Fiction writing doesn’t offer many shortcuts or magic formulas. But today I am going to give you a secret ingredient in that coveted recipe for memorable and realistic characters. What is this ingredient? Dichotomy. If we expect our characters to jump off the page into three-dimensional living color, we have to give them multi-faceted personalities. […]
November 1, 2009 by 39 Comments Characters11 Dichotomous Characters–and Why You Should Be Copying Them
August 30, 2009 by 21 Comments CharactersLearn to Write Dynamic Characters Like Christopher Nolan
You know what they say, “If your character can be himself, he should always be himself. Otherwise, he should be Batman.” But, seriously, tongue-in-check aside, if you want to writing amazing, dynamic characters, there’s actually one very important lesson you need to learn from the Dark Knight. In the 2005 blockbuster hit Batman Begins, Bruce […]
August 9, 2009 by 42 Comments CharactersYour Character’s Career: Why It May Be the Most Important Decision in Your Book
In the 1998 movie Ever After, the character Prince Henry (played by Dougray Scott) complains that “to be so defined by your position, to only be seen as what you are. You don’t know how insufferable that is!” To which Drew Barrymore’s character responds, “You might be surprised. A gypsy, for example, is rarely painted […]
June 28, 2009 by 43 Comments CharactersCharacters: Likability Is Overrated
Writers want readers to love their characters. We want them to connect with the men and women who inhabit our stories. We want them to empathize so strongly that they are moved to laughter and to tears right along with these imaginary people we’ve created. So, naturally, we want our characters to be as likable […]
November 6, 2008 by 72 Comments Characters5 Important Considerations for Naming Your Characters
My parents chose their children’s names according the meanings. They named me Kathryn in hopes its meaning, “pure,” would bear fruit in my life. (Of course, they also gave me a middle name that means “bitter,” so I’m still trying to figure out the ramifications of that… Pure bitter just doesn’t have quite the same […]
June 1, 2008 by 12 Comments ThemeThe All-Important Link Between Theme and Character Progression
Theme is a slippery concept. The prevailing wisdom among writers is that if you apply any deliberate force to your theme, you’ll end up with a heavy-handed Aesop’s fable. On the other hand, a story without a theme is shallow escapism at best and an unrealistic flop at worst. Theme is arguably the single most […]
May 4, 2008 by 27 Comments Beginning Your BookCharacter: The Most Important Part of Your Story’s Beginning
If all of writing was as difficult as the first 50 pages, I probably would have wimped out years ago and found myself a new vocation. (Something easy and safe—like being a Walmart greeter or maybe the collector of the quarters from Laundromat machines.) Despite the fact that I already know every plot turn that […]
March 23, 2008 by 84 Comments Characters100+ Questions to Help You Interview Your Character
How well do you know your characters? Like the back of my hand, you say? Do you know the color of your hero’s eyes? Do you know where the bad guy went to college? Do you know your heroine’s most embarrassing moment? Can you rattle off a list of your main character’s idiosyncrasies? Typical expressions? […]
December 7, 2007 by 14 Comments CharactersWhat Dickens Can Teach Us About Complex Characters
In Our Mutual Friend , Charles Dickens’s final completed novel, he presents for us one of his most comprehensive and well-rounded tales. Herein is all the darkness of Hard Times, the cynicism of Martin Chuzzlewit, but also the optimism and hopefulness of David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby. G.K. Chesterton wrote of Our Mutual Friend that […]
