Some character arcs are more dramatic than others. They’re the redemption arcs that you’ll never forget. The ones with choices so difficult that you wonder if you’d ever be able to make a choice like that, too. The moments when the characters fail, and it almost crushes you, and then they finally turn and make…
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….
At this point, you’ve probably heard the complaints around modern protagonists and characters in general. Most characters seem to be on a grayscale morally — they make decisions typically only reserved for villains. They have been described as morally broken. Many have complained that there are so few examples of good morality in modern storytelling….
We wrote a whole article last year about how writers can generate suspense even when their audience knows exactly what happens next. But while stories where life and death hang in the balance can generate suspense even when the readers know what happens next, many stories are scattered with far less important, much smaller twists…
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…
Early this year, I wrote an article talking about how crucial it is to write characters who balance two, seemingly opposite characteristics. We looked at how powerful those characters can be, and how easily they avoid becoming yet another overused cliche or falling into a tired troupe. But not all characters can balance two opposing…
Not all characters have to develop. This can be a little surprising, especially in a time when character development is so emphasized in the literary realm. Please don’t get me wrong. Most of your characters should develop. The majority of them should not be static. I have an article coming about just how awesome writing…
Last year, when I was doing research for my first article on Big Hero 6, I came across an article contrasting the movie with The Incredibles. It offered several points that the author believed made The Incredibles a better movie, and one point particularly stood out to me. While The Incredibles offers character development and…
I recently rewatched Age of Ultron for the first time since it was released in 2015. For all the hate it has gotten, I expected to find a villain with no motivation or interest, a lack of a theme, or at least some serious deviation from the protagonists’ character arcs or personality. But I found…
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…