|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Six Tips for Creating More Lifelike Story Characters
Working on my first humorous novel, I started with a single character. I followed suggestions in writers' reference books for developing story characters. Then, still dissatisfied with my results, I began to explore other ways to make my characters more lifelike and included those strategies below. 1. Find your character's astrological sign and its corresponding description. How closely does that description match your character and his or her ways and tendencies? 2. Look in joke books for short anecdotes/short stories. Do any of the people in those anecdotes match or help to clarify your character(s) or ideas? Can you expand the character's problem(s) and action(s)? 3. Discover ways in which your character matches (or doesn't) a given stereotype. For example, are attractive women always thin and blond? Are sheriffs and police always honest? Are politicians always corrupt and self-serving? How does your character go against the grain and how does that tendency help or hinder his or her efforts in solving a problem? 4. Consider creating "turn-coat" characters, such as actress-turned-robber, professor-turned-miner, doctor-turned-scuba diver, school guard-turned-airline pilot. What gets a given character into the most trouble in the first place, his/her "old" or "new" occupation? How does the character set himself or herself up? 5. Has your character resolved to change his or her ways as a result of surviving an accident, catastrophe, ruinous divorce or love affair? Does your character take a turn for the worse, and if so, why or why not? 6. In what way or ways does your character resemble his or her pet or friend or sibling? How do those things enhance or complicate his or her problems in your story? Dorothy Zjawin is working on her first humorous novel and adding ideas to her website, http://www.profitable-pen.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Timer Magic for Writers If your writing muscle isn't in shape, writing a novel may seem like a sheer, unscalable cliff. ("Gee, I don't think I can write today. I left my climbing shoes in my other backpack...") From Book Notes to Book Reports Writing papers and book reports has long been the bane of high school and college students' existence. It seems that no matter how hard you work to stay caught up, there is always a paper due tomorrow. Using book notes to help get the ideas flowing can save you time, heartache, and the stress of getting a bad grade. Writing is a Discipline If a writer considers writing to be a task, he/she is doomed to failure. Since it cannot be a task, then what is it? It is a discipline. What does that mean? Writing the KAIZEN Way Over the past eight years or so, I have tutored thousands of writing students. They come in all flavours: retirees who at last have time to satisfy a dream; young mothers who want a job they can do at home; bored workers who feel their creativity is being stifled by their existing careers. Whats Missing in your Nearly Finished Book? Bookcoaching clients come to me at different stages of writing their books. The ones who start from ground zero with a coach and learn what goes into each chapter to make it more readable and sell better. The ones who have been writing a long time, a year or so even. They often leave the project because they ran out of gas--got stuck what to do next. They may think they can manifest their book dream now and make millions. The Value of Adding Images to Technical Documentation It's cliché, but true-a picture does paint a thousand words. This is an important message to remember when writing any sort of user documentation, such as an installation guide or an instruction manual. A document that makes judicious use of images and diagrams will be much easier to understand than one that is composed entirely of text descriptions. Write For Yourself First It would be very selfless or noble of me to tell you that I have created my web site only to help you and the rest of humanity. The reason for me spending so much time and energy into my writing and this site is selfish. And I must remind myself of that from time to time, especially when I move into a down period and I am asking myself "why." Time-Saving Skills to Get More from Your Writing As you set out to create your first niche non-fiction book (and hopefully your first bestseller), you will be supported by a strong motivation to keep your mind focused on the essential business at hand i.e. complete the project, achieve publication, and hit the bestseller lists. Do The Unfamiliar To Keep Your Writing Going One of the best ways to blow someone's winning streak during a tennis game is to comment on how great they are doing. Your comment will kick in their left brain's inner critic which will zap their flow and change their focus. In tennis this is an underhanded type of gamesmanship. Ten Quick Tips for Inexperienced Writers One of the biggest problems that inexperienced writers have is simply knowing how to get started. If you've unsure of your writing skills, then here are some quick tips to help you get started. Think Market! Griselda spent hours polishing up her resume. No detail was too small: type face, layout and spacing. She weighed each word, counted each comma. She sent out 200 resumes and received no responses. Story Building with Imagination In the words of Aristotle, "happiness is self contentedness helping to make children deeply and quietly glad that they are who they are, and gives them a priceless legacy: the strength to meet life's stresses and the courage to become committed, responsible, productive, creative, and fully human adults... Helping a child is the greatest gift you can give in the language of the human heart. It spells love in the most profound way." Starting a Local Writers Group My husband is no poet, so when I offer my carefully pruned poetry for him to review, I get the usual and unsatisfying reply: "That' nice sweetie." Furthermore, he could care less about whom the Poet Laureate is and why I love his smoke pit conversation type poems. I could look elsewhere in my house for literary discourse, but I'd be met by conversations that might go a little like this, "'A' is for apple. Say 'aaaaaah'" Graphology - Unleash Inner Personality & Talent of Child || Graphology & Graphotherapy || Imagine The Imagination Imagine a three hundred page book was in the author's mind before it was poured out onto the pages of the book. Planning Time To Write In his book, "Achieving Financial Independence as a Freelance Writer," Ray Dreyfack, a full-time freelancer for 30 years, suggests that writers "ease" into full-time writing while maintaining their day jobs. If you're following this advice, either by choice or by necessity, you know that it's not always easy. Obligations to jobs and families tend to take priority over writing. It's easy to lose focus of your writing goals when you have so many distractions in your life. Screenwriting, Screenplays, Screenwriters - Writing a Screenplay Using Structure Effective screenwriting relies on the good understanding and use of structure. Screenwriting, Screenplays, Screenwriters ? Good Ideas for Stories The principle for writing good screenplays begins with good idea generation and then the use of structure to extrapolate that idea into a coherent story. Mama Dont Allow No Fighting in Your Writing When you sit down to write a steamy romance, a spine-tingling horror story, or an action-packed adventure, lock the door. The last thing you need is your mother, father, coach, English teacher or pastor reading over your shoulder and giving you advice. Five Keys To A Successful Query Letter Do you know what a query letter is? If so, you are of a rare breed-a writer. Most people don't. I discovered this when I created "Instant Query Letters" software. "What's a queer letter?" they ask. The sad thing-they aren't joking.
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
