I’d briefly mentioned the importance of offering a diverse cast of women in the post about “agency,” and now, we are going to explore that thought in depth. Diversity is an important component to include in any story — and not just with female characters, of course — because it is good for the readerContinue reading “Reflecting A Real World”
Category Archives: Character Series
Agency, Why It Matters
A lot has been made of strong women lately in literature. It’s a trend I like, but sometimes, I think it pigeonholes female characters into one mold — we will get into that during a future post this week where we dive into diverse fictional women. Rather than using the term strong women in my wish list, all I really want are women who have agency.
Women Don’t Need To Be Wedges To Each Other’s Happiness
This rant is a long time in coming. You’ve probably seen the trope yourself: Two women — sometimes the only two in the entire book — one is our heroine, the other, well, she’s mostly a four- or five-letter word . . . you know the words I’m talking about. The latter usually earns this title for flimsy reasons and because of her proximity to the female lead’s love interest. The narrative itself often offers very little reason for why readers should hate this other female character.
Character Series: Fears and Phobias
Everyone is afraid of something — heck, even Indiana Jones is. And you know what? That only makes us human. We all know what it is like to be afraid, whether it’s snakes, heights, confined spaces, fire, death, rodents, flying, aliens, dogs, drowning, etc. I personally have an almost debilitating fear of heights; I getContinue reading “Character Series: Fears and Phobias”
World and Character Series: Are your characters human?
Sometimes writers forget the basics while putting our vision to paper. And in this case I’m not talking about basics like grammar, plot or even character development. No, I’m talking about the basics of life: the need to eat. Often, times characters in books will go days without eating, making them more robot than human.Continue reading “World and Character Series: Are your characters human?”
Character Series: Habits — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Habits — the good and the bad… and sometimes plain ugly — can add spice to any character, making them complex and flawed. Habits are routine behaviors that occur repeatedly and can happen on a subconscious level. So what habits do your characters have? Are they good or bad? Some habits only appear when aContinue reading “Character Series: Habits — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
Character Series: Education
What was your characters’ education like? It is an aspect of your characters that you should know since education will be a deciding factor on what jobs your characters can have, their world views and how easily they can navigate through life. Ask yourself what type of students your characters were. Did they engage inContinue reading “Character Series: Education”
Character Series: Clothes make the man or woman
Clothes say a lot about a person, and it should be no different with characters. Albeit writers need to beware of info-dropping about clothing, or setting a character in front of a mirror just for said-character or narrator to go over ever inch of their appearance. However, little bits of description here and there aboutContinue reading “Character Series: Clothes make the man or woman”
Character Series: Intro, plus family
Well, here is the start of another series that will at least run every Friday during February and then periodically the rest of the year: The Character Series. This series will look at the different touches that make a character feel real and gives them depth. Intro A couple years back, I recall a majorContinue reading “Character Series: Intro, plus family”
Blood & Ink 