Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
I’ve always loved sidekicks, Chewbacca, Samwise Gamgee, Ron and Hermione. Sidekick characters can enhance the story tension, help flesh out the protagonist, and move the plot forward in a number of significant ways. Several of the masterplots that Heather and I wrote about last year include a sidekick character as a possible component. Sidekicks are …
Continue reading “4 Core Components of an Awesome Sidekick Character”
For a long time I hated naming my characters. No sooner did I settle on a name and I would realize another book (or three) used the same name. The main reason I got myself into this renaming mess was because I followed some widely accepted writing advice, I used charts of popular baby names …
Continue reading “3 Tricks for Character Names”
This week I’m honing the middle of my WIP, so it’s time to dust off the Archives and refresh my knowledge on a story’s midpoint… Originally posted on Aug. 4, 2014. Updated and reposted on Sept. 5, 2016. Awhile ago I wrote about Mapping the Mushy Middle of a story. This is a plot-centric approach to …
Continue reading “The Hero’s Emotional Midpoint”
I bet most writers have heard of Pixar Studios. They are the huge animation powerhouse that is now owned by Disney. They’re best known for a string of huge blockbusters films, all earmarked for family viewing. Even if you don’t make a point of watching Pixar films (and by the way you should), you may …
Continue reading “5 Overlooked Pixar Storytelling Tips”
Creating characters to populate your novel or screenplay is a lot of fun. You get to devise different backgrounds and opinions and alliances and secrets and all kinds of interesting stuff that brings the cast to life. But you can have the most detailed character sketches and richly drawn cast ever, and your story could …
Continue reading “Character Development: The Reaction Chart”
Lovable rouges are not villains, they are fascinating antiheroes. These characters are everywhere, in books, movies and on TV. They are young, old, male and female. And they have wowed us as protagonists, love interests and sidekicks for a long time. A few notable rouges are: Tom Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Jack …
Continue reading “Writing Lovable Rogues”
Last week I shared Ten Questions To Ask Your Characters to make sure the supporting cast is as well-rounded as the protagonist. But that’s just step one to developing a novel’s cast. Now that we know who everyone is, what they want, and what their role is in the story, it’s time to figure out …
Continue reading “Character Development: The Interaction Chart”
The fish-out-of-water character is one of my favorites. It is remarkably versatile and there are so many story situations it works perfectly for (18 according to TV Tropes). I’m currently writing a fish-out-of-water character, which should not be confused with using a fish-out-of-water plot device. A fish-out-of-water character adds comedy, or gives depth and diversity …
Continue reading “Writing Fish-Out-of-Water Characters”
We recently had a guest join us to talk about creating characters with good character. If you haven’t read that post, I strongly suggest you do, since creating likable characters is always a hot topic with writers. However, it turns out I’m a contrarian. I’m crazy about unlikable characters that run from those skirting the …
Continue reading “The Back-up Antagonist”
Today we bring you a guest post from one of our newer blogging friends, Shawn Griffith. Shawn runs a blog called Down Home Thoughts, and his site is packed with old-fashioned wit and wisdom. He’s on WriteOnSisters to talk about character, a topic near and dear to his heart. In fact he’s conducting a survey …
Continue reading “Do Your Characters have Character?”