Writers Helping Writers^®

Characters

Contrasting and Condensing Characters: Two Sides to One Coin

May 21, 2019

Contrasting and Condensing Characters: Two Sides to One Coin

May 21, 2019

Good characterization is an enigma: it happens in the minutia, with the details we choose for our cast members, but it also happens on the macro level, with how we…

Saggy Middle? Use Conflict to Nip and Tuck It

May 16, 2019

Saggy Middle? Use Conflict to Nip and Tuck It

May 16, 2019

When I get a new story idea, I fly into the start of it with as much gusto as a kid in a candy store. I’m filled with the buzz…

Story Structure in a Flash

May 14, 2019

Story Structure in a Flash

May 14, 2019

Story structure can sometimes be difficult to wrap our minds around; there are so many different structures, all with different terminology and slightly different meanings. But today I’m going to…

Picking the Right Setting Details

April 30, 2019

Picking the Right Setting Details

April 30, 2019

Settings are very important to me. Most of my love affairs with books and movies tie directly into where the characters lived, laughed, and suffered: Green Gables, Toad Hall, the…

Plot, Inner Change, Evocative Writing—What Really Rivets Readers?

April 16, 2019

Plot, Inner Change, Evocative Writing—What Really Rivets Readers?

April 16, 2019

Here’s a counterintuitive fact: Writers spend way too much time obsessing about “the writing.” They sweat over the words, the technique, the language, the flow, the use of metaphor, and…

5 Character Tools You Absolutely Need to Know

April 9, 2019

5 Character Tools You Absolutely Need to Know

April 9, 2019

Angela here, happy to welcome Savannah Cordova from Reedsy who has done some sleuthing to find tools that might help you create your characters. Play around with ideas, or take…

Struggling with Writing Flashbacks? Try Using the P.A.S.T. Method

March 21, 2019

Struggling with Writing Flashbacks? Try Using the P.A.S.T. Method

March 21, 2019

Hi everyone! Today we have a past Resident Writing Coach visiting us: Sara Letourneau, editor and owner of Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services. She’s sharing some terrific…

Layering Character for Believable Fiction

March 14, 2019

Layering Character for Believable Fiction

March 14, 2019

Layering: the deepest, richest, most compelling aspect of character We hear a lot of talk about “layering” as a storytelling device. The more layers a character has, the more complex and…

Three Ways Writers Tell, Not Show (And How You Can Fix Them)

March 7, 2019

Three Ways Writers Tell, Not Show (And How You Can Fix Them)

March 7, 2019

One of my favorite writing coaches is here with us to dish some helpful advice on Show and Tell. Please welcome Janice Hardy and read on… Show, don’t tell, is…

Does Every Lead Character Need An Arc?

March 5, 2019

Does Every Lead Character Need An Arc?

March 5, 2019

At a Bouchercon some years ago, Lee Child was part of a panel on characters in thrillers. An audience member asked him a question about character change. “Every character has…