Writers Helping Writers^®

Characters

Does Your Scene Need More Tension? Add an Emotion Amplifier!

April 25, 2024

Does Your Scene Need More Tension? Add an Emotion Amplifier!

April 25, 2024

Emotion and tension often go hand in hand. If character emotion is low, story tension is also probably waning. On the flip side, tension is likely on the rise when…

A Mother Lode of Resources on Talents and Skills

April 23, 2024

A Mother Lode of Resources on Talents and Skills

April 23, 2024

Talents and skills can serve many purposes in a story by revealing truths about the character, making them more likable or relatable for readers, and contributing to story arc by…

Three Easy Steps to Generate a Goal Using Fear as Motivation

April 16, 2024

Three Easy Steps to Generate a Goal Using Fear as Motivation

April 16, 2024

There’s so much emphasis on making sure that we give our character a goal that’s clear starting from their very first scene. Win the game. Find someone to marry. Land…

Top Story World and Story Bible Tips

April 9, 2024

Top Story World and Story Bible Tips

April 9, 2024

When we create a story world for readers, we are implanting images and sensory details. From which, the reader fills in the gaps. If we skew that world in any…

Why Writers Should Use Psychology In Their Storytelling

April 2, 2024

Why Writers Should Use Psychology In Their Storytelling

April 2, 2024

A writer’s job is to do one thing well: pull the reader in. Our words should act like a tractor beam, sucking them into our story’s world. We tap into…

Write Like a Magician: Creating the Illusion of an Unseen Character

March 26, 2024

Write Like a Magician: Creating the Illusion of an Unseen Character

March 26, 2024

Whenever we write a protagonist who lost someone important within their backstory, we have some heavy lifting ahead of us. That “unseen” character—a character who has died or who is…

Continuing a Series: Is This Info Too Repetitive?

March 12, 2024

Continuing a Series: Is This Info Too Repetitive?

March 12, 2024

We’ve probably seen advice warning that any time our story revisits information, we risk the idea feeling repetitive or redundant to readers if we’re not careful. Not surprisingly, the same…

Breathing Life into Characters

March 5, 2024

Breathing Life into Characters

March 5, 2024

Picture a protagonist who stumbles upon a mysterious artifact but shows no curiosity, or a group of friends who sit down separately at the summit of a hike under a…

Mastering Turning Points in Relationship Plots

February 6, 2024

Mastering Turning Points in Relationship Plots

February 6, 2024

A turning point (also known as a “plot turn” or “plot point”) changes the direction of the story, through an action or a revelation. The protagonist was going one direction,…

Turn Your Readers into Detectives

January 16, 2024

Turn Your Readers into Detectives

January 16, 2024

Imagine inviting us into your protagonist’s house or whatever you deem to be their most sacred physical space. But while we’re so excited to meet your protagonist, they’re not actually…