Writers Helping Writers^®

Character Wound

The Four Types of Character Flaws

November 7, 2013

The Four Types of Character Flaws

November 7, 2013

Hostile Characters, like real people, will have flaws, aspects of their personality that shape their behavior and worldview in negative (destructive) ways. These flaws cause them to think, act, and…

Understanding Character Wounds: A List Of Common Themes

February 27, 2014

Understanding Character Wounds: A List Of Common Themes

February 27, 2014

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…

Writing Emotion: Does Your Hero Shrug, Smile & Frown Too Much?

March 8, 2014

Writing Emotion: Does Your Hero Shrug, Smile & Frown Too Much?

March 8, 2014

Crutch gestures can sometimes get in the way of good writing. They come in all shapes and sizes–maybe an eye roll, a clenched stomach, curled fists or shrugs–cues we writers…

Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them

June 11, 2014

Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them

June 11, 2014

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…

10 Reasons Why Your Protagonist Needs Flaws

December 14, 2014

10 Reasons Why Your Protagonist Needs Flaws

December 14, 2014

When we see the word Hero or Heroine, we think heroic, which is ironic as they are often jaded, lost, and brimming with flaws and false beliefs about the world…

Writing 101: Building a Balanced Character

January 7, 2015

Writing 101: Building a Balanced Character

January 7, 2015

Here’s the truth about compelling characters: they’re neither good nor bad, perfect nor fundamentally flawed. Instead, they’re all of these things. Each character has a set of good, admirable qualities…

Vulnerability: The Key to Compelling Romantic Relationships

March 3, 2015

Vulnerability: The Key to Compelling Romantic Relationships

March 3, 2015

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,…

The Importance of Grounding Characters in the Reader’s World

April 2, 2015

The Importance of Grounding Characters in the Reader’s World

April 2, 2015

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…

How To Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound

May 14, 2015

How To Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound

May 14, 2015

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…

The Connection Between Emotional Wounds and Basic Needs

May 27, 2015

The Connection Between Emotional Wounds and Basic Needs

May 27, 2015

As many of you may know, we have a new thesaurus, one that looks into a problematic (yet SO important) area: Emotional Wounds. It’s somewhat intuitive to see how a traumatic…