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Characters

Writing about Pain: Describing Major & Mortal Injuries

August 31, 2023

Writing about Pain: Describing Major & Mortal Injuries

August 31, 2023

As you may be aware, we’re smack dab in the middle of a series of posts on writing a character’s pain, and today’s is a doozy. Our last post explored…

Writing About Pain: Describing Minor Injuries

August 29, 2023

Writing About Pain: Describing Minor Injuries

August 29, 2023

When we push characters to their limits, sometimes they get hurt. Injuries can range from annoyances to mortal wounds, and handled well, can add tension and complication to the story,…

Writing About Pain: Different Types to Explore

August 24, 2023

Writing About Pain: Different Types to Explore

August 24, 2023

“Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” -The Dread Pirate Roberts Pain is an unfortunate part of life. As our characters go about their day—working, building relationships,…

Writing About Pain: Three Stages of Awareness

August 22, 2023

Writing About Pain: Three Stages of Awareness

August 22, 2023

If there’s one thing writers like to do, it’s to make characters suffer. We are all about bringing forth pain and crises, whether it be emotional, physical, spiritual, or existential.…

Five Commonalities Between Heroes and Villains

August 3, 2023

Five Commonalities Between Heroes and Villains

August 3, 2023

In story terms, a villain is a person, entity, or force who is cruel, evil, or malicious enough to wish the protagonist harm. Rather than simply blocking a goal or…

Improve Your Storytelling in 5 Minutes

July 25, 2023

Improve Your Storytelling in 5 Minutes

July 25, 2023

What are writers chronically short on? Time. There never seems to be enough of it as we try to get the next book written, research our publishing options, keep up…

Keep Tensions High by NOT Resolving Your Character’s Relationship Conflict

July 18, 2023

Keep Tensions High by NOT Resolving Your Character’s Relationship Conflict

July 18, 2023

When it comes to story conflict, there are so many options to choose from. Power struggles, physical threats, moral dilemmas, failures, ticking clocks—they’re all great for ratcheting up tension, building…

Do Your Characters Have Agency?

July 13, 2023

Do Your Characters Have Agency?

July 13, 2023

Consider, if you will, a story about a woman who wants to gain esteem by winning an important legal case. Things are going along fine until she gets fired from…

Five Reasons to Identify Your Character’s Wounding Event

June 29, 2023

Five Reasons to Identify Your Character’s Wounding Event

June 29, 2023

As human beings, we’re all products of our past; good and bad, our experiences have formed us into who we are. The same should be true of our characters. One…

Positive Traits Can Have Drawbacks, and Flaws Aren’t All Bad

June 27, 2023

Positive Traits Can Have Drawbacks, and Flaws Aren’t All Bad

June 27, 2023

I was watching Gone with the Wind the other night—because, you know, it was on TV and I had four hours to kill. As a teen, this was the first “grown-up” book…