Note from K.M. Weiland: Welcome to a special follow-up post to my (temporarily) completed series The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel. Wordplayer and frequent blog commenter Usvaldo de Leon, Jr. (who will no doubt remind me “commenter” is not a word!) sent me the following thoughts on the use of excellent character […]
September 30, 2016 by 40 Comments CharactersLearn How to Set Up the Potential for Change in Character Arcs
September 23, 2016 by 87 Comments CharactersHow to Be a Gutsy Writer: Stay True to Your Characters
Part 13 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel Sometimes the greatest act of courage any person can perform is simply that of being honest. This is arguably more valid for writers than for just about anyone—and it is nowhere more valid than in being willing to stay true to your characters. Here’s the thing […]
September 19, 2016 by 61 Comments CharactersThe Secret to Writing Dynamic Characters: It’s Always Their Fault
It’s a morbid joke among writers: we are so mean to our characters. And we love it. It’s the stuff of good stories. It’s the stuff of epic conflict. And yet, all this very important imaginative cruelty can sometimes trip us up on our way to writing dynamic characters who can, in turn, deal with this epic […]
August 12, 2016 by 90 Comments ThemeIs This the Single Best Way to Write Powerful Themes?
Part 9 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel The longer I study stories, the more convinced I am that the one single thing that sets apart the great stories from the meh ones is theme. What this means, of course, is that figuring out how to write powerful themes is possibly the most […]
July 1, 2016 by 58 Comments CharactersUse Minor Characters to Flesh Out Your Protagonist
Part 3 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel Stop thinking of your minor characters as characters. If that flies in the face of everything you’ve ever heard about your story’s supporting cast, then just hang with me for a minute as I first ask you this all-important question: What is story? […]
June 27, 2016 by 47 Comments Characters5 Secrets of Complex Supporting Characters
Supporting characters don’t get nearly enough love. We come up with amazing protagonists who do amazing things and we labor to give them solid and complicated character arcs. But after all that work on the story’s forerunner, what happens to the supporting characters? Too often, they’re an afterthought. Of course, your protagonist needs a dad […]
May 5, 2016 by 88 Comments CharactersHow to Harness the Dark Side of Your Impact Character
If you’re wanting to write an awesome character arc for your protagonist, the “impact character” is going to be a central catalyst in making that happen. The impact character isn’t someone you hear discussed often (the term originates with the Dramatica storyform). However, this supporting character can single-handedly make or break your protagonist’s change arc. Usually, the […]
January 29, 2016 by 102 Comments BackstoryThe #1 Problem With Backstory (and Its Simple Fix)
There’s a problem with backstory? Among writers that’s a rhetorical question. We all know there are lots of potential problems with backstory—everything from where to put it in the story to how much of it we should even be sharing with readers in the first place. But before you can start worrying about any of […]
July 12, 2015 by 61 Comments CharactersThe Hardest Part of Writing Good Character Arcs—and How You Can Make It Look Easy!
Character arcs are easy, right? Somewhere in between the beginning and the middle of the book, the character changes. What could be simpler? And yet, when we get right down to the nitty-gritties, character arcs are also pretty darn hard. Why? Because humans never change in simplistic, easy, on-and-off-like-a-light-switch ways. We change slowly, sometimes invisibly, […]
November 23, 2014 by 32 Comments ThemeWhat Is the Role of Theme in a Story’s Climax?
Today, I’m going to be a bad blog writer. I’m not going to make you think at all to find the answer to the title question: “What is the role of theme in a story’s climax?” I’m just going to tell you straight up: The role of theme in your story’s climax is all-important. The […]
