Characters

I’m Not a Gossip. But, I Can Tell You Who Is…

February 1, 2012

Are you the type of person who invites Disaster home to dinner?  Have you ever found yourself (be honest, now) of saying one thing… of proclaiming something to be dead wrong, and then going ahead and doing it anyway?
If you are a politician—especially if you are running for a presidential nomination just now—you know what [...]

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Now, THAT Hurts!

November 19, 2011

Earlier in the month I asked about ways to describe pain, and sadly, I failed to find a way to do so.
I’ve thought about it since.  I’ve experienced a great deal more of it, as well, since then.
I’m not looking for sympathy.  The pain was brief, bright, sharp, and very uncomfortable, but clearly survivable.
It got [...]

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Would You Kill a Big-Eyed Baby Seal?

September 17, 2011

How about a kitten, or a child?
Unless you’re a psychopath the answer is most likely no.   I salute you for that.  I’d hate to think of any UhW writers as killers.
And yet… and yet… just because you would never take an ax to a living creature, your characters might.
As writers we need to be unafraid–as King [...]

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How Many Characters Do a Novel Make?

May 26, 2011

You’re in the planning stage for your novel.  You have in mind a rip-roarin’ hero, somebody who can walk through fire and chew gum at the same time.  You’ve got a love interest, some one who is not that easy to get along with at first, but who can “come around” with gentle care and [...]

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A Lower-Case bible For Your Characters

February 7, 2011

You’ve been working on your fiction novel for nearly a year.  Both you and your story have grown over that time, and you’ve made adjustments, additions and deletions from your original draft.  Perhaps your main character has had a name or even a sex change.  Perhaps your MC has gone though a variety of  professions [...]

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Out of Character: Populating Your Stories

February 4, 2011

A recurring theme on UhW is that in fiction, the dialogue cannot actually be real, but it must in all ways seem real.  This means the voice must make the reader think that he or she is listening in to genuine conversation without all of the normal ums, ahs, sputters, mistakes, and silly minutiae that you’ll [...]

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How to Write Dialogue That LIVES

December 16, 2010

As a novelist you’ve hit upon a truly unique story idea. It involves exotic locations, but they are places you’ve been. You know you can recreate the look and feel of the locale in a way that will surely make it live for your reader. Your plot it tight and imaginative. Your characters are colorful, [...]

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Adding Diversity to Your Stories

June 12, 2010

 We are constantly reminded about the need for diversity in our schools, in the work place, and just about everywhere.  I think that, for the most part, we agree with that.
Or do we?
What about the characters in your stories?  Does each character have a diverse voice?  A unique personality?  Or do your characters all sound like [...]

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Is It Impossible to Tell a Story Without Fantasy?

May 27, 2010

 
Writers deal with Suspension of Disbelief, or “Willing Suspension of Disbelief” as Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined the term, when they create characters, settings, or situations which are outside hard reality… and most of what we write, even when we think of it as hard reality, is shot through with strings of imagination and unreality. As writers, [...]

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A Different Kind of Knowing

May 23, 2010

  Uphill Writing has been down all day.  Well, no, that’s not really right.  What’s so is that this is the first post of the day, and for UhW, that’s a very odd thing, indeed.
What’s that?  You ask why?  Thank goodness.  I’d be lost without that question.
Here’s what happened.  My main computer (yes, I have [...]

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