Help for Writers
Write a Gripping Beginning
My lifelong habit, when choosing a book to buy, is to pick it up and read the first few pages first. I value this more than the back-cover blurb or the book description on Amazon. That quick look inside (whether it’s in a physical book store or on a platform like...
Characters Who are Mary-Sues
Is your character a "Mary Sue"? About a year ago, I received an email from a reader that said, in part: "... all of my sisters read my stories, but when one of them remarked that my character was a "Mary-Sue", I became horrified. Stories with mary-sues...
Dressing Your Characters
I'm willing to bet that, most of the time, you tap out a sentence or two about what your character is wearing almost as an afterthought. (Hang on, you think, I've got to help the reader picture this guy. What'll I dress him in? Ummm... he's the kind of guy who wears a...
What Does Your Character Want?
"What does your character want?" It seems like a simple question - yet it is one that can cause untold problems for some writers. They fuss and fiddle about with all manner of MINOR things that the character wants, and totally miss the big one! What is...
Characters with Personality
My librarian and I share a passion for mysteries and thrillers. She knows my tastes so well now that she puts new books on reserve for me as soon as they are in the system. But when I think about our conversations about the latest story that we both loved,...
Why Make Your Main Character Likeable?
Let's make it clear from the start that I'm not saying that ALL your characters should be likeable. Of course not. We all need characters that we love to hate! But when it comes to the main character - think carefully before you present this person to your...
Unlikeable Characters
What's the one thing that is most likely to make a reader discard a book without finishing it? An unlikeable character. This was brought home to me forcibly last week, when I had to read a book ready for discussion at a book club meeting. This was the very...
How Much Does Your Character Notice?
One thing that gives away an inexperienced writer is overuse of tags such as 'she noticed' or 'he saw'. Example 1: "Taking a second look, SHE NOTICED that his face was growing redder." Example 2: "TIM SAW that the car had slowed, and the driver was looking...
Effective Character Description Part 2
When you're looking out at the world through the eyes of the scene's viewpoint character, how do you show the reader what your character is like? You'll be violating viewpoint if you suddenly step out of the character's mind and look at her from a distance. You can...
Effective Character Description Part 1
We all like to make our characters as three-dimensional as possible, so that the reader sees them as real people. We strive to show what they look like, how they feel, and how they react. We try to get right into their skin and use a variety of strategies...
Character Motivation – Always Ask WHY
For many years, I've been a tutor for students undertaking courses in writing romance, crime or children's stories. In that time, I've marked thousands of assignments. I've seen hundreds of plots, thousands of scenes, millions of words. And if I had to...
What Comes First – Characters or Plot
How do you actually begin a novel - by working out the plot, or starting with a character? And which is best? The answer is probably pretty much what you expected: no one method is "best". In fact, many authors have begun their first novel by working from...