Secrets and Lies for Your Characters Nothing is better (or more fun for the writer) than a story-relevant secret or lie. Give some dilemma beneath the surface story to give your character depth, add suspense and tension, and keep your reader turning the pages. You can drop hints throughout your writing and when the reveal comes—you will surprise, shock, and delight your reader. Creating a character with a strong internal conflict, secret, or burden makes for one compelling read! (To see more on writing a compelling protagonist, check out The Compelling Protagonist Part 1 and Compelling Protagonist Part 2.) Below are writing prompts to help you find some ideas for internal secrets, lies (and therefore conflict) for your characters. Write about a broken promise. Write about a secret. Write about a lie that protects. Write about a lie that is told to hurt. Do this brainstorming throughout the writing of your work in progress.
Tagxedo - Word Cloud with Styles Developing Characters By Jody Hedlund, @JodyHedlund I have to admit, I don’t write (or often read) character driven stories. My books are full of action and drama and are primarily plot-driven. But, that doesn’t mean I neglect my characters. In fact, I'm currently in the pre-planning stage for a couple different books. I find this time of getting to know my characters one of the most delightful aspects of the entire writing process. I thought I'd share a few of the things I consider when I'm developing my characters in the pre-writing stage. 1. Obviously I consider their physical appearance. But I always go much deeper than physical appearance. 2. Not only do I try to understand their skills, abilities, and talents, but I also attempt to determine their personality type (are they dominant, passive, loyal, outgoing, etc.). 3. I may not need to know when they had their first scraped knee or lost tooth. 4. I try to narrow down the qualities that will help my readers care about the characters. 5. 6.
Kumo - Java Word Cloud Kumo On GitHub: here The goal of Kumo is to create a powerful and user friendly Word Cloud library in Java. Kumo can directly generate an image file, or return a BufferedImage. I plan on hosting it on Maven Central soon. Please feel free to jump in and help improve Kumo! Current Features Draw Rectangle, Circle or Image Overlay word clouds. Download from Maven Central Example to generate a Word Cloud on top of an image. Example to generate a circular Word Cloud. Example to generate a rectangle Word Cloud Example of tokenizing chinese text into a circle Create a polarity word cloud to contrast two datasets Create a Layered Word Cloud from two images/two word sets Writing a Novel with Unforgettable Characters Character development is one of the first essential steps of writing a novel and it involves creating the people who will carry out your story. There will most likely be a variety of characters needed for your story, but none as important as your lead character – your protagonist. A well-developed protagonist has much to do with the success of writing a novel. When writing a novel, the protagonist should be someone that your readers feel is a “real person” that they come to love (or at least like a whole lot), can relate to in many ways, and will care about and think about long after they’ve turned the final page on your novel. How to Create “Real People” for Your Novel When writing a novel, there are many ways to go about creating characters and much has been written about it in “how to write a novel books”, sometimes in great detail. Writing a Novel – Four Attributes of a Lead Character: 1. 2. 3. 4. Writing a Novel – Three Attributes Every Character Has: 1. 2. 3. 1. 2. 3.
First, Second, and Third Person You probably know what it means to write in the first person, but you may not be as confident about using the second- or third-person point of view. Today we’re going to focus on each of these three points of view. In grammatical terms, first person, second person, and third person refer to personal pronouns. Each “person” has a different perspective, a “point of view,” and the three points of view have singular and plural forms as well as three case forms. First Person In the subjective case, the singular form of the first person is “I,” and the plural form is “we.” I (first-person singular) look forward to my monthly book club meeting. The first-person point of view is used primarily for autobiographical writing, such as a personal essay or a memoir. Besides “I” and “we,” other singular first person pronouns include “me” (objective case) and “my” and “mine” (possessive case). For further clarification regarding the eight first-person pronouns just used, here’s a table: Next: Second Person
Characters With Conflict & Backstory Seven Steps To Creating Characters That Write Themselves Creating characters that are believable takes time and discipline. Creating dynamically real individuals and not imposing your own thoughts and impressions upon them is not easy to do, and is often the difference between a novel or screenplay that sits in a closet and one that finds its way around town and into the hands of audiences. You must first agree to operate from the understanding that the three-dimensionality of your characters is not created magically. The complexity that you desire comes through: Labeling their desire essencesLabeling their fear essencesGetting specific about their pastLabeling their behaviorRaising their stakesNot meddling in their livesLetting them play Asking provoking questions in line with these steps, answering them thoroughly, and then repeating the process, provides constant individual growth in your characters that mirrors life. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Emotions are extreme. 6. 7. Find the Essences
10 Insulting Words You Should Know There is a crisis of insults on the Web. On one hand, the volume of flames is very high yet the quality is poor. Gone are the days of the razor-sharp wit of Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill*, only to be replaced by a string of four letter words typed in ALL CAPS by n00bs (the latest of which is “FAIL”, itself a failure of coming up with a more scathing insult, if you think about it). *For example:"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go," says Oscar Wilde.George Bernard Shaw wrote to Winston Churchill, "I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend....if you have one." And Churchill wrote back, "Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second......if there is one" Well, it’s hard to teach wit - but all of us can learn the next best thing: the approximation of it by obfuscation, i.e. using big, difficult, and obscure words. 1. Analysis: We have the English to thank for this word. 2. Definition: To spray with poo. 3. 4. nbsp; 5.
Avoid Overactive or Inactive Supporting Characters One of the most common plot problems writers face is mistaking minor characters and subplots for the main character and primary plot. In the following excerpt, Joseph Bates, author of The Nighttime Novelist, discusses overactive or inactive characters and subplots and how they can impact your story. Overactive or Inactive Supporting Characters If in the second act you find your novel veering off course either because a minor character has come in and tried to run the place, or because your minor characters seem to be doing nothing but sitting on your couch, eating your food, not really contributing, you should put them to the test: determine why they’re there, if they can be brought in line somehow, or, if not, how you might excise them from the novel. If an inactive supporting character does indeed seem to fulfill some function like this—but is otherwise inert—you might see if another and better-established supporting character might fulfill that role just as easily. You might also like: