Once Upon a Time is a case study for plotting out a series. It exhibits why it is important to have a game plan–no matter how rough–in place at the beginning of a creative endeavor. This helps writers avoid retreading past plot points or completely dropping the ball on others. Characters need to go hand in hand with this early plotting–their arcs, their backgrounds, etc.
Tag Archives: character building
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.
Scene Building: Setting The Pieces Into Motion
We’ve discussed the pieces that are needed to build a good scene, but now we are going to dive into the actual process so we can see them in action. I will be using the very first scene in chapter one from a book I wrote in junior high — let it never be saidContinue reading “Scene Building: Setting The Pieces Into Motion”
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: 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 