Writers Helping Writers^®

Character Wound

The Fear Thesaurus Is Now Available Everywhere + a Giveaway!

May 12, 2026

The Fear Thesaurus Is Now Available Everywhere + a Giveaway!

May 12, 2026

Fear is more than just an emotion–it’s also a powerful internal warning system. When a threat is perceived, fear kicks in, alerting a character to possible danger so they can…

The Fear Thesaurus Is Here! (Early Release at Writers Helping Writers)

April 15, 2026

The Fear Thesaurus Is Here! (Early Release at Writers Helping Writers)

April 15, 2026

Update: The Fear Thesaurus is now available everywhere books are sold!Find the links for these stores below or visit the official Fear Thesaurus page for more information on formats, retailer…

How Does Fear Play Into Character Arc? Part One

March 31, 2026

How Does Fear Play Into Character Arc? Part One

March 31, 2026

It’s hard to overstate the importance a character’s greatest fear plays in their life. As a key motivator, it informs decision-making, spawns new habits and tendencies, and pushes them to…

How Fear Shrinks Your Character’s World Over Time

March 19, 2026

How Fear Shrinks Your Character’s World Over Time

March 19, 2026

Fear is something we all experience, a psychological early warning system that alerts us to possible danger. When we encounter a situation that contains unknowns, fear kicks in. Even if…

Two Craft-Boosting Black Friday Deals for Writers

November 16, 2025

Two Craft-Boosting Black Friday Deals for Writers

November 16, 2025

The best thing about Black Friday sales is how creative folk can finally put themselves first, picking up affordable resources that will make a huge impact on their writing success.…

How to Show Your Character’s Repressed Emotions

September 11, 2025

How to Show Your Character’s Repressed Emotions

September 11, 2025

Crafting characters that readers will connect to is every writer’s goal and dozens (hundreds?) of methods exist to achieve it: deep backstory planning, character profile sheets, questionnaires, etc. Regardless of…

How to Differentiate Stories from AI Slop

September 9, 2025

How to Differentiate Stories from AI Slop

September 9, 2025

Use Context to Deepen Our Writing From AI Slop For as long as I’ve been a writer, I’ve heard the advice, “Only write if you can’t not write.” The idea…

How to Show Your Character Is Healing from an Emotional Wound

August 7, 2025

How to Show Your Character Is Healing from an Emotional Wound

August 7, 2025

When it comes to writing a story where a character is going to work through a difficult past wound, there are two behavioral states to convey: one showing their brokenness…

Tap into Your Character’s Unmet Need to Strengthen Your Story

July 24, 2025

Tap into Your Character’s Unmet Need to Strengthen Your Story

July 24, 2025

Life can be painful, especially for our characters. In fact, the fallout of an emotionally wounding event such as a car accident, failing to save someone’s life, infertility, or being…

How to Avoid Flat Characters in Your Story

February 25, 2025

How to Avoid Flat Characters in Your Story

February 25, 2025

Has an editor or critique partner said, “Your character is flat” when offering feedback on your story? Or perhaps they worded it another way: “Your protagonist didn’t grab me,” or…