Your characters have attitudes before your story starts. Before page one and sentence one, they already have a strong point of view about the world. More specifically, they are evaluating how the world (the life all around them) is treating them. Good or bad. It’s critical that you know what makes them tick before whatever…
Tag: Characters
From Sidekick to Scene-Stealer: Making Your Secondary Characters Memorable
When crafting a novel, it’s easy to focus primarily on the development of the protagonist and the primary characters. But remember, your protagonist does not live in isolation. The true mark of a skilled writer lies in their ability to breathe life into secondary characters as well—and in fact, these are sometimes the characters who…
Packing to Perfection in Pompeii
Around lunchtime, in the year 79 of the Christian Era, on the coast of what is now modern-day Italy, a once-dormant volcano rumbled. Ash rained down on the first day as residents of the nearby city of Pompeii gathered their belongings and debated whether to leave or stay. A day later, Mount Vesuvius erupted in…
Using Poetry to Explore a Character’s Voice in Fiction
April is National Poetry Month, so in honor of that, I’m going to share one way that dabbling in poetry can help your fiction. Specifically, have you ever considered using poetry as a way to find distinct voices for your characters? Years ago, I attended a short workshop by Lance Larsen, poet laureate for Utah…
Show your grasshopper the sky
Inventing a character seems pretty basic. You give him (or her, or it) a name, you visualize a face, maybe even conjure up a voice. Not just a literary voice, but a real one, one you can actually hear. You develop mannerisms, manufacture a backstory, and–then what? Throw your character into a situation, of course….