Character growth or change is integral to great stories. Giving characters bad as well as good character traits means your characters have tendencies and predispositions. It also helps to spark ideas for backstory, for how they acquired their dominant qualities in the first place. Here are 7 useful good character attributes: (more…)
Writing a good book is something every fiction writer aspires to. When writers ask for help writing a book, a popular question is ‘Is my idea good enough?’ Having a great story idea to start with helps. Yet a satisfying novel is a combination of many key components. Here are 10 ingredients that will […]
Like real people, memorable characters change and evolve over time. Here are character development questions that will help you link character changes to broader story arcs and make sure your characters aren’t cardboard cutouts: (more…)
How characters grow and change, reach their goals or fail to, keeps us interested. In stories, character development is crucial: If all your characters stay unchanged, even through extreme circumstances, your novel will feel two-dimensional. Developing your characters makes them ring true. Here are 9 steps to creating satisfying character arcs: (more…)
Conflict is a key ingredient of an engrossing story. ‘Internal conflict’ and ‘external conflict’ are two terms you’ll often hear when people discuss character creation. Read definitions of these types of story conflict, then how to use them to develop your story: (more…)
Learning how to write a backstory requires balancing present and past narration. What is backstory? The simplest backstory definition is ‘a history or background created for a fictional character’ (OED). Read 5 steps that will (more…)
Describing characters imaginatively is an essential skill when writing fiction. It helps readers to invest in your characters’ storylines and experiences if they feel real. Read on for five tips for describing characters’ faces: Describing characters: 5 tips for drawing faces with words Ready to write great characters? Here’s how to make sure each character feels real […]
The short story has a long and rich tradition, spanning everything from the gothic to the contemporary. Learning how to write a short story will improve your writing skills, as you can apply many of the techniques you learn to writing longer forms. Short stories are not necessarily any easier to write, but telling a complete […]
Knowing how to write believable characters is vital for any fiction writer. A character that seems like a stock character – the hero, the villain, the orphan, the unwilling saviour – can easily become too predictable. So how do you create a great character? There are several ways to make sure that your fictional characters […]
