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1. Character profilesThese are great quick snapshots of who each of your main characters are. I try to do one for each of my main characters and supporting characters. Try to go beyond the traditional "blue eyes, black hair, 150lbs." Go deeper than that. I always include a little paragraph about their history as well as their preferred weaponry, language use, and growth points. List their weird quirk, the trait that sets them apart, or the first thing people notice about them. I also like to include an inspiration picture if I can find one on Pinterest. I have an example below (character names placeholders for my real ones). Male MC 1 Race - Dragonbourne Occupation - tracker Phrase Description - bad boy Hair - half shaven head with black, shaggy hair that falls into his eyes a lot. Constantly sweeping it aside. Face - chiseled jawline, scar near his ear, high cheekbones History - always a physical child, loving parents turned him out when he proved to be too much trouble, joined military young, involved with the wrong crowd. Growth point - The world is not out to get him. Weaponry - dual wielding swords Languages - common, dragonbourne You can add anything you want, those are just some of my important categories that really help me when needing to reference back. Customize these profiles to what YOU need to know! 2. Major Element ExplanationsI have not only several magical beings that need explaining, but also several items and plot points. Use your book bible to flush these elements out and over explain them so when they go into the book, you can pull the descriptions you need. I have pages about things like magical artifacts, healing potions, and creature abilities. Your book bible is where you can OVER-explain these things (whereas in your writing, you'll probably have to tone it down). Don't hold back! Go into major detail about everything so that when you pull it into your book, you can pick and choose the best parts. 3. Chapter summariesThis is extremely helpful for pacing. It gives you an overarching view of your whole book and you can see where various plot points are. However, where I find it most helpful is in looking at what chapters are valuable. If there's a chapter description that doesn't lead up to the main conflict or contribute at all, either I have to rewrite it, or delete it! I have a one-word sentence for each chapter that lets me know what happens, whose POV it is and what time of day it is (I don't know why, but I always find time of day super helpful). For example; MC is introduced to SC1 and told about quest plus religious ties. Night. Bar. 4. HistoryThis is where the world-building comes in. Separate your book bible into major sections like Government, Religion, Technology, Weaponry, Culture, Food. Then world-build, world-build, world-build! This section gives me something to refer back to when I have a character curse (would they actually say hell or an equivalent in their religion?) or work through wars or pick out clothing. Instead of making up something that doesn't make sense within the context of your world, take a look back at your history section and find something within it that will fit. I personally write a mini history of the world, cultures, religions, and government. These are my top categories that I find myself referring back to all the time. But it's different for every story and every writer! Find out what you're most often pausing to remember and dig in deep with your details in your book bible. In ConclusionI hope this helps you! What else do you include in your book bibles? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
Switch it upTry a different project for a little while. A short story, a different genre story, or a side quest for your heroes! This can be dangerous (I just started a new book after pausing my edits on another... whoops), but it's also incredibly healthy. As writers, we get so immersed in our projects that we forget that there's life outside of it! We also tend to forget the excitement of discovering a new story when up to our necks in our current stories. So set it aside for a week and try something else! I promise your book will still be there when you decide to return to it. Lower your daily goalsWhen I get burnt out, I lower my word count goals to only 500 words a day. If it's lower for you, that's totally fine. The habit of writing every day is what matters. So quit focusing on the numbers! So what if you were doing 2,000 words per day, do 500 now. The most important thing, however, is to keep writing, no matter how little. Because the habit of writing daily that's gotten you this far can disappear fast! Another way to relax your goals if word counts aren't your thing is to set a timer for only 30 minutes a day. I do this on my lunch break at work and I'm always surprised how when I don't focus on word count, I actually write more. Instead of worrying about filling the page, I just allow myself to "go with the flow." I find this incredibly therapeutic and a great way to explore new ideas. ReadThink of reading as research or studying for your craft. One of the best things about writing (in my opinion) is that the more you read, the better writer you become. Even if you don't read books critically (I've found myself doing this lately and I hate it), you're subconsciously absorbing the way authors write dialogue and set scenes. When I get overwhelmed or burnt out with my book, I dive into other books in my genre. It reminds me why I love what I do and keeps me going! I'll also pick up a book or two outside of my genre to learn different styles and take a break from what I've been surrounding myself with. Some great standalone books to dive into: -A House of Salt and Sorrows (Erin A. Craig) -A Man Called Ove (Fredrik Backman) -The Life We Bury (Allen Eskens) -Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel) -The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom) -Stardust (Neil Gaiman) How to know when the burnout is goneWhen you're itching to get back to your story is when you know you've officially overcome that burnout!
