Character development was widely (if unsurprisingly) regarded as one of the foundational pillars of writing a good story among the many top-selling authors present at this year’s ThrillerFest. In fact, “character” was the first of Steve Berry’s “6 C’s of Story Structure.” As Dale Brown said, “What is character? The motivations that drive the story …… Read more »
“I just got a book of character archetypes, but it seems so limiting. Do I really have to categorize all of my characters into these types?” –Confused & Characterless To answer your question, Confused & Characterless, I give you another quote: “They’re more like guidelines than actual rules.” –Captain Barbossa I highly approve of character… Read more »
#askbecca “I’m having trouble developing fully-rounded characters and showing how they change as the plot progresses.” — Charles E. “My go-to strategies for character development are either describing the clothes that a character is wearing or what they order if they sit down at a restaurant.” — Cooper S. Here is an actual character description… Read more »
A few weeks ago we ran an online workshop called 7 Techniques to Boost Your Writing. We were so thrilled with how it went that we’ve decided to host another one. This workshop is designed to help you boost your writing and get your story back on track. Whether you’re stuck on how to start,… Read more »
With 2012 drawing to a close, we wanted to share a few of our favorite articles from DIY MFA with you. But before we get to that, here’s a recap of how DIY MFA works. While in graduate school, I discovered that the typical Creative Writing MFA boils down to one simple formula. Some graduate… Read more »
On Monday we talked about how character’s are the story. Today, I pose another idea: while characters may be the story, what really makes your story interesting is the antagonist. And in the case of most thrillers, the antagonist happens to be a villain. If you’re wondering about the distinction between villains and antagonists, check… Read more »
As I mentioned in my introduction to the ThrillerFest recaps, I fully expected to learn a lot about plot, pacing and suspense. What I did NOT expect was that character development would be the central topic to just about every talk or panel I attended. Character development in a thriller? Actually, that idea is not… Read more »
To wrap up our week-long series about naming characters we’re going to play a game. In the picture below there are two lists of names. Select one name from each list (or even pick two names from the same list.) You can pick names that you think go well together, or if you’d rather leave… Read more »
Today I thought I’d give you all a peek into one of my works-in-progress and how I’ve named a couple of key characters. This project is a middle grade fantasy, and it involves magic. The story revolves around a group of sisters who are very close. It’s sort of like Little Women, only set in… Read more »
Naming characters is one of those things that baffled me for a long time. How would I ever find the right name for my characters? Names like Humbert Humbert, Holden Caulfield, Hannibal Lecter, Mary Poppins or even Wilbur (Charlotte’s noble pig friend), names where immediately the character would come to mind. Names like that always… Read more »
