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Not all works of fiction rely on a cast made up exclusively of deep, complex, and inscrutable characters. Some need a character that the audience can inhabit or possess; a platform for the reader to survey the world from and a mouthpiece for their own questions and thoughts. Such ‘reader proxy’ …
[Read more...] about Reader Proxies: What They Are And When They’re Useful
In life, we can tell a lot about a person by how they dress. We make first impressions – right or wrong – about someone’s personality, values, priorities, and preferences by what they wear. These impressions may be undermined and revised over time as we get to know a person, or perhaps they only get …
[Read more...] about Are You Dressing Your Characters For Success?
Iconic characters tower over our pop-cultural landscape. From Dracula to Tarzan, they stand the test of time to become recognizable figures to generation after generation. Sometimes, they kick-start entire genres and subgenres of fiction, and usually, dozens of imitators will follow in their wake, …
[Read more...] about What Makes An Iconic Character? (And How Can You Create One?)
Writing a thriller is a dangerous game. Why? Because success is a binary process. Other genres allow for compelling ideas to stand out against lackluster writing, or for amazing characters to charm readers through the boring bits of the plot, but a thriller reader is either thrilled or they aren’t, …
[Read more...] about Avoid A Boring Thriller With This One Simple Trick
This is a companion piece to How To Write A Damn Good Man, and takes a similar approach to considering gender in characterization. Perhaps the most succinct piece of advice I’ve ever heard for writing female characters came from comedy writer Erin Gibson. Just write a dude and slap a skirt on …
[Read more...] about How To Write A Damn Good Woman
Is there such a thing as a perfect cast of characters? A pure, alchemical recipe of personalities that promises the most engaging narrative a reader could ask for? No, of course not – it’s the events of the story that dictate what it needs from its cast, and what works well for one tale will bomb in …
[Read more...] about This Is The Blueprint For A Perfect Cast Of Characters
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