Even if you don't feel burnt out yet, it might be good to try a few of these ideas for a couple weeks to recharge your batteries. Let me know how you overcome burnout in the comments! Image Credit: Pixabay I just finished the Six of Crows duology. And holy cow. It was AMAZING! If you haven't picked it up yet, you need to. Leigh Bardugo hit it out of the park with this one (and after the original Girsha trilogy, I was not sure about her, but now I'm convinced). More than it just being a good story, the characters were ridiculously appealing. They were easily recognizable, memorable, and heartfelt. They felt real. After I finished the first book, I closed it and stared off for awhile. How? I thought, How did she do that? Six completely different characters, all of whom I fell in love with for their different qualities. So when I sat down to read Crooked Kingdom, I read it as a writer this time. And it changed everything for me. It was like a light bulb went on and I finally got it! I knew how to make my character's like Bardugo's. And it wasn't anything new or revolutionary, but the way I went about it changed everything for my writing. I hope it'll help you, too. Note: This post does contain some spoilers for the books, so proceed with caution. 1. Choose visual characteristicsFirst, I took a look at Bardugo's six main characters: Kaz, Inej, Matthias, Nina, Wylan, and Jesper. I wrote their names in little bubbles like a thought web you make in middle school. Next, stemming from each of the character names, I wrote the first things that came to mind when I thought of the character. For example, with Kaz, I wrote walking stick, gloves, magic tricks, scheming/vengeful. Each of these things makes Kaz stand out in my mind against other characters. And when I see fan art depicting Kaz, it typically displays these things. What's beautiful about each of these attributes, is that Bardugo has specific reasons for each of them and they are purposeful to build the character. Which leads me to my next point. 2. Discover the Reasons behind characteristicsWhen I took it a step further and looked at what these things represent or show about the character. For example, Kaz's gloves. They're not just a cool accessory (though they make him visually stick out in a readers mind - another important fact to note), they have a reason. And the reason is connected to his backstory. The reason Kaz wears gloves is because he can't stand the feeling of skin to skin contact. 3. Plan the why behind those reasonsSo Kaz wears gloves because he can't stand the feeling of skin to skin contact. What do we do with that information? We go a step deeper and look at the why. Why does he hate skin to skin contact? Because he survived a near-death experience in a pile of dead bodies and floating to shore on the bloated corpse of his dead brother. Woah. Now there's a backstory. There's something that shapes this character, that makes him so memorable, that makes readers sympathize with him (even if they can't relate to his exact circumstances). This is the power, the essence of the character you want to get at when writing. This is what sets great characterization apart. The Formula In examining Six of Crows, I realized creating characters actually has a simple formula. Visual character choice + (reason+why) = memorable character My end character sheet for Kaz looked like this. So how can you apply this to your own characters?
