What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story's end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal's going to be and they'll know … [Read more...] about Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: Coming To Grips With Mental Illness
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Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: To Escape A Killer
What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story's end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal's going to be and they'll know … [Read more...] about Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: To Escape A Killer
Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: Having a Child
What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story's end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will quickly identify what the overall story goal's going to be; this will better enable … [Read more...] about Character Motivation Thesaurus Entry: Having a Child
Wound Thesaurus Entry: Childhood Sexual Abuse
When you're writing a character, it's important to know why she is the way she is. Knowing her backstory is important to achieving this end, and one of the most impactful pieces of a character's backstory is her emotional wound. This negative experience from the past is so intense that a character … [Read more...] about Wound Thesaurus Entry: Childhood Sexual Abuse
Emotional Wounds Thesaurus: A House Fire
When you're writing a character, it's important to know why she is the way she is. Knowing her backstory is important to achieving this end, and one of the most impactful pieces of a character's backstory is her emotional wound. This negative experience from the past is so intense that a character … [Read more...] about Emotional Wounds Thesaurus: A House Fire
Emotional Wound Thesaurus
Below are condensed sample entries from our popular emotional wound thesaurus as they first appeared here on our blog. It has since been developed into the bestselling book: The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma. This resource profiles well over 100 … [Read more...] about Emotional Wound Thesaurus
Character Traits Thesaurus Entry: Reckless
Definition: Marked by a lack of proper caution; careless of consequences Characters in Literature: Alaska Young (Looking for Alaska), Mr. Toad (The Wind in the Willows) Common Characteristics: boldness, fearlessness (whether real or perceived), impulsivity, lacking common sense, needing … [Read more...] about Character Traits Thesaurus Entry: Reckless
Identify Your Character’s Emotional Triggers
Every one has emotional triggers – are you using this to increase the emotional tension in your story? What Does Your Character Think is Their Strength? What does your character pride themselves on having, being, doing, possessing, needing, controlling, etc? Do they rest their identity in any … [Read more...] about Identify Your Character’s Emotional Triggers
Is My Story A Mystery, Horror or Thriller?
By Lucy V Hay Lots of writers enjoy mystery, horror and thriller novels … but are not too sure what differentiates them. As a result, when they attempt their own, they might get stuck. As a script editor in the UK who’s worked on predominantly horror and thriller, plus as an author myself who … [Read more...] about Is My Story A Mystery, Horror or Thriller?
Does Your Character Have a Secret?
We all have secrets - you do and I do. And let's face it, we work hard to not let them get out. But at the same time, when we get a whiff of another person's secret, it sparks our curiously. We are natural information-gatherers and so usually want to know what it is. Altruistically, we think … [Read more...] about Does Your Character Have a Secret?
Other Story Elements
We know that when it comes to a writer giving out the coveted red rose, plot and character are first to receive one. But guess what? Alone, they won't get very far. A great story is a team effort, so let's look at other key storytelling elements needed for our book to earn a spot on the … [Read more...] about Other Story Elements
How to Build Powerful Character Relationships
Character relationships are, in many ways, the glue that holds a story together. Almost every tale has at least one relationship at the heart of it, often more. Rarely can a character sustain a story on their own; they need others: friends, family, mentors, lovers, enemies, strangers, pets, … [Read more...] about How to Build Powerful Character Relationships