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Category: Characterization, Plot, & Setting

April 28, 2016

What Promises Are You Making to Your Readers?

What promises are you making to your readers? What does that even mean? It’s not like you signed a written contract. You didn’t pinky swear to tell the reader what happened to that character who disappeared mysteriously in the first chapter. You’re under no obligation to include that, right? Actually,… I guess it was an implied pinky swear ’cause you kind of are. Readers rely on...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 2
April 14, 2016

How Choosing Point of View Changes Everything

Ok. Maybe not everything (that might be hyperbole). The point of view probably won’t change your plot (only what you see of it). It probably won’t change your setting. It doesn’t have to change who your characters are. What it does change is how you write about it – and I’m not just talking about pronouns. I should probably clarify because...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 6
April 12, 2016

Literal-Minded People: Add Humor, Plot Complications, & Characterization

Figurative Language : Literal-minded People :: Specific Colors : Color-blind people It’s a little harsh, but it’s true. And it’s not because they’re not smart. People who are literal-minded take words at face value. They don’t understand puns (bad pickup lines are lost on them), they find loopholes in all but the most specific instructions, and heaven help them if they’re...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Humor & Wordplay Comments: 4
April 1, 2016

An April Fools’ Day Writing Prompt

Happy April 1st! April Fools’ Day: The day of mild to malevolent trickery, laughter, and hurt feelings. If you’ve ever played a trick on someone for April Fools’, or if you were unfortunate enough to have a major one played on you, then you probably have some strong emotional memories about April 1st. Time to turn that torment into writing inspiration! Here...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Holiday & Seasonal/Inspiration/Literary Device Exercises/Worldbuilding Exercises/Writing Prompts Comment: 1
March 31, 2016

Character Reactions Are the Laugh Tracks of Books

Any TV show that’s filmed live has little signs that tell the audience when to applaud. Almost all TV shows use laugh tracks so that audience members know when to laugh, and movies have soundtracks that tell the audience when they should feel happy or sad or scared. What do books have? Books have words. (duh) They have words that shape the...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/General Thoughts & Updates/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 0
March 30, 2016

Eccentricities vs. Character Building: The Fine Line Between Awesome & Creepy

If you want an old character to be awesome and enjoyable, you can give the character some personality quirks (eccentricities) that make the character unique, unexpected, and hilarious (see “2 Types of Kick-ass Old Characters That People Love“). So what do you do if you want to make the old person (or any character) creepy and horrifying? Easy. Give them...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting Comments: 2
March 29, 2016

2 Types of Kick-ass Old Characters That People Love

Has anyone else noticed how much people love old characters who kick butt and/or defy social norms? They tend to become favorite characters because they’re so unexpected – they break our concept of old people. As a rule, we expect older characters to be weak, confused, and either excessively grumpy or sweet. When they say shocking things or suddenly destroy someone...
Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Humor & Wordplay/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 0