I'm a firm believer of write first, plan second (classic panster right here). Let your characters speak to you throughout the story and then go back and chart them like this. If there is nothing particularly memorable about them, try to dig deeper and find something that has affected them from their past. Add in small physical traits or tokens of their past. In sum: 1. Choose visible characteristics: Think of your characters and write the first 4-5 characteristics that come to mind when you think of them. It helps to have at least 3 be physical characteristics that aren't something their born with unless it is significant (e.g. blue eyes). If we were making me into a character, I would choose my refusal to straighten my curly hair. 2. Discover reasons for those characteristics: Most people don't just do something for no reason. If you can get at the reason why your character does something, it makes them more relatable. For my personal example, the reason I keep curly hair is because I wanted to be different than my peers growing up. 3. Plan the why behind those reasons: This is the heart of your character and if you get this right, your character will pop from the page. There is a why behind every reason! For my personal example, my aunt, whom I was incredibly close to before she disappeared, was a very unique person herself and I always wanted to be like her. I strove for uniqueness because she showed me that it made me special. Her disappearance affected me greatly. Look at that - we went from something as simple as curly hair, to a deep personal backstory. And THAT is what you have to do for your characters. THAT makes them jump off the pages, makes the readers connect to them, makes the artists create the fan art. THAT is what sets an okay book apart from a great book. When you think about real life, everyone has something that made them who they are. Whether it was abuse, a personal addiction, or what have you, everyone has been changed by something in their life. Pull real life into your stories and you're guaranteed to create memorable characters. Wishing you all the inspirational fairies, M Photo credit: Pixaby Developing story milestones are necessary to understanding the flow of your story as a whole. Some writers do this before the process, some do it during, and some do it after. Regardless, you should be able to identify those milestones and use them to improve your story. What are story milestones?You can think of milestones as simple or as complex as you'd like. For me, milestones are important events that occur within your story. This could be as simple as making sure the main character finds a cat, or as complex as planning out the subtle hints of political intrigue. You can look at milestones formally (think back to middle school English - the rising action, the conflict, etc.), or informally (he discovers magic at some point in the story). My milestones often look like this:
Sometimes I'll be more detailed than that, but honestly, those points help me write the whole story. Other times, I just know the ending. I know the character and I know what happens to them, but I have to get there! All of this depends on if you are a Plotter, a Pantser, or a Plantser. If you've been writing for awhile, you've heard these terms before. But for those of you who don't know, a plotter is someone who tends toward extensive planning. They outline, they write backstories of their characters, they develop their worlds, they know literally everything about the story before they sit down to write. Pantsers on the other hand write by the seat of their pants (hence the name). They just have an idea and start writing! Maybe it'll go down one bunny trail, but maybe it'll go down another. Heck, maybe it'll leap into outer space and start something totally new there! Plantsers are a mixture of the two, doing minor planning, and some writing without a guide. The way each type of writer uses milestones is different. Milestones for PlottersMilestones mean something different to each plotter. For some, they are precise moments they know must happen for the story to achieve its goal. For others, milestones are more literal, such as the rising action, the climax, and the denouement. Outlining these points is a great way to get an overarching view of your story before you sit down to write it. Think of these milestones like a roadmap. Each point is a different direction you have to make sure to hit, or you'll be going the wrong way! Just because you're outlining, doesn't mean it needs to be bland. Check out the snowflake method or do the traditional school outline - any way that works for YOU as the writer. Many plotters spend their developmental stages connecting the dots of their story so that they have a great overarching view before they even begin. I admit - I'm jealous of people who can do that! This is a great way to know your story and stay on track without getting distracted with rabbit holes that pop up. A word of caution for plotters considering their milestones: I do believe you can plot something too heavily, making the resulting narrative feel stilted and formulated. Make sure you still breathe life into your work and allow for little things to happen that you didn't expect! Milestones for PantsersMilestones for pantsers are typically discovered during the editing stages. Every story does have milestones - even for those who don't plan them out in advance! It can be extremely helpful for pantsers to mark down these big milestones or turning points during their editing process so as to see where they should focus their attention on. Pantsers are notorious for writing those scenes that really don't contribute much to the plot (guilty). When editing your manuscript after it's written, focusing on milestones is a great way to hone in on what you really need in your story! Go through your manuscript and mark places that contribute directly to the plot. Mark the point of no return for each of your characters. Mark the changes your character goes through. Take your manuscript and color it up with markings to help you better understand your story. Anything that isn't marked, cut. It means you've traveled too far from the plot. Understanding where those points are will help you round out your story and keep only the best parts. A word of caution for pantsers: Don't stray so far away from a plot that you end up not having one. And be brutal when editing. You may love everything you've written, every rabbit hole and rocket ship diversion. But make sure everything you keep is an important milestone that contributes to the plot. Milestones for PlantsersI've grown to discover that as much as I identify with pantsers, I do have a little bit of planner in me. I see an overarching ending, with a few plot points I would like to hit along the way (but if they don't happen, that's okay, too). These plot points help guide my story, but they don't define it. Big plot points are helpful to know in advance, because when you're writing, you can build up to that plot point you see in your mind. In my opinion, it keeps things exciting, because I never know where my story will go next!
