Category Archives: Fear
Inside One Stop For Writers: Unique Templates & Worksheets
A Look Inside One Stop’s Templates & Worksheets As you can imagine with an online library, there are many nooks and crannies to explore. One of my favorite places is up in The Stacks where we keep our Templates and … Continue reading
Why Is Your Character’s Emotional Wound So Important?
Emotional wounds hold incredible power, steering a hero’s motives, actions, and beliefs. They damage their sense of self worth, filter how they view the world, and dictate how they interact with other people, making it harder for them to achieve … Continue reading
How To Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound
To build a compelling character (and write them convincingly) we want to make them real as possible, and that means developing a backstory that lets us understand them on a deeper level. This brainstorming time allows us create their unique … Continue reading
The Importance of Grounding Characters in the Reader’s World
We all know how important it is to build fully-fleshed characters by digging at their core. Exposing their attributes, flaws, morals, emotional wounds and fears that revolve around their basic human needs will influence their goals and desires within the … Continue reading
Vulnerability: The Key to Compelling Romantic Relationships
The connection between two characters is one of the most magnetic forces in storytelling, especially in romance novels. Whether they welcome the relationship, fight it, or fall somewhere in between, emotional friction creates an energy that leaves readers anxious to … Continue reading
Personality Traits: Building a Balanced Character
If writing the Positive Trait & Negative Trait Thesaurus books have taught me anything, it is that compelling characters are neither good nor bad, perfect or fundamentally flawed. Instead, they are all of these things. Each has a set of … Continue reading
Hidden Emotions: How To Tell Readers What Characters Don’t Want To Show
One of the struggles that comes with writing is when a character feels vulnerable and so tries to hide their emotions as a result. Fear of emotional pain, a lack of trust in others, instinct, or protecting one’s reputation are … Continue reading
Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them
I recently read a Huff Post psychology piece on Turning Negative Emotions Into Your Greatest Advantage and immediately saw how this could also apply to our characters. Feel free to follow the link and read, but if you’re short on … Continue reading
Understanding Character Wounds: A List Of Common Themes
Characters are the heart of a novel, and within that heart is the Hero’s Inner Journey. The protagonist’s path is much like yours or mine–one that will (hopefully) bring him closer to lifelong happiness and fulfillment. In real life, people … Continue reading
Purging the Fear: Becoming a Stronger Writer
As Angela mentioned in an earlier post, I’m doing my own NaNo this month—JaNoWriMo, if you will ;). The going is slow; I’ve had some personal crises in addition to the difficulties of trying to focus on writing while monitoring … Continue reading