Create a Great Villain
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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What are your villains like? Who’s your favorite fictional villain?
In my opinion, the best villains are the ones that are at least partially sympathetic. He’s a bad guy, but there’s something about him that you’re drawn to. Maybe he’s physically attractive, or he likes children, or he’s good to his dog. Maybe you get a [...]
How Real are Your Characters?
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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I think one of the toughest things for writers to manage is making characters “real.” Some writers are very good at it, and others, well, aren’t.
Real people have real problems
If a character has a perfect life, then your character probably isn’t coming off as real to your readers. People have problems with money, relationships, jobs, [...]
Character Creation Worksheets
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters, Writing
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Character Worksheets
As promised, here’s the link to download the character building worksheets. These are based on the series I recently did. However, I turned the information into a some worksheets and added some new material that didn’t appear in the posts.
Please let me know if you find them useful.
Getting to Know Your Characters: Put it all Together
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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By now, you’ve done a pretty good job of developing some characters. Maybe you’ve answered some questions or gotten some ideas for the story itself.
Now, it’s time to start putting all this together.
Who it the protaganist?
You may already know (or think you know) who your protaganist is, but don’t let that blind you to other [...]
Get to Know Your Characters: What’s in a Name?
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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It’s time to name your character. You’ve spent a lot of time developing the character and making them as real to you, and your reader, as possible.
How much does the name matter?
Consider the following men’s names.
Raoul
Dirk
Freddy
Sam
Alice
What does each name bring to mind? Maybe Alice is defensive about his name, or he could see it as [...]
Get to Know Your Characters: Extremes
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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You’ve already worked on fleshing out your characters. Let’s start thinking a little more about their personality, goals, quirks, background, etc. In this case, I’d like to think about some of the extremes, that is, what your character likes most, least, etc.
For this part of the character building series, I thought a list of questions [...]
Get to Know Your Characters: Family Tree
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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You’ve written one or a few diary entries for each major character, and you know your characters’ physical characteristics. So, what next.
You need to flesh out (I’ve seen some write it “flush” out, but let’s hope your characters don’t come to that) your characters’ backgrounds. While most of this information will never make it into [...]
Get to Know Your Characters: Get Physical
Posted by Jo | Filed under Characters
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I’m not a big fan of long physical descriptions, as a reder or writer. However, I think it’s a good idea to know what your characters look like, even if you never give your readers most of this information. At the very least, it will help you avoid mysterious growth spurts, hair changes, and similar [...]
Get to Know Your Characters: Diary Entry
Posted by webmaster | Filed under Characters
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Whether you’re editing, like I am, or writing a rough draft, getting to know your characters well can make a world of difference in your writing. Go beyond your characters’ looks, jobs and immediate motives and explore what makes your characters real.
Because what makes your characters real to you will make them real to your [...]