Keeping those milestones in mind as you write really helps to focus your writing while giving you the leeway to diverge from the path. While no way is the right way, I adore writing this way. I have focus, but I have freedom and I find that's when my best writing occurs. Keep a notebook with you to jot down milestones that come to you during the day, even if they're small. I always have a notebook with me and I'll jot down things like "she could meet him at the pub" or "add a dragon attack scene." Then the next time I sit down to write, I have something to look forward to. My word of caution for plantsers: Watch out for both of my cautions for plotters and pantsers! What kind of writer are you? Let me know in the comments how you look at milestones in your stories! Photo credit: Pixaby Developing a story is where most writers stumble. Heck, it's where most would-be writers are even afraid to begin. Somehow, people think that a bolt of lightning will strike them and a glorious story that needs no editing or formalizing will appear in their minds. Sorry, that's not how it works. But you know what can work that way? Ideas. Ideas are the foundations of developing a story. They don't have to be earth shattering. They don't have to be profound. To develop a story, simply start with an idea. Today, I'm sharing with you the way I develop my stories (and I've got a lot of them). This is not the be-all-end-all and may not work for everyone. I am a self-proclaimed Pantser (with a little bit of plantser in there) which means I write by the seat of my pants. I do extremely little pre-planning and just let the story flow. That said, take a look at how I develop my stories. Start with an ideaIdeas come in all shapes and sizes. There's no true "bad" idea. I mean, I just saw a romance book about falling in love with the Coronavirus... so you can't do much worse than that! Personally, my ideas come in mental images. Sometimes I just have the face of a young boy, or a dragon with a severed wing. Other times, I get the idea of a location and I want to know what happens there. My ideas often come to me from experiences (like the raccoons that trashed our camping neighbor's site at 2:00 a.m. the other night), prompts, or images. Experiences are the best way to write, in my opinion. There are elements of my travels in all of my stories. But you don't have to travel the world to have experiences. People-watch and make someone into a character. Think about a time when it seemed like the world was ending for you and build a fantasy world around it. I think sometimes people believe fantasy has to be entirely fictional, when most times, there are ties to the author's real world. I am a huge proponent of writing prompts to generate a story idea (it's how I won the Write Michigan contest last year). Write your own prompts, get a prompt book, or check out my weekly prompts to get those imagination juices flowing. Pinterest is fantastic if you're not one who imagines frequently. It's great if you're a visual person, too. I have so many potential story ideas just by browsing fantasy art on Pinterest! These are a great place to start. Check out my Pinterest for a ton of fantasy landscapes, creatures, and characters to spark your story! I've heard of others listening to music (Hans Zimmer is a personal favorite - you can't help but feel epic writing to his music), but that doesn't work for me until I have developed my story a bit. Do you have your idea yet? Focus in on a momentOkay, so you get an idea, but where do you go from here? For me, I focus in on a moment next. This means, I take the idea (or mental image) and put it in a scenario. If I see the dragon with the injured wing, I want to know how that happened. Is the dragon afraid? Or is it angry? I picture the moment what the dragon comes to me and play it like a movie in my head. Most times, this is enough to get me going. You can take a character and plop them into a "what-if" scenario. Especially if you like people-watching! Why is that girl alone eating ice cream? What are those kids doing out on the boat? I know - I hear what you're saying. "But real life doesn't help me write a fantasy." False. Take that character and imagine their situation in a fantasy world. Are the kids on a pirate ship fighting a leviathan? Is the girl ingesting a Fae poison? Take the character you've imagined and put them in a fantasy world. You can take a setting you see and start writing about the world it is in. If you look out your window and see snow-capped mountains, think about a time when suddenly all the snow disappeared. Or a time when the mountains burst apart and a snaking dragon destroyed the neighboring village. The possibilities are endless. Truly, writing is all about training your mind to think of possibilities. If you can do that, you'll never hurt for a