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How Does Your Character Change? You know your character must change somehow over the course of your novel. But how? And more than that, how do you sync the changes with the external plot? The middle of a novel can suffer from the dreaded “sagging middle” and it’s mainly because you don’t have a firm [...]
Character’s Job Affects Your Novel When you think about a character’s profession or job, what are you looking for? Stand out. Usually, you want something that will stand out. Maybe taxidermist, taxi driver, armored car driver. The ch Implications of the Job. Think carefully about the implications of the job. This might be considering the [...]
Hello, characters! Ahem! Ah, thank you for your attention. I’m doing a casting call for leading ladies and men in my next novel. So, I’ll have each of you walk across the stage, just walk across. Contrasts. I’m looking for contrasts in names, height, weight, ethnic background, style of clothing and personality factors. If X [...]
We all know that a character must grow throughout the course of a novel. But how do they grow and how do you Show-Don’t-Tell that growth? It helps to know the beginning and ending points. And often, I like going straight for the end to see where I’m aiming. Let’s say that a person needs [...]
When you write kids’ books, there’s often a parent component. Duh. Kids have parents. So what? Get Rid of Adults One recommendation for dealing with parents is to get rid of them. Send them out of town for work; get rid of at least one parent through death, divorce or neglect; stick them in the [...]
Fully Develop Major Characters As I’m working on this new story and new characters, I have to remind myself to work on the major characters in a different way than the minors. Major character need full development, especially of an inner journey. There needs to be distinctive steps on that journey and each step needs [...]
Conflict on Every Page Literary Agent, Donald Maass preaches the necessity of “conflict on every page.” I’m revising a scene today and realized I was being lazy.
I’ve been working on characters. Still. I’m the Kind of Person Who. . . One suggestion I’ve seen lately is the idea of embracing emotion. For example,
Using a Character Bible to Deepen Conflict One item I keep returning to as I struggle with plotting and writing the opening of this new novel is my Character Bible. My WIP is a complex novel with a dozen characters, all of whom need to stay straight in my reader’s mind. Which means I need [...]
Give Readers a Larger Than Life Protagonist In my new novel, I’ve written about a dozen different openings, looking for a voice that works. I’m settling in on one, but the first chapter is still unsteady. One thing I’m looking at today is how to make the main character, the protagonist, larger-than-life.
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