In fiction/memoir, our characters carry the story, and writers must understand their strengths and weaknesses. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips for your character development: Shallow v. Deep In forming characters for your novel, memoir or story, you’ll give each one personality traits that make up the bedrock of your story. You want […]
Tag Archives: character strengths
Writing Your Character’s Strengths and Weaknesses
In writing fiction, your character’s strengths and weaknesses determine the story’s trajectory, conflict and emotion. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some ways to identify and then utilize your character’s strengths and weaknesses: Your Character’s Story Place any character into the point-of-view role and you’ll likely have different versions of a story. Your main character’s […]
The Complex Character
I heard a lot from readers who don’t want to read a too-perfect (sympathetic) character. Maybe the words “sympathetic” and “likable” need defining for fiction.Writing Tip for Today: In fiction, a sympathetic character only means this person is someone whom readers can identify with. Likability may not be as important, but memorability is essential. Here are […]
Writing Sympathetic Characters
The protagonist in your story means a lot to you. You, as author, created a person whose needs, obstacles and fortitude infuse you with writing energy. But the most difficult part of telling a great story is to get your reader to understand and experience the same world, problem and character that you’ve imagined. Writing […]
Is Your Character Willing to DIE? High Stakes
In your novel-in-progress, how high are the stakes for your main character? Low stakes, also known as the So What? factor, is a common problem of first novels. Your character needs a goal and some obstacles trying to prevent him/her from reaching the goal. But what if the goal isn’t sufficiently high to keep the […]
What Makes A Character Great?
A young, hip student asked if a character chart was something like a MySpace profile. Yes! While it will be interesting to see how writers in my class envision their characters, let’s examine what qualities memorable characters possess.Writing Tip for Today: The writing adage goes, “Character is Story.” The more deeply and completely a writer […]
High Stakes
Once you’ve answered the three magic questions, you may be rethinking your story a bit. Many times a novel’s plot can go from okay to stellar with the addition of higher stakes. This means your character and the world he/she lives in has more to lose. Here are some possible ways to raise the stakes […]
Story Stakes and the So What Factor
Many beginning novelists don’t know what their story is about–or else it’s about “a lot of things.” They start with their character and situation, but then allow that character to roam all over the situation’s landscape. It’s just like real life, you say.What’s the matter with that?The problem is that fiction isn’t life. Life meanders, […]
Story and Character
You may have heard the saying, “Story IS character, character IS story.” Inventing a great character is key to writing a great story. And vice versa. But how do you invent a character that can carry a story?Writing Tip for Today: Another writing slogan says, “A good novel is interesting people in trouble.” All you […]