story idea again. Don't make it epicWhatever you do, don't take your idea and spend hours fretting about how to make it epic. That'll just ruin the whole thing for you. Ideas need to be carefully peeled apart. You don't know what's at the heart of the story yet and that's okay. You don't have to have all the answers to start writing. So many new writers I talk to are stuck in the school-mode of writing where they have to plan an outline and research and only after they have a clear view can they write. That may be great for research papers (and maybe you're a hardcore planner), but for so many writers, that doesn't work. And guess what? That's okay. You can be a pantser like me! You can just write and see where it goes! I'm giving you formal permission to toss out everything your high school English teachers taught you. It's okay if you don't know everything about the story going in. The temptation is to make this idea into the next Lord of the Rings. Don't. My best ideas come when I just let the story live and breathe. I don't plan for it to be a trilogy or even a novel. Maybe it'll just be a short story. Who knows? I definitely don't. The rest will come. For now, focus on your idea in a solitary moment. Just write.Yup. Advice for the ages.
Just write. Don't think. Definitely don't edit. Don't worry about all of the contradictions you made between the first two paragraphs. That's all for later. To develop a story, you must let it live. And the way to do that, is to write. Once you understand this (and I mean truly understand this not just say, "okay Michelle but what's the REAL key?"), your writing will be so much better. It might suck at first, yes. You will write horrible things and you may have to delete a huge chunk of things. But deep down, I guarantee you you'll find some diamonds. And then you'll never again doubt that all you need to do is just write. Happy writing and may October give you endless words and dreams of fairy magic. -M. M. Kastanek I get it. You gave your firstborn child to someone to read and critique and it came back littered with comments, suggestions, and edits. Now, you're on to the horrid task of editing it. Pause. Stop. Breathe. We will get through this. Step 1: Read all the comments.
Just read them!! That's it! Read. Don't you dare do anything else! Okay, you can grab a glass of wine, but otherwise nothing else! Step 2: Read all of the comments again. Read the comments again and fix the obvious ones (such as spelling. No matter how much you want to fight it, absence is not spelled absense). Fixing the obvious ones first helps you find value in what your beta reader gave you. If you trust this person, chances are they at least slightly know what they're talking about. Step 3: Evaluate. Now, look at those comments and think, is this true for MY story and MY characters? After all, no one understands your story and your characters more than you. As is often the case with inexperienced or non-professional editors (read: friends and family and sometimes even fellow writers), they will make comments about how they think your story should go. Sometimes they're right! But with every comment you need to take a step back, not take it personally, and ask yourself, 'would I make the same critique?' and 'is this a valid critique knowing what I know about where this story and characters are going?' This is one of the hardest things to do, but you need to toughen your skin this way before going out into the publishing world (where, word on the street is, it's much more cruel). Accept that some people just won't like certain things of your book. And that's okay. You cannot please every single person. There is no universal book that everyone adores and thinks is perfect. Imagine your ideal reader and write to that person. If your critiquers don't fit into that guideline, that's okay, but take their comments with a grain of salt. Don't take the comments personally. I know, I know. As writers, it's what we do. We empathize and we feel things deeply. But try to set yourself apart from the comments. They aren't directed at you, they're there to help your manuscript become better. You are in control of your story. Just because someone says to change something doesn't mean you have to! And that's a comforting thought if you take that to heart. Step 4: Seek clarification If there are certain comments that still have you unsettled, ask the reader. Sometimes further explanation is necessary and can help not only alleviate the hurt you might feel, but it can also help you see the readers side. You know so much. They only know what you put on the page. There is often breakdown between what the writer expects the reader to get and what the reader actually gets. Ask tons of questions! But don't guilt your beta reader into seeing things your way. Chances are, they either won't read for you again or their comments will be half-hearted, people-pleasing comments. Thank your beta reader! Step 5: Make appropriate edits. After understanding your readers point of view and assessing the comments to make sure they fit your story, make the changes. I cannot tell you the number of times my beta reader and I have had a fantastic discussion, then I put it away for a few weeks and when I pull it back out, I completely forgot why it was I should make certain changes. Do the edits soon after you talk with your beta reader. I hope this helps! As writers, we've all been there with the hurtful comments or the rude re-writing. Just think, every comment, no matter how personally it cuts will help us grow as writers. We'll need to get used to negative feedback, no matter how good our books are! Let me know in the comments how you deal with negativity in the writing world. Are you a reader looking to grow as a critique partner? Check out this article for How to Critique! Photo credit M. M. Kastanek
(If you're new to my style of writing prompts, head over to this blog post for more information. Feel free to use just the picture, just the prompt, just the words, or a combination of any of the three write your paragraph!) Prompt: The vines had eaten a path through the stone. Words: marvel, chamber, grit, saying, history, describe My Paragraph: The vines had eaten a path through the stone. It wasn't beautiful like the stories described - you know, those futuristic stories where humans marvel at the power of nature. No. It was gritty. Like watching urchins fight over refuse that smells worse than a lord's two-day-old chamber pot. I guess destruction begets destruction. Wasn't that the old saying? I'm not much one for sayings myself. For history neither. But I do remember stories. Especially stories of destruction. Comment your paragraph below for feedback! So a writer has just asked you to review their manuscript. Congrats! That says a lot about you as a person - this writer trusts you with something into which they have poured countless hours and love. Reading a writer's work and giving feedback is a huge gift and a big part of the publishing process for the writer. They've given you the story. Now what? Step 1: Learn what the writer wants out of your feedback.
Sometimes authors want line edits and sometimes they just want to know what you think about the overall picture. Be respectful of what they want and plan to provide that. Sometimes an author will give you a list of questions to answer after reading. Step 2: Read the entire section (or at least one entire chapter) making only obvious edits. Allow yourself to read as a reader would, first. This helps you understand the flow of the story. If you must make edits or if there is a glaring issue, make a small mark to remind yourself to come back to it later. Otherwise, just enjoy the story. Step 3: Re-read the entire section making notes about what you think; about the characters, the direction, and your questions, marking places that were confusing for you or places that you had to re-read to understand. Make sure you keep the author's questions or feedback requests in mind as you go through the manuscript a second time. If something just feels off to you, but you can't explain it, mark that and say it. But overall try to give solid reasons as to why you felt the way you did. Step 4: Go through your notes and make sure there are positive comments as well as constructive criticism. I bold constructive because nobody, no matter how tough your writing skin is, wants to hear "this sucks." Channel some kindness and look at why you don't particularly like it, make some suggestions! Support your arguments for changing something or use examples as to why a particular choice doesn't work. Without reasons, some criticisms can be interpreted as hurtful or rude. One mistake I often see from new-critiquers is that they'll give comments such as, "no, the story shouldn't go like this" or "this is how the character should feel" or "this is what the character should be doing." As well-intentioned as this may be, your author-friend does not want you to re-write the story for them! Comments like these often come across as arrogant and disrespectful. Chances are, the author has a purpose for where the story is going or how the characters are feeling or what they are doing. Rephrase these types of comments by suggesting or giving reasons why it is not cohesive (ex. Comment "two paragraphs ago, she was smiling and happy, now she is screaming. Would this character switch emotions that fast?" instead of "She should stay happy. She needs to go back to the castle instead of arguing. This is pointless."). And no matter what, give some positive feedback. This author just gave you their child. Be kind to it. There is always something about writing