A thriller is not just a rollercoaster ride, but like a whole day at a theme park with head-of-the-line privileges. Ride after wild ride with maybe just enough down time to eat a corndog and take a bathroom break. The necessary ingredients for a thriller include conflict, tension, and suspense, all tied up in a nice, twisty package.
We’re on a characterization kick this week on The Write Practice. Today, we’re going to continue to delve into the lives of our characters by going through a list of thirty-five questions to ask your characters made famous by the canonical French author, Marcel Proust.
So you want to know how to write a mystery novel. I’m delighted to hear it. I’ve been a mystery lover since I hid behind the Lincoln Logs in Mrs. Jenkins third grade classroom so I could finish my first Nancy Drew, undisturbed. Mystery hooked me that day, and has been leading me around by the nose ever since.
An antihero is a central character in a story who displays unheroic flaws or characteristics associated with villains, but who may garner more empathy and understanding as they can appear more human and relatable than traditional heroes.
Take a look at our list of over 75 antihero examples to see if you want to create one for your story today.
As a writer, you know that a story can’t exist without characters. But have you ever wondered: “Why are characters important in a story?”
Perhaps you’ve questioned an even tougher problem: “When is a character important enough to keep in a story, and when does the narrative work better without them?”
In order for a side character—or any character—to matter in a story, they have to work as an essential character that impacts the protagonist, plot, setting, or another important aspect that shapes or moves a story forward.
In this article, you’ll learn four ways that determine if (1) the character is essential, and (2) how they contribute to a story. You’ll also learn the major types of characters and ways to determine if—for the characters who don’t qualify as essential—you’re better off revising their role, or cutting them from the plot.
Love stories appear everywhere in the films we watch, books we read, and shows we binge. From romance novels and romantic comedies to ninety percent of subplots and even family dramas, love stories are the most common type of story.
Which is all to say, if you want to be a creative writer, you probably need to learn how to write love stories.
In this guide, we’re going to explore love stories of all kinds, from the ones that end “happily ever after” to tragic love stories and even stories that don’t look like love stories but actually are. We’ll talk about the elements of love stories, their structure and arcs, the best love story examples to study, and finally how to actually write a love story of your own.
