Relationships, Character, and the Unexpressed Longing
Unspoken desires are so often at the root of what may seem like arguments, misunderstandings, and conflict—and it’s a powerful…
Character
Understanding Evil Characters (and Writing Them Real)
So many stories in some way deal with the conflict between good and evil. As authors we’re urged to find…
Analysis: How Storytelling Makes the Story
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. My roommate when I lived in New…
How to Let Readers into Your Characters’ Inner Life
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. One of the areas where I most…
You Don’t Need a Character Wound
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. Many years ago, when I was a…
Character Stakes: The Key to Making Readers Care
Stakes are crucial to story, one of the central legs of the holy trinity of character plot and stakes, because…
How Backstory Creates Story, Part 2: Building Forward
You can “build forward” in your writing to create fully integrated characters and stories: begin with what you already have…
Fun with Family Drama!
Holiday gatherings can be a fantastic petri dish for observing character, so why not use the distraction of developing your…
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…
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…