Centrifugal Forces: How a Character Doesn’t Want What They Desire
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Story is a vortex; a character circles around the climax, wanting and not wanting to get to the center of the vortex, where they will be transformed.
The Case for Messy Character Motivation
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It’s acceptable—maybe even preferable—to be a little foggy about your characters’ motivations. Rather than put them through questionnaires and personality assessments, put them into situations which reveal true character.
The Character Mixing Board
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Digging into Brandon Sanderson’s concept of three-pronged character development. How can you mix and match character attributes of competence, sympathy, and proactivity?
The Essence of Standout Characters
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Protagonists need reader identification and allegiance, but that alone doesn’t make them standout characters. A great character needs to evoke a strong emotion within readers. And there are three main qualities that allow such effect.
Turning Points Propel Your Story
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Turning points are why scenes exist. So it’s essential to understand how and why they work within your story to propel both plot and character.
The Case for Pantsing
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Writing “by the seat of your pants,” aka “discovery writing” works better for some writers than outlining does. Read about the rationale for pantsing here.
Irony is Central to Storytelling
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Irony is more important to storytelling than you might think. It helps create more poignant story events and ushers in more meaningful character transformation.
Earning Story Events
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Earning story events means paying attention to three types of context (deep, situational, and immediate) as well as giving the character time to arrive at a response.
Theme Is Not Optional
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Some people are wary of crafting or discussing theme, but theme exists in all (good) stories. Here, we examine what theme is, how a story employs it, the effect on readers, and how writers can be intentional about theme.
To Filter or Not to Filter
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What is filtering, what’s the rationale for avoiding it, and in what situations might you want to stick with it?