Characters

You probably already know that motivation is everything in a novel. Nearly everything worth reading flows from a character who wants something and actively goes after it. In writing advice land, it’s popular to subdivide a character’s motivations into conscious motivations and unconscious motivations. Meaning, there’s something on the surface that’s motivating the character (saving […]

One of the most crucial “story essentials” when writing a novel is to craft an active protagonist. Protagonists who are active and engage meaningfully with their world will grip the reader. Protagonists who feel like they sleepwalk through a novel will have them reaching for something different to read. And the protagonist(s) (for simplicity I’m […]

What follows is some really basic and essential advice that will help you create characters that leap off the page. But I’m gonna start with the caveats on this post straightaway: don’t take this advice overly literally. I’m not saying you can’t name a universal emotion in a novel full stop. When I say “avoid,” […]

Every protagonist in a novel should start in one place and end up in another irrevocably changed. Character arcs are crucial building blocks of novels. One very common arc involves a character who starts off shy, timid, and/or aimless and has to become brave or find their voice and purpose. But here’s the problem that […]

One of the core tenets of writing advice is that everything flows from a protagonist’s motivation. It’s what inspires journeys to Mordor, jaunts through strange chocolate factories, and maniacal voyages to exact revenge on a white whale. Characters need to want something. What’s often neglected: this applies to minor characters too! Every single character, all […]

When you think of some of the most iconic characters in film and literature, there’s often an interesting contradiction at the heart of charater. James Bond is capable of heroic action stunts, but he’s sauve and debonair. Hannibal Lector eats people, but he can be charming and intelligent. Dolores Umbridge is a strict rule follower, […]