Today we have the privilege of having Deborah-Zenha Adams as our guest to teach us a bit about how we can use the concept of chakras to add depth to our fiction characters. For further reading on creating characters you can check out the character development archives. Looking at chakras as a way to build […]
Kids can be lovely but do you know what isn’t lovely? When we see children in books or movies and they’re just… eh. Writing children in fiction is a tricky thing to do well. And when it’s not done well it can be distracting to the reader and ultimately hurt the story. Thankfully, we’re brave […]
Many of my favorite characters aren’t the hero of the story at all- I love Gimli and Legolas over Frodo, Robin over Batman, and Donkey over Shrek. Just because they aren’t in the main character role doesn’t mean they are any less important, memorable, or amazing! A sidekick is a character that is a partner […]
Today we’re talking about including diversity in our writing! Which is a huge (and hugely important) topic so be on the lookout to linked resources for further reading along the way. We’ll be talking about why including diverse characters in our writing is important, why it may be hard, some common pitfalls, and 5 steps […]
Descriptions are a vital piece of writing. We are storytellers, after all, and that means we need to show our readers what’s going on, pull them into the world we’ve created, and evoke emotions and connection. Description is a large part of how we do that. Despite being vital, it’s not actually something all writers […]
Today you can find me over at Fiction University one of the best resources for writers on the web! (And I’m not just saying that because I’m a guest poster there 😉 ) My post is titled A Guide For Writing Strong Female Characters and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic! Diversity […]
This week I’m guest posting over at Fiction University! I’m talking about why and how to include mental health issues in our fiction, a topic I think is extremely important. So hop on over to Fiction University when you have three minutes, both to take a look at my post (yay!) and also to check […]
As writers we are constantly needing to come up with names for fictional characters. So what’s in a name? Does a rose by any other name really smell as sweet? Would Frodo Baggins have been the same hobbit if he had been named Kikko Killingham? What about Shannon Lilac or Dimitri Ivanov? Names have a […]
Every villain needs a motive, because here’s the secret: from their perspective they’re not the villain. They have reasons for doing what they’re doing. We can’t just have vague “evil villains” being bad just for the sake of giving our heroes someone to fight. Often a villain’s motivations can be remarkably similar to our heroes, […]
In our stories, our characters can’t always get along. Even friends can’t always agree. Why? Well let me ask you this- do you always get along with everyone? Really? Really? Not only do we all have bad days, moments of stress, and grumpy mornings- we’re also all human. We have different ideas, worldviews, plans, and […]