Here is the difference between passive and active characters; decision-making and agency.
Passive characters meander through a story while stuff happens to them and all they do is react. Proactive characters take decisions and make stuff happen for themselves.
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Crafting Distinct Voices sets nine questions designed to tease out a distinctive voice for individual characters. Given the sparse dialogue I’m writing in my fantasy series, any prompts are worth considering.
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I worked out the central premise of Amazon’s Rings of Power: Galadriel’s Study in Psychopathy.
I resisted talking about this because it’s become mired in gender politics almost as toxic as Republicans versus Democrats. Let’s ignore the politics and call it what it is: bad writing.
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According to the late teacher and script doctor Peter Russell, the character’s core wound powers the story. Writing and speaking extensively on TV and film scripts, Russell advocates a character-first approach to storytelling.
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Let’s compare the wildly popular Black Widow and the (unfairly in my view) not wildly popular Captain Marvel. Then looking at who I have in my fantasy series.
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This week I found the key in completing a character arc: misbelief. It followed two years of writing, ignoring that my protagonist wasn’t working.
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Why do we so love the stories in which Everyman saves the day? Recalling a previous post, the Everyman – or in my stories, Everywoman – is a character who is ordinary enough to be relatable to the average reader.
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One of the key ingredients of successful novels is the relatability of the characters; it’s why stories need the Everyman, or Everywoman.
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Worry not, no personal woes here; we’re plotting troubles, decisions and consequences in fiction. Another guest lecturer on Sanderson’s BYU Creative Writing course, author Brandon Mull sets out his approach to character and plot.
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In a previous post I looked at how character arcs rise and fall and promised to look at applying character arcs in fiction. I have multiple novels in progress, linked in a series, looking for meaningful, satisfying character arcs. Somehow I have to apply all that received wisdom of writing coaches and authors.
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