Character prompts

Random Prompts for Character Development
Last year, I bought Natalie Goldberg’s book, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. A friend saw Goldberg present at a bookstore about this book and was impressed, so I bit.
Now, I’m not much into writing a memoir. My life has been pretty average. But I’ve kept this [...]

Character and Plot

I’ve been working on my plot this week – which means I’ve been working on character.
I’ve been struck again by how interwoven these two are. We artificially separate them out to talk about them, but in practice, you can’t work on plot without considering character.

Conflict. For example, when I tried to decide on what conflict [...]

My Character’s Whispering Secrets

Shh! Don’t tell anyone else, but my character just told me a secret.
Great Way to Find Unusual Secrets
One common complaint about a first draft is that the characterization needs to be deeper. In Sol Stein’s book, Stein on Writing, Chapter 16 talks about the secret snapshot technique. Stein recommends that you think about [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]