Characterization, Goal, Motivation and Conflict

By Michelle Van Loon, on October 30th, 2009
Create Villains as Real as Your Heroes
When you’re planning a story, it is natural to pour your efforts into developing your protagonist’s character. You may spend a lot of time imagining his or her history, strengths, weaknesses, physical appearance . . . even, perhaps, what he or she eats for breakfast!
What if you spent just [...]
Showing vs. Telling, Writing in Active Voice

By Naomi Musch, on October 23rd, 2009
Show, Don’t Tell
If there’s one thing you will be told as a writer over and over again, it’s Show, Don’t Tell. So, if you haven’t heard that said before, allow me to be the first. What does it mean to show and not tell? It means to let the reader see, hear, taste, smell, and [...]
Characterization, Showing vs. Telling

By Melinda Evaul, on October 16th, 2009
Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 2
One goal as a writer is to create characters that become like full-fledged humans living and moving inside your story world or setting. They possess the traits and beliefs expressed by people in everyday life. You don’t want them to appear like cardboard dolls you move around in the story.
In the [...]
Characterization, Goal, Motivation and Conflict, Plotting

By Teri Dawn Smith, on October 9th, 2009
The Hero’s Outer Journey
A compelling hero takes two journeys in a story. The outer journey follows the plot line. It includes the goal, motivation and conflict we’ve already discussed. It begins with his goal and the steps he takes to reach that goal. Make sure you make the goal a seemingly impossible objective. A desire [...]
Characterization, Point of View

By Lynn Dean, on October 2nd, 2009
Choose POV Characters to Make the Most of Conflict in a Story
“It was a sunny day. Nothing happened.”
Boring, right? Stories are about conflict. Unless your characters have obstacles to face, there’s just not much to tell.
It stands to reason, then, that for maximum interest you’ll want to tell your story from the point of view [...]