Establishing the Right Point of View Establishing the Right Point of View: How to Avoid "Stepping Out of Character" by Marg Gilks Return to Characters, Viewpoint, and Names · Print/Mobile-Friendly Version "Dalquist was shaking with rage, tears streaking down her face. 'Get out,' she whispered. Yikes! If you can see what's wrong with this excerpt, congratulations. What's wrong with the above excerpt? Paragraph one is ambiguous. Every scene should have only one POV character, and everything must be filtered through that POV character's perceptions. But, isn't it so much easier just to tell the reader what character X is thinking, rather than trying to show it in ways the POV character (and thus, the reader) can see and understand? Let's look at that again, and we'll see a hint: isn't it so much easier just to tell the reader what character X is thinking, rather than trying to show it in ways the POV character can see and understand? Yup: "show, don't tell." Yup: characterization. "Lexas didn't turn around. Find Out More...
Twain's Rules of Writing 1. A tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere. 2. The episodes of a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help develop it. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. An author should 12. More on WritingHome Writing Prompt: Get Into Character « Novel Novice Welcome to Novel Novice’s Writing Prompts! Reading and writing go hand-in-hand: reading makes you a better writer, and writing makes you a better reader. Whether you’re aspiring to be a novelist, just having fun, or interested in trying your hand at writing, we welcome you to join in. Here’s how it will work: Prompts will be posted on the 1st of the month, every other month, Feb-Oct.Stories will be due 6 weeks later, on the 14th of the following month.Stories will be posted on the website for everyone to read, so that we can learn from each other.Each prompt will focus on a writing technique to help you sharpen your skills.Prompts are open-ended so that they may be used for fan fiction for any book/series. There is no judging, voting, or winners. To have funTo improve your writing skillsTo share your writing with others On to this month’s prompt…. The Focus: Ahhh…the age-old writing debate — what’s more important: characters or plot? Voice Every character has a distinct “voice”. World View
Breaking the Fourth Wall Major Monogram: Oh! Wow! What are the odds? Carl: Well, it is a cartoon, sir. Major Monogram: What did I tell you about breaking the fourth wall, Carl? Hey! open/close all folders Audio Play Opera In Sergei Prokofiev's Love For Three Oranges the action is frequently interrupted by a Greek Chorus (or rather, four or five separate Greek Choruses) of opera fans and stagehands. Professional Wrestling There was this gem from Hulk Hogan on a November 2010 episode of TNA ReAction: "Well, brother, we're lightening the load around here. Puppet Shows The Cashore Marionettes do this occasionally; one of the most significant instances is the skit "The Quest", in which a puppet scales his own puppeteer like a mountain, accompanied by triumphant music. Web Animation In episode 5 of Brawl of the Objects, Boat is attempting to speak French with Baguette using the dictionary he purchased in a previous episode.
25 Things You Should Know About Character Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4. The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8. You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13. The law of threes. 15. 16. 17. 18.
Creative Writing For Dummies Cheat Sheet Rewriting and editing helps to tighten up your work. But it can be difficult – what to chop and when to stop may not be clear, and you may change your mind more than once during the process. Ask yourself whether you need to take out: Unnecessary information and explanation. You may need to add or expand: Something you know but have forgotten to tell the reader; perhaps the age of the main character. You may need to move: Dramatic sections to make a stronger opening. In your final edit: Check for grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Top Questions for Fictional Characters -- Questions to Help in Creating Characters Creating the more complex round characters takes time -- time spent thinking about how your characters look, where they're from, and what motivates them, for instance. The questions below provide structure to this all-important thought process. While the reader will not need to know all the details, it's important that you do. The better you know your characters, the more realistic your story or novel will end up being. 1. Michael Adams ("Anniversaries in the Blood"), the novelist and writing professor, believes that setting is the most important element of any story. 2. In a similar vein, where did your character's life begin? 3. Though this might seem like an obvious question, it's important to make a clear decision about this before you begin writing -- otherwise, it's impossible to get the details right. 4. Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? 5. 6. As with real people, many things about your character's personality will be determined by his background. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Every story you love can be retold with one of eight sentences You will know Kurt Vonnegut as a renowned author, but in addition to his books, he left behind a theory of stories that he’s less famous for, but that is still very interesting. He broke down stories that are told worldwide in all cultures into just a eight simple shapes. For example, shape #1, “The Man in Hole”… Somebody gets into trouble, gets out of it again…. Every story that speaks to us on a deeply human level fits into one of his categories. A couple years ago, graphic designer Maya Eilam took Vonnegut’s story shapes and synthesized them into a simple infographic… (via Boing Boing) You can hear him explain the basic principle and discuss three classic story shapes here, if you want to. Think of your favorite book or movie… What shape is it?
10 Days of Character Building: A Day in the Life This is Day 2 of 10 Days of Character Building The day in the life approach to developing a character is focused on describing a normal day in the character’s life before something important happens to change it. Most central characters begin a story in their normal world. At some point, an event happens that takes them out of their normal world and sends them on whatever journey the story has in store for them. The beauty of analyzing a character’s day is that there are always opportunities to delve as deeply into their actions as you want. As you assemble a person’s day you get a good idea of their traits and flaws. When approaching the daily routine, you can go a number of ways. How To Tremendously Improve Your Writing Style - SylvianeNuccio.com Do choice of words matter at all when you write? Stupid question, isn’t it? Of course they do. The only problem is that at times the writer forget that. This past weekend I was watching a very famous French play that they’ve made into a movie, called Cyrano of Bergerac. I’m sure many of you have heard about it. Your Choice of Words is Important In this play, you can appreciate how Edmond Rostand, the author (and I’m sure the translator) has chosen each word very carefully, not only to rhyme but to make sense, but to create one of the most beautiful plays in history. When you write, yes, words do count. After all, no matter what master piece you’re reading, it’s all about using the right word at the right place. Another thing that made me think about the importance of words this past weekend is another beautiful French story which plot takes place during the mid 1600’s. In this case again, the writers of the script had to be very mindful of the words they chose. 3 – Avoid Ending Verbs in ing
Seven Keys To Unforgettable Characters | Bob Mayer's Blog Think of your favorite book. What the first thing that comes to mind when you bring it up in your brain? I’m willing to bet, it’s the characters. Most people relate to people, not things. Characters bring emotion to story, and emotion is what attaches readers to books. It took me a while to truly appreciate this fundamental truth of fiction. Here are some of the key lessons I’ve learned about character development over the years, which I’ll be covering in more detail next month in the Write It Forward on-line class on character: 1. 2. 3. What do you want? 4. What do you want? 5. Archetypes. 6. 7. These are just a few of the lessons I’ve learned about character over the years. Write It Forward! Like this: Like Loading... West Point Graduate, former Green Beret and NY Times bestselling author Bob Mayer has had over 50 books published.
Important stuff to know when writing about ANY period by kittybriton Jan 2