In Frank Oz’s comedy What About Bob?, Bill Murray’s neurotic character sobs to his psychiatrist (who’s trying desperately to get rid of him), “Gimme, gimme, gimme! I need, I need, I need!” To some extent this is what every one of our characters should be internally screaming. We’re all familiar with the idea that the […]
April 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment CharactersTaking Full Advantage of Your Character’s Traits
Your characters are a sum total of their traits. Maybe your heroine is beautiful, sassy, vulnerable, and intelligent. Maybe your hero is strong, witty, quirky, and claustrophobic. Piled together these traits can create complex and memorable characters. But sometimes authors fail to take full advantage of their characters’ traits and, in so doing, waste their […]
February 29, 2012 by 4 Comments BackstoryWhen Your Backstory Becomes Your Story
Backstory is called backstory for the very reason that it belongs in back of the story. It’s not the point of the story; it’s only, in a sense, the explanation for the story. So, naturally, you’re always careful not to let the backstory take over. You’re alert to its sneaky attempts to horn in and […]
December 7, 2011 by 3 Comments Beginning Your BookHow Much Should You Explain in a Story’s Beginning?
One of the trickiest parts of any story is the beginning. And one of the trickiest parts of a story’s beginning is figuring out how to balance the need to keep the story moving forward with the need to explain lots of important background details to the reader. This is a balance that will be […]
November 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment ThemeTips for Creating Thematic Resonance
Because theme often arises organically from a story, without much initial conscious thought on the author’s part, it can sometimes be a tricky aspect for writers to get their heads around. One of the keys to creating a story with deep thematic resonance is choosing subplots that can thematically mirror and reinforce the main plot’s […]
November 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment PodcastAction and Reaction in Scene Structure: The Two Pistons Powering Your Story
Your story is a precision machine. If you were to take the shiny cover off this machine, what you would find inside would be an intricate mass of nuts, bolts, gears—and an engineer only knows what else. At the heart of it all, you’d find two huge pistons running the show. One of those pistons […]
November 23, 2011 by 4 Comments CharactersHow to Describe Your Characters–and How Not to
Perhaps the largest limitation of the written word is that it offers no visual picture. Unlike the viewers of a movie, readers are entirely dependent upon the author’s descriptive skills for their ability to visualize the characters. Luckily, most authors have a vivid picture of their characters in their minds. All we have to do […]
November 16, 2011 by 17 Comments Point of ViewThe #1 Factor to Consider When Choosing POV Characters
How do you go about choosing your POV characters? This is one of the most important decisions you can make in planning your book. The characters who narrate will largely control the flow, tone, and focus of your story. Change the POV characters, and you’ll likely change the entire story. And yet this is a […]
August 28, 2011 by 5 Comments Characters7 Ways to Make Sure Your Protagonist and Antagonist Are Stuck Together
When you think of the relationship between your protagonist and antagonist, the first thing to pop to mind usually isn’t their being bonded at the hip. They’re different from one another. They don’t want to stick together. They want to get as far away from one another as possible. That’s what creates the conflict! True […]
August 21, 2011 by 72 Comments CharactersCaptain America’s 10-Step Guide to Writing a Likable Hero
Make me like your characters, and I will follow them to the center of the earth. I will fight with them in the trenches. I will slog through bogs, brave tsunamis, and face down volcanoes for them. If I like your characters, I won’t just read your book, I’ll ache when it’s over, buy it […]
