Writers Helping Writers^®

Characters

Surprising Your Readers in Every Scene

November 12, 2019

Surprising Your Readers in Every Scene

November 12, 2019

Often we think of surprising audiences with large twists and turns, with thrilling midpoints or shocking losses, but bringing surprise into smaller story pieces, like interactions and beats, can sometimes…

Saving your Story from Predictability

November 7, 2019

Saving your Story from Predictability

November 7, 2019

I had the rare and luscious experience this weekend of cracking open a book and it being so awesome that I flew right through it. The Deceivers is about a girl from…

Where Do Character Strengths Come From?

October 31, 2019

Where Do Character Strengths Come From?

October 31, 2019

Quick, name a favorite literary or movie character. Now, what is it about him/her that’s so appealing? In all likelihood, the reason you love that character is because he or…

Identifying your Character’s Fatal Flaw

October 29, 2019

Identifying your Character’s Fatal Flaw

October 29, 2019

Good characters are often broken characters. They’ve been wounded, and the last thing they want is to be hurt in that particular way again, so they adopt new behaviors—emotional shielding—that are…

Introducing the Character Trait Boxed Set

October 22, 2019

Introducing the Character Trait Boxed Set

October 22, 2019

Full disclosure: Becca and I have been a bit sneaky this year. First, we decided that rather than tell everyone which thesaurus we would publish next we would surprise everyone,…

How To Scare Your Readers Using Deep Point Of View

October 10, 2019

How To Scare Your Readers Using Deep Point Of View

October 10, 2019

I love to get geeky about deep point of view and I’m so excited to be a guest writing coach here. *mittened fist bump* What is Deep Point Of View? It’s a…

Diversity in Fiction: Writing the Character You’re Afraid to Write

October 8, 2019

Diversity in Fiction: Writing the Character You’re Afraid to Write

October 8, 2019

In the last two years, diversity in fiction has become more and more prevalent. We’ve seen blockbuster film and TV hits from award winning books like The Hate You Give by Angie…

How Do You Know If Your Protagonist Is Strong Enough?

October 3, 2019

How Do You Know If Your Protagonist Is Strong Enough?

October 3, 2019

You can have an incredibly detailed world, adrenaline-spiking action and jaw-dropping plot twists, but unless the character in the driver’s seat is interesting, layered, and memorable, the story will pancake.…

Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?

September 26, 2019

Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?

September 26, 2019

As most of you know, Becca and I have been writing and publishing for some time now. Many thing have changed in the industry, including how a book reaches the…

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Satisfaction

September 17, 2019

Goal-Oriented Storytelling: Satisfaction

September 17, 2019

Welcome to the final post in this four-part series on ANTS. As I mentioned in my first post, ANTS is a goal-oriented framework for storytelling. It’s what you’re trying to…