This I Believe

Once again, National Public Radio has changed my ideas of how to use a character quality. I used to think that beliefs had to fall into formal philosophical categories. Wrong.
The History of This I Believe
From their website: “At the dawn of the Cold War and the height of McCarthyism, Americans from all walks [...]

5 Secrets about your Characters’ Secrets

What is your character’s deepest, darkest secret? What is it that s/he doesn’t want anyone to know?
When you write a novel or revise a novel, YOU must know these things.
5 Ways to Use Secrets to Develop Characters

Using the Secret as a Plot Twist
When we find out that Luke Skywalker’s father is Darth Vader–the revelation [...]

When Characters Show Their Weakness

Character’s strengths and weaknesses influence plot, character relationships and how well we like a character. Before you decide on these, think about how these characteristics will ripple through the story.
Character Strengths and Weaknesses

Inherited or Acquired?Are your character’s strengths and weaknesses inherited or acquired? If inherited, they may be accepted easily by the character, [...]

5 Questions about Characters’ Desires

What does your character want more than anything else? Sharpen and deepen the desires of your major characters, and your story will be richer.

A Year of Voice Descriptions

Before December 11, 2006, I wouldn’t have thought to describe a character’s voice. Then along came Vocal Impressions on National Public Radio. Wow! It’s evocative to describe a character’s voice, and if you use a metaphor that also evokes a character quality, you’re even farther along!
Raw Voice + Apt Metaphor = Characterization
From [...]

Improving Character Description With Body Language

Characters Who Move
According to Mehrabian, 55% of communication depends on body language, 38% on tone-of-voice, and 7% on the words used. That’s bad news for novelists because we don’t have direct access to the body language as we work with our fictional characters – they are just words on a page. Adding body language [...]

5 Tips on Character Descriptions

Your Character’s Physical Characteristics: Go for the unexpected, the contrast. Follow Crutcher’s lead and think of the roles, jobs, expectations for your character and think about going for the opposite in physical characteristics. Villains are beautiful and heroes are ugly.

Characters inside

Character Profiles include Interior Traits
Inside, I’m different than the person you see. Isn’t that true for all of us? We look in a mirror and are amazed at that person staring back.
What is your character like on the inside? Interior character qualities may never make it into a description of a character, [...]

Character roles and jobs

This is part of a series of 15 Days to a Stronger Character, tips to help you as you write a novel or revise a novel. Also, see the companion series, Novel Diagnosis and 30 Days to a Stronger Novel.
Create Unique Characters with Unusual Roles in Life
What roles does your fictional character serve in [...]

My Blue House Office

My office is messy, as messy as a raven’s nest, as Michael Langley puts it on this site about British authors and their studios or writing rooms.
Several years ago, my husband and I bought a 3-story, 100+ year-old Victorian house in downtown Little Rock in the historic Quapaw Quarter. It was painted a lovely [...]