Where Normal Need Not Apply
Writers are often overwhelmed with story ideas. When I’m in the middle of difficult revisions, it’s normal for me to think of several other shiny ideas that I would much rather work on instead of doing yet another round of edits. But not every idea is worthy of a story, […]
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Every story begins with an idea. Sometimes this idea comes to authors out of the blue. Sometimes a dream provides the spark. Sometimes “people watching” or an overheard conversation will trigger the thought. But no matter where it comes from, the idea kicks off everything else, like a seed from which […]
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Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day we eat too much food, roll our eyes at the antics of our extended family, and think about all the things we’re grateful for. Or in my case, have epiphanies. So there I was, trying to think about my manuscript’s last-minute revisions […]
Okay, what have we learned from the big series on creating strong characters? To feel realistic, characters need to have goals, a delusional self-image, multiple personalities, flaws, and a reason for their actions. Hmm… All that makes them sound a touch crazy, doesn’t it? (Not as crazy as I am, […]
We’re almost through with the list of how to create strong characters. So far, we’ve ensured they had goals and contrasted their self-image and persona. Next up… Do They Have Flaws? To feel lifelike, our characters must have flaws like real people. Without flaws, our characters risk making our whole […]
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We’re going to continue talking about how to implement the list to make sure we’re creating strong characters. Last time, we made sure that our characters had goals. Next up… Are They Three-Dimensional? There are plenty of ideas out there about how to make your characters seem real, but I’m […]
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Last time, we looked at a simple list for What Makes a Female Character Strong based on The Female Character Flowchart. But if that list is so simple, why does it seem so difficult to create a strong character? Why do so many fail and fall into stereotypes? Maybe because […]
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Most of my past year has been spent editing and revising, but for the past two days, I’ve been able to write fresh stuff for a shiny new project. Oh, drafting, how I love thee. Really, is there anything more freeing than starting with a newborn idea and exploring? Every […]
After disclosing in my last post that my Muse is a perv, he’s been rather quiet. So apparently he’s also shy. Or the strong and silent type. But that means I have no inspiration for today’s blog post. That’s okay—I’ll fake it. Yes, yes, I know, I railed on faking […]
This post was inspired by a funky sort of cosmic pile-up in which I had several experiences over the past couple days all involving Muses visiting people in the shower. Yes, writers are insane—more on that later. First, Christine Bell and I were discussing on Twitter how we get ideas […]
