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 [...]

5 Questions about First Person POV

First person point of view stories are introspective, selfish, all about me, me, me. Before you write or revise a novel using this POV, you should ask youself a couple questions.
It’s All About Me, Me, Me.

Main Character or Observer. Is the POV character the main character or an observer? Often it’s [...]

The Versatile Point of View

When you write a novel, or revise a novel, the default point-of-view and the most common used is third person. (Though, first person point of view is giving it a run for its money these days. )
The Versatile Point of View
Think about point of view as a camera. In the 3rd person [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Character names and nicknames

This is part of a series, 15 Days to a Stronger Character
Names and Nicknames: Echo Character Traits
Let’s start with the basics. What do you call this character? What difference does a name make to effective characterization?
I recently heard of an inner city family whose oldest child is named Chris and the second oldest [...]