that is good, whether it is the concept of the story or a phrase they said that resonated with you. There is always something to compliment. I can't stand readers (or other writers) that sit on their pedestals and condemn everything about someone's writing. Chances are, word will get around and you won't critique many more manuscripts. Step 5: Meet with the author and discuss your edits or notes. This is a simple, yet incredibly helpful step. I, personally, am able to take criticism so much better as an author when I can ask questions or clarify what my readers mean by their criticisms. As a beta reader, it also helps me ensure I keep my comments kind, because I'll be reading them to the author's face! That isn't to say I'm not honest (and sometimes deliver hard truths), but I'm still kind about it! My biggest advice in all of this is be kind. The author just gave you their baby! They're trusting you! Chances are, they know their book needs work (which is why they gave it to you in the first place), but don't make all of your comments criticisms! Be honest and supportive. Rarely do people grow from constant negativity. Review in the kindest way possible by supporting your critiques and finding good things about their writing too! Next time, I'll be looking at How to BE Critiqued for my fellow writers out there! Because sometimes no matter how nicely someone says they hate something, it still hurts. A lot of writers struggle with building a character. One thing that has really helped me navigate my huge cast of characters is making brief character sheets. I've included a picture below, but you can also download a copy here (plain white so you can print on the colors you like). I like to change the color based on the characters so that when I'm flipping through, I can pick characters out by their color.
Up top, I've included the Character Name, Age, Fantasy Race, and Major/Minor/Main categories. These should be easy. Please let them be easy for you. It only gets harder from here. Next, I have One Word/Phrase Descriptor. As odd as this addition is, I personally like it because it keeps my characters in focus. For example, I have a phrase descriptor of one of my characters in my current WIP as "Cinnamon Roll." (For those of you who don't know, a cinnamon roll character is one who is just too good for the world and the troubles that get thrown at them. They're the character that make readers go "awe" and love them from start to finish.) This section helps me more than any other. I think it's because it's my focus for that character; it sums them up completely and reminds me how they should act, react, and think. Other basics you should know about your character are their Homeland, Occupation, Language, and Physical Attributes. Again, please know these. They shouldn't be a struggle. Next, we get into territory that's a bit more complex. Think about your character's Mental/Personality Traits. Are they friendly? Shy? Passionate? Alluring? This section is where you start to get into the heart of your character. Even if you haven't dove into what makes your character tick yet, you should know how they act at least on the surface level. Do they like to make others laugh? Do they learn things easily? Don't think about the "why" of this yet (that comes later), just spend some time observing your character. Then, we're at that "why" I told you not to think of yet. The Goals/Motivations of your character stem from their personality, their history, and their current situation. What propels your character forward in the story? Why do they do what they do? Why do they want what they want? What motivates them to keep going and not give up? There are many questions here. Only you know those answers. A Fatal Flaw is something about a character's personality that makes them less than perfect and that often stands in the way of their success. This could be something like stubbornness, arrogance, anger, or ambivalence. This could also be looked at as an Emotional Wound (if you're using The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma by Ackerman and Puglisi. And if you're not, you should. This has helped me so much even though it's aimed more at general fiction than fantasy). I sometimes find it easier to look at the emotional wounds of my characters and see how that contributes to their flaw. Sometimes as the "parent" of my pretty little characters, I find it difficult to see their flaws and looking at it backward helps! Then, of course, if a character has something less than perfect, we need something that redeems them to the reader. This is known as the Saving Grace. Maybe your character is stubborn, but they are kind to a fault. Something needs to strike the heart of your reader that says this character is worth caring about. Every character has a backstory (even if they don't remember