Incorporating your character’s backstory into your novel can be difficult. On the one hand, you want your readers to understand the emotional depth behind your character’s actions, but on the other hand, you don’t want your readers drowning in exposition. Writing backstory requires a delicate balance, one that is often achieved by including flashbacks. They…
There is a certain type of of characters out there who really annoy their readers. They try to be adorably awkward and quirky, but only end up coming across the page as cliche or just plain awkward. In other words, the writers try to contrast two personality traits (in this case, being both cute and…
Across many books, movies, and TV shows, writers often seem to include whole casts of characters who have very little reason to participate in the plot. They’re certainly interesting, often with complicated pasts, deep relationships, and meaningful dialogue, but they don’t have a clear reason to participate in the story. They might have a mild…
We all know those sorts of endings. They’re the ones that leave us readers with dozens of open-ended questions. The last sentence that makes us shout ‘What? That’s it?!’ The kind that inspires fan-fiction. The kind that make us try to force another page of writing into existence with nothing but pure willpower. The kind…
Most characters nowadays only represent different moral shades of gray. They’re often heartbroken, bloodthirsty, or constantly acting on some deeper, darker motive. Even if a wise mentor does happen to appear, they are usually portrayed as a crusty old hermit who points the protagonist in the right direction and does nothing more. Recent stories have…
Since January, Mara and I have been walking through the steps of creating the foundation for any story, from the premise to a plot to a wide cast full of interesting, unique characters. But now the biggest question remains: : What should we call all of these wonderful characters? For most writers, character names do…
A meet-cute is critical to any fictional romance, especially a young adult one. It’s the magical moment when your two characters meet for the first time. It’s the scene that gives a reader that first impression of their relationship, and will determine how shippable they are. And whether or not the actual character’s first impressions…
Have you ever read a story that feels too dark? Rather than offering goodness or even a clear message about the world, maybe the story was just filled with hopeless event after hopeless event. Maybe it didn’t offer anything aside from an interesting plot or characters, and even those were corrupted by evil and darkness….
One of the best ways to make your character relatable is to give them flaws. They make your characters seem more human and give them something to change by the end of the story. Without them, it is impossible to make drastic character arcs (which Mara talked about last week) and difficult to make your…
Have you ever been writing a character of the opposite gender and suddenly felt doubtful? What if your character isn’t realistic? What if they’re doing something a person in their gender would never do? What if someone reads your story and becomes offended? These are valid worries. Writing characters in the opposite gender can be…