Tag: characters
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Story-Beat Study: The Mysterious Benedict Society
As my second middle-grade reread challenge, a book I haven’t read in years, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into with this book. It’s not fantasy. An evil, egotistical genius makes a machine that can be broadcast through the television that brainwashes the general population to think there is a big Emergency from…
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The Various Roles of Minor Characters
Welcome back to our discussions of minor characters. You can find the first of these posts here, where we discuss the various levels and dimensionality of characters who play a smaller role than the protagonist. Today, I want to expand on that post by delving into the different functions that a minor character might have…
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The Craft of Building Minor Characters
Most people on the internet will tell you how to create your protagonist and antagonist. You know, the ones who admittedly get the most page time. But most people are also hesitant to attempt explaining how one might go about creating the less important characters that will appear throughout your story. It’s a fair problem,…
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Story-Beat Study: I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
A few nights ago, I finished reading I’m Not Dying With You Tonight. It’s the first realistic-fiction novel I’ve read since graduating college, and one of the first of which I’ve read by choice in a very long time. You guys know me. I’m a fantasy nerd. But if you only study fantasy to write…
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A Web of Stories
In previous blog posts, I’ve discussed how you can use characters to generate plot. Naturally, you can also use known plot points to determine essential character traits that will need to be incorporated. If you know there will be a scene where your character will have to decide to trust someone, then, until that point,…
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Turning Characters Into Plot
So we are one week into NaNoWriMo, and I hope things are going well for all of the participants. But, if things are already starting to slow, I thought I’d spend a few minutes today talking about how to decide where to send your plot. A story’s plot is one of those things where you…
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NaNoWriMo 2019: Characters
I’m maybe over halfway done with my plotting at this point, and it’s honestly such a good thing that I’m getting a feel for my characters in the process. I don’t think I’d otherwise have had much time to sit down and get to know them all personally before November strikes. We’re already halfway through…
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August Reading Reflections
This month, we’re going to talk about Robert Jordan’s series, Wheel of Time, especially the first two books, Eye of the World and The Great Hunt. It’s really weird, rereading books for the first time in years, especially a series as long as The Wheel of Time. I can almost remember the roles of many…
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So You’re Ready to Write a Scene
As I’ve been working on the (hopefully) final revision of my work in progress, I’ve tried to figure out which components made it easier to write each scene. So whether you’re a bit new to this writing business and you’re still looking for some tips, or you’re just looking for ideas to make this whole…
Katie Bachelder 