character

What Makes a Book Good?

January 18, 2012

While visiting a friend’s blog, “Tracking the Words: A Yearly Cycle“, I found myself wondering what it is about Book A or Book B that gets me reading, even when the book is long and complex?  Even when the book is put down by critics and “common folk”.
Part of it, I think, must be name [...]

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Still Searching for Humanity

January 6, 2012

What makes a character human?  Could it be as little as describing him or her in “normal” terms, and letting the reader make assumptions?  Frankly, many writers do not go further than that.  These writers are known for creating “Plot Driven” rather than “Character Driven” stories.  So, what?  You ask.
Many of us—perhaps most of us—appreciate [...]

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Situational Idiots

January 6, 2012

Everybody makes mistakes.  I mean, even if you don’t use them all that much, any more, pencils STILL have erasers on them.  In fact, I’d say that among man’s artifacts, nothing points more strongly to human fallibility than a pencil with an eraser.
Keeping this in mind, let us consider the situational idiot.  This is a [...]

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Character Signatures

January 5, 2012

Some years back, when I listed almost exclusively to Talk Radio out here on the Pacific Coast, I found myself marveling at the way one caller spoke.  The caller was a police officer, and he had a most interesting tic.
As he spoke, the phrase, “go ahead and…” kept showing up.  For example, he described telling [...]

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Have You Lost Your Voice?

December 30, 2011

Lost my voice?  I’m not sure I ever found it in the first place.
We hear about finding one’s voice all the time (in the land of writers, that is), but just what does that mean?
Here are a couple of definitions:  Writer’s voice is the literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. [...]

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Can You Frame a Character With a Single Statement?

December 17, 2011

Sometimes all it takes to get inspired is a simple phrase.  Occasionally a story will come to me fully-formed within seconds of thinking of a title.
While we, as writers have a lot in common, we’re all a little different from one another, and perhaps for you, ideas usually come after spending a lot of time [...]

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Novel Writing 101: Moron Planning

December 13, 2011

Novel Writing: 101
OK, I MEANT “More On” planning.  Just wondering if you were paying attention.
What are the components you should be considering for your novel?
Secret Tip #9: The best way to write a book that will sweep your reader away, is to read books that sweep you away.  You know the type of book I’m [...]

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Novel Writing 101: Character Development

December 9, 2011

Novel Writing 101
Like basic Character Creation, Character Development is an important component of your novel preparation.
Here are some words to think about: Stereotype, Philosophy, Behavior, Action, Reaction and growth.  These are by no means a full list of components for the development of a character, as there always seems to be “just one more thing [...]

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Novel Writing 101: Creating Characters

December 7, 2011

Novel Writing 101
Little by little we’re getting closer to the actual writing of our story.
We’ve looked at finding our theme, we’ve looked at planning (outlining), and step by step we prepare.
Now it’s time to look at our characters.  Who will our protagonist (main character) be?
Let’s make a check list:

Male or female
Will the gender of your [...]

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One Foot Nailed to the Past

November 28, 2011

Hollywood teaches us many things, most of them on purpose, or by lucky accident based upon story, technique, or technology, but it also teaches us things that it would rather we not learn.
For example, it teaches us that people grow old and die.  Most of us are aware of that fact from hard experience, but [...]

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