it). Their History is important in learning why they are the way they are. Characters are no different than real people regardless of what fantasy world they live in. Experiences in their life shape who they are during your story. Did your character grow up in a home where they were physically abused? Did they have a plush childhood with everything they ever wanted? Were they raised by an aunt who turned out to be a witch? Think about how these events in their life might impact the way they see the world during the present. Are they jaded? Do they think they deserve to be served by anyone they deem "lower" than them? Do they have trust issues or a passion for herbology? Everyone is afraid of something. Fears take a look into another scary part of your character. What are they most afraid of? More importantly, why? How do their fears propel them forward? How do they hold them back? Fears can motivate but they can also internally destroy a character. Think about how fears manifest in their personality as well. Do they get angry when someone they love does something dangerous because they're afraid of losing them? Each of these sections builds off the others. Jot down your ideas and then connect the dots, leading you deeper into your character's soul. And finally, we look at their Entrance into the Story, Growth Points, and (if necessary) Exit from the Story (because who doesn't love killing off their characters?). I'm not a planner, but once I write the story out, I go back and fill in these parts so I can remember in my hundreds of pages where certain characters came in and went out. It helps me pace their growth during revisions and also helps me pace other characters' reactions to their exits from the story. As always, here's the link for a downloadable file of the picture below. I hope it helps you on your next character development adventures! The Five Senses. We learn about these in grade school. Some English teachers touch on them on vague creative writing assignments. And then they're forgotten. However, a great writer uses sensory language to evoke a sense of presence in the reader, a sense of being in the world the author has created. One of the ways good books go to great books for me is when I am sensory overloaded by the author's descriptions. Senses ground us and immerse us in an author's world. Which is why it is so important to incorporate tangible descriptors in our text, especially in fantasy. When you're building a world from scratch, as impossible as this world is, it must be tangible and real to the reader. Not "real" in the sense of no magic or dragons, but real in the sense of tangibility. An author must be able to bring the reader into their story with the smell of garlic weaving with freshly cooked meats, the bubbly ale, the crunch of gravel under a boot, the derelict child with a crooked nose, and the brittle leaf of a dying magical plant. These descriptors are much more immersive than simply saying meats, ale, gravel, child, and dying leaf. They give the reader a sense of presence, a sense of being the one to touch the brittle leaf that crumbles to powder in their hands. A reader can feel that! I bet you heard the gravel when you read that sentence. Maybe you even smelled the garlicky meats. In fact, using precise descriptors to evoke the sensory images in your reader is backed by science! Check out this article that I loved (and that supports using the senses in fiction writing) from the New York Times. When we read certain descriptors, areas of our brain light up as if we are actually experiencing it! Even social interactions in books are experienced as if we are actually having those experiences. How cool is that?! Your writing has the power to make the reader feel as if they are experiencing your world! That's magic.
Comment a practice paragraph below using all five senses to build the start of a world. Feel free to use the ones I provided in the infographic, or use your own! As always, I'll give you constructive feedback on whatever you post!
Your turn to practiceHow would you change some of the adverb sentences I have in magenta above? Take a sentence with adverbs from your own writing and comment below with the original and how you'd change it.
Adverb questions? Wondering how to get rid of some in your current work in progress? Comment below and I'll give you feedback! In honor of jumping on board NaNoWriMo (MMkastanek - find me), I put together my tips for beating writer's block. I've used these tried and true methods for years to get my brain back into writing. Most days, they work. Some days you just have to accept the fact that the muses are busy helping someone else and instead do something else to make your creative heart happy.
Comment below with some ways you beat writer's block! |
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