Joyce Carol Oates video: develop realistic characters
Joyce Carol Oates discusses how a writer develops realistic characters using examples from her novel The Gravedigger’s Daughter. Watch the video on my new site, Writing Hacker (a compendium-style site...
View ArticleWrite a Novel: Create Characters Readers Love
I’ve just sent out “Characters We Love” to members of our 30-Day Novel-Writing Challenge. We discuss kickstarting your fiction with images — if you still haven’t started your novel, this will get you...
View ArticleWrite Your Novel: Character Journals
You’ve started writing a novel. You’ve written ten or 100 pages, and it’s painful, because your characters refuse to come alive. You feel like a puppet master, jerking strings on lumps of wood. I’ve...
View ArticleWriting Your Novel: Conflict Essentials
Over the weekend, I received a couple of messages from Fiction Frenzy students, who were unsure about conflict, and how to create it. Here’s the thing about conflict: the conflict in your book must be...
View ArticleWriting a Novel? Make Something Happen NOW (and on every page)
I’m a huge fan of Victorian novelists. I love Anthony Trollope. I reread his Palliser novels every few years. If Trollope were writing today however, I’m sure he’d use a different style. He would show,...
View ArticleWrite Your Novel: Your Characters’ Thoughts Sell Your Book
Every morning I get out of bed, pour a cup of coffee, and stumble into my office. I’m not awake. I never am until I’ve got some caffeine in my veins. That’s fine, because it’s precisely the right state...
View ArticleWriting Fiction: Managing Your Characters’ Changes
Are you getting ready for NaNoWriMo? Whether you are or not, if you’re writing a novel you must give some thought to how your characters will change during the course of your novel. You characters will...
View ArticlePlot Your Novel: 3 Tips for Sizzling Subplots
Love writing fiction? Me too. I started my writing career as a romance novelist. For many years, writing fiction wasn’t profitable. Now it is. So if you’re a professional writer, it pays to write...
View Article3 Fiction Tips: Write Stories Readers LOVE
Want to write stories readers LOVE? If you do, you need to make your stories satisfying. Consider your favorite story. Why do you love it, and read it again and again? I’m a huge P.G. Wodehouse fan. I...
View ArticleShort Story Shortcuts: Scene Therapy
Short stories are fun to write, because they’re short. However, they can also be challenging for the same reason. You’re writing to a genre, and your readers have clear expectations for that genre. You...
View ArticleCharacters in Fiction: Love Me, Love My Flaw
How many people do you know who are perfect? No one’s perfect. We all have flaws – many of them. So characters in fiction need flaws too. Creating a flaw which works can be a real challenge, especially...
View ArticleWriting A Novel and Finishing It
You’re writing a novel. Perhaps it’s the novel of your heart, the novel you’ve always wanted to write. Or perhaps you got all enthusiastic and wanted to join friends doing NaNoWriMo. That first flush...
View ArticleWriting a Novel: Pantsing Without Panicking
You’re writing a novel. Or you hope you are. You’re not sure, because you’re a pantser, and you know that at some stage your “novel” may fizzle. It’s happened before. Unlike plotters, we pantsers...
View ArticleHow To Plan And Write A Series of Novels: 5 Tips
You want to write a series of novels. Perhaps you’re writing a novel, and the thought occurs to you: “Hey! I could make this a series…” Alternatively, you decide you want to write a series, from...
View ArticleCharacters In Novels: Use Shorthand To Characterize Them
We’ve all had the problem: how do you make fictional characters seem real? Characters in novels aren’t real people, but when they come alive in your story, they seem real. There’s an easy way to get...
View ArticleFiction Writing Basics: Focus On EMOTION
Fiction writing is all about emotion. If you don’t feel anything, your characters won’t and your readers won’t. They’ll toss your book into the trash, or delete it from their Kindle, because they feel...
View ArticleWriting Fiction: 3 Tips To Make Your Story Real
You’re writing fiction — telling stories. You want your stories to be real to your readers. Let’s look at some ways in which you can do that. An aside. In your first draft, it’s best to get your story...
View ArticleCreating Characters In Fiction: No One’s Perfect
Writing fiction is fun, especially creating characters. You’re their creator, so your story people can be anything you’d like them to be. You can write about heart surgeons, astronauts, exotic dancers,...
View ArticlePlotting Fiction: How To Create Richer Stories
You’re writing short stories, or novels, and you want to make your fiction powerful. Plotting fiction is the key, not only to happy readers, but also to more book sales. If readers love your story,...
View ArticlePlotting Fiction: Plot And Place Sell
One of the easiest ways to improve your fiction is to think about where it happens. When you’re plotting fiction, consider your settings and locations. Your readers will thank you. Your fiction will be...
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