by Joslyn Chase |
Recall a time you made an effort to get someone to like you. Did you try to get them to relate to you, or want to spend more time with you? It’s kind of the same way with the main character in your book. Readers finish books when they care about what happens to the protagonist. To accomplish this, you need to craft a sympathetic character.
When you write a book, you’re asking readers to invite your character into their homes, their hangouts, their lives. It’s important to create a protagonist your reader wants to spend time with and that they care about enough to stick around to find out what happens to them.
Without that vital concern, suspense cannot be sustained. And without suspense, the reader will lose interest in your story. I talked about this in depth in my post on suspense.
Today, let’s talk about how to make your readers like—if not love—your characters so that you can sustain suspense in your book.
by Joe Bunting |
Characters are the heart of any story. There are plenty of methods out there to help your character development. But when it’s time to give your characters shape and definition, don’t waste time on extensive questionnaires that get you weighed down in details.
by David Safford |
In this story type, the hero and their comrades are attempting to thwart death in the face of an overwhelming physical obstacle, usually in the form of a figure of nature.
This isn’t to say that an adventure story can’t have a villain. However, the primary threats will always come in physical form, forcing the characters to dig deep and find the strength and resolve to endure.
by Sue Weems and Joe Bunting |
Whether you’re a student analyzing a story or a writer intent on crafting a compelling story, there are a few basic story elements that will help you better understand the parts of a story.
by Sue Weems |
Dialogue is an essential component for most stories, whether it’s for a narrative essay, memoir, or fiction. Even if you’re writing nonfiction, you’ll likely use stories to illustrate your point, and those stories will include dialogue. Today we have some dialogue writing prompts to help you write better dialogue while you develop some story ideas.
by Kellie McGann |
Writers encounter dialogue every day, but too often recently I’ve seen great stories ruined by choppy, incoherent, and straight