Creating Character Motivation: The Fallacy of Magical Knowing
Often in working on stories with authors, I point out areas where characters’ motivations feel unclear, fuzzy, or absent: The…
Month: October 2023
A Crash Checklist for NaNoWriMo—or Any First Draft
Facing a blank page and randomly starting to write—even if you start with a great idea or premise—is guaranteed to…
Who Shaped You; Who Shaped Your Characters?
Fully developed characters don’t spring from a vacuum any more than we do as human beings. They, too, are a…
On Writing Authentically and Pursuing the Perfect Smile
Don’t try to write a perfect story. Don’t try to present exhaustively developed characters whose every life experience you’ve examined…