by Matt Herron |
Are you looking for a character sketch template that will make your character building easier and more fun?
Scrivener has an amazing character sketch tool that you can use to develop better characters.
In this article, you’ll learn how to sketch a fictional character and cast that will make you proud. Read on for a hands-on walkthrough of how to use Scrivener to create characters, from character profiles to their physical descriptions, and then some.
by David Safford |
The time has come to pen the ending of your Hero’s Journey. The dust may have settled by this moment in your book—but that doesn’t make it any less important. This is the moment in a hero’s journey called the Return with the Elixir.
But you might be thinking, “I hate endings!” For some writers, this is a painful truth of storytelling. Finding the right ending—or rather, any suitable ending—can feel impossible.
Thankfully, the Hero’s Journey, as researched by Joseph Campbell, provides a clear roadmap for concluding your epic journey, saving you much of the headache that often comes with crafting the perfect denouement.
Here’s how you write it.
by Monica M. Clark |
I’ve changed the first page of my novel a lot. I can’t even tell you how many times. It happened because as I was writing, I followed a lot of writing blogs, attended a lot of author talks, and browsed a lot of guides that had a lot to say about how to write the first page of a book.
The thinking is that readers thumbing through books in the bookstore and agents alike make snap decisions based on those initial words.
And while it’s essential that the entire book is great, the reality is that the first page of your book sets the tone and expectation for the quality of writing for the rest of the book.
You need to make it good! Something that can uphold the excitement of your book idea and that would impress a publishing company.
by J. D. Edwin |
Readers love the ending of stories, but do you feel like you don’t know how to write a really good ending?
It may seem a little odd to talk about story endings when you haven’t even started writing. Deciding on the type of ending you want, however, is an important part of planning a book.
You usually wouldn’t drive somewhere without a destination in mind. Knowing how your story ends will help you work out the important plot points in between, all the plot twists that eventually lead to that climatic moment.
But how exactly can you write a great ending before the story is even written? Let’s take a look at the essentials an ending must accomplish in order to write a satisfying ending to a great story.
Knowing these common types of endings, and how to decide what endings work best for your story, will bring your character arcs and story full circle.
This post shares writing tips to help you accomplish just that.
by David Safford |
Ultimately, heroes confront death. They rise against the most powerful villains and the worst sources of evil imaginable.
And on their journeys, they often suffer the consequences of tangling with these bad guys.
But not all heroic journeys require villains on the scale of Sauron and Voldemort and Emperor Palpatine. Some villains are local bullies, arrogant coworkers, and voices of doubt in our heads. And even these villains require heroic efforts to overcome.
It’s time to tackle a difficult yet important step in your heroic story: the Resurrection.
If you get this step right, you’ll have a story on your hands that readers won’t be able to get enough of.
Let’s dive in!
by Joe Bunting and Abigail Perry |
How do you create memorable characters? What’s characterization, and how does a writer turn a name on a page into a person so vivid and compelling that you imagine they’re real?
In this article, you’ll learn what characterization is, when it matters, and how to apply it to your characters and stories. You’ll also see some examples of characterization, and explanations of when not to prioritize characterization over other story elements.
