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 creation
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”
Book Review: “The Emotion Thesaurus”
I had been eying “The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression” when suddenly I realized I had inadvertently purchased it for the Kindle app on my phone; however, that mistake proved quite fortuitous. As the name suggests the book is a thesaurus with each entry being an emotion, such as “Anger,” “Confidence,” “Desperation,”Continue reading “Book Review: “The Emotion Thesaurus””
Redux: tarot for writers?
Tarot cards, particularly in the U.S., hold quite the stigma, particularly for their use to divine the future. Prior to that use, they started as a playing card game. Tarot cards also have a use for nailing down/expanding characters, creating new characters, or sparking the creative juices of their author’s. I just ask readers toContinue reading “Redux: tarot for writers?”
Blood & Ink 