It’s common knowledge that stories tend to only be as good as their characters. This means, unsurprisingly, that your protagonist needs to be great – they will need to develop as the plot progresses, be engaging and sympathetic (even if they’re not likable), and overcome challenges in a convincing and exciting manner. Writers often focus …
Few of us who were children in the nineties made it through childhood without consuming at least one of Anthony Horowitz’s action-packed YA spy thrillers. His Alex Rider series was (and remains) incredibly popular, but that’s not to forget his The Gatekeepers series, his Sherlock Holmes novels, his TV and film writing, or the dozens …
Five Things Anthony Horowitz Can Teach You About Writing Read More »
From Gilgamesh setting out to learn the secret of immortality to the real-life adventures of Chris McCandless, quest narratives have always enthralled us. It could be the allegory (life’s a journey, right?) or boredom with our own nine-to-fives, but whatever it is, the genre is satisfying… if it’s done right. The dark side of quest …
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’ (or, in the case …
Reader Proxies: What They Are And When They’re Useful Read More »
