Writers Helping Writers^®

Characters

Use Trauma Strategically To Create An Emotional Arc

August 26, 2021

Use Trauma Strategically To Create An Emotional Arc

August 26, 2021

Many authors give their characters past trauma that makes life more difficult and at the very least adds internal conflict. But are you strategic with the kind of trauma you…

Describing a Character’s Emotions: Problems and Solutions

August 14, 2021

Describing a Character’s Emotions: Problems and Solutions

August 14, 2021

Characters are the heart of a story, but what really draws readers in is their emotions. Only…showing them isn’t always easy, is it? Like us in the real world, characters…

Don’t Let Excess Baggage Bring Down Your Character’s Plane

August 10, 2021

Don’t Let Excess Baggage Bring Down Your Character’s Plane

August 10, 2021

We’ve all heard that characters need backstory, and in particular, an emotional wound that they’re carrying around when we meet them on page one. (As an aside, if you haven’t…

3 Mistakes To Avoid with Your Side Characters

August 5, 2021

3 Mistakes To Avoid with Your Side Characters

August 5, 2021

Help me welcome Resident Writing Coach Alumni Sacha Black, who has just an excellent post on how to avoid creating story problems caused by mismanaged side characters. Here’s a bit…

Fight, Flight, or Freeze: What’s Your Character’s Go-To Response?

July 22, 2021

Fight, Flight, or Freeze: What’s Your Character’s Go-To Response?

July 22, 2021

Fight, flight, or freeze. I think we’ve all heard variations of this phrase. It refers to the way each person is hard-wired to react to real or perceived danger: we…

What’s Your Character’s Love Language? (And Why Does it Matter?)

July 13, 2021

What’s Your Character’s Love Language? (And Why Does it Matter?)

July 13, 2021

Creating characters can be an exciting time for writers, but it can also cause headaches if we don’t understand what motivates them or how they should react to certain situations…

Changing Your Reader’s Perspective

July 8, 2021

Changing Your Reader’s Perspective

July 8, 2021

As writers, we all know how difficult it can be to win readers over. The writing has to be strong, the events realistic, the characters well-rounded, etc. etc. We know…

8 Ways to Write Your Novel’s Outline

June 15, 2021

8 Ways to Write Your Novel’s Outline

June 15, 2021

Writers who don’t outline are often very loud online. They will say outlines kills creativity. They may even go so far as to claim an outline is a ‘straightjacket’ and…

Nods, Smiles, and Frowns: How Can We Avoid “Talking Heads”…and Cliches?

June 8, 2021

Nods, Smiles, and Frowns: How Can We Avoid “Talking Heads”…and Cliches?

June 8, 2021

Context is often an underappreciated element of our writing because when not done well, a context-filled passage can become a tell-not-show info dump. However, context is essential for most aspects…