying character arc. What is this? Well, at the most basic level it is a story where the character changes. If your character …
Continue reading “How to Create a Character Arc from Plot”
Character mapping is a technique I use on every project I write. These simple flow charts keep track of all the interconnected relationships in my books and help me build more complexity into those relationships. I love including lots of secondary characters. Out of personal necessity, I developed a quick method for making character maps. …
Continue reading “6 Easy Steps to Great Character Mapping”
Heist fiction is not easy to write. It’s fast paced and twisty, and it takes a lot of characters. Over the last two Wednesday posts, I’ve been throwing open the vault and letting out all crime writing secrets. If you need to catch up, you can get more help for your story with Tips for …
Continue reading “Writing The Heist Novel: 7 Character Tips”
I read a lot. And since I’m a writer, reading isn’t just entertainment, it’s instructional. I learn from every book, whether good, bad or middling. That’s what inspired “Reading For Writers 101.” Today’s lesson: Character Motivation. Have you ever read a book where the hero does something that seems forced, out-of-character or unbelievable? I have. …
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