A quick overview of the Hero’s Journey
Planning out a novel? Be sure to join my newsletter for a FREE plotting/revision roadmap, and check out the full series on plotting novels in a free PDF! Over the last two weeks, we’ve looked at two plotting methods.
Write Better: 3 Ways To Introduce Your Main CharacterWritersDigest.com
One of the biggest bugaboos in manuscript submissions is when the author doesn’t properly introduce the protagonist within the first chapter. Readers want to know quickly the protagonist’s sex, age and level of sophistication in the world of the story, and they want to relate to the character on an emotional level. Readers’ interest in the protagonist has to be earned, in other words. If we like a character, then we want to see her do well and we’re willing to follow her around and invest our time and interest in rooting her on in her struggle.
The 3 Essential Elements to Creating a Believable Romance - C. S. Lakin
C.S. Lakin runs an amazing blog called Live Write Thrive – haven’t been there yet? Take a peek around, and don’t forget to check out her new book 5 Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing! Boy meets girl.
WRITING TOOLS
Character Pyramid Tool (PDF) Visualize your character’s FLAWS & associated behaviors (for a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws) Character Target Tool (PDF) Organize and group your character’s POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES by category: moral, achievement, interactive or identity (for a greater understanding of this tool, please reference The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes)
Should You Write a Novel or Short Story?
When the urge to write fiction sets upon you—when you get that sudden spark, that thunderclap of Oh, my gosh, maybe I could write this!—it’s natural to try your hand at a short story. But there comes a day when you’re considering an idea, and you realize you’ve been kicking it around for quite a while. Maybe you’ve written an opening scene. You’ve jotted down some plot points, you’ve sketched out a character or two.
7 Keys To Write the Perfect First Line of a Novel
Earlier this week, I read “Poppies,” a short story by Ulrica Hume, one of our authors on Story Cartel. Initially, I had only planned on skimming a few pages, but the first line hooked me. Before long, I was finishing the last page.1 Great first lines have that power, the power to entice your reader enough that it would be unthinkable to set the book down.
Demons A to Z - Weird Encyclopedia
A list of demons, devils, and evil gods from around the world. Probably not exhaustive. If you know of any more, keep it to yourself. Abaddon - King of the Demons of Hell.
The Adverb Is Not Your Friend: Stephen King on Simplicity of Style
by Maria Popova “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.” “Employ a simple and straightforward style,” Mark Twain instructed in the 18th of his 18 famous literary admonitions. And what greater enemy of simplicity and straightforwardness than the adverb? Or so argues Stephen King in On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft (public library), one of 9 essential books to help you write better. Though he may have used a handful of well-placed adverbs in his recent eloquent case for gun control, King embarks upon a forceful crusade against this malignant part of speech:
the female bildungsroman — The Bildungsroman Project
the frauenroman: a female perspective in coming-of-age stories The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Great Expectations, Catcher in the Rye, Invisible Man. These are novels familiar to most people. They all can be classified as bildungsroman novels and all share a key aspect: they are centered around boys becoming men.
