Have you ever had someone read your work? Then make a comment like, “I love all the stuff that’s going on here but I’m having trouble seeing how your character changes”. Or “the character seems static”. Or “the character is really just an observer”? The reader might have misunderstood the story, however, those statements might…
Some writers habitually write with music playing, while others find it easier to focus in silence. When I refer to the soundtrack of your story, I am not necessarily referring to the music that you play while writing, although that also has its place; instead, I am thinking of the music that belongs to your…
Do you have an ideal reader? You know the one reader that you think about as you are sculpting your prose; that reader who is sitting on your shoulder as you look for the proper way to turn a phrase, or escalate a series of events? This idea has come and gone throughout my writing…
Do you know the term “Mary Sue”? I am sure most of you have at least heard this term in passing. To sum it up, the Mary Sue character is an idealized, almost entirely perfect main character. The Mary Sue character originated in a Star Trek parody by Paula Smith in 1973. It was shortly…
Can your Main Characters be unlikeable? Apparently they can, judging by two books I have read recently. Actually, in both instances the main characters were not only unlikeable but there was nothing redeeming about them. Nothing made me feel sympathetic to their plight (as a sidebar, both books were bestsellers which has me scratching my head). This…
Many writing workshops start their sessions on character development with a sheet detailing the hero’s name, age, eye color and hair color. They then move onto his job, his hobbies, and his family background. Next they might add a picture from the Internet or a magazine which looks a little like the hero, and perhaps…
We have all been there. You are halfway through your work-in-progress (WIP). It was all going so well. The characters, the plot and all the elements that make a great novel were all cooperating, coming together and falling into place. Then all of the sudden you made a wrong turn and end up on a…
Right after the muse, “voice” seems to be the most elusive and difficult to define. An abstract idea, it is one of those things where I will know it when I see it. A writer’s voice is similar to a thumbprint or a snowflake in that no two are alike. And if you are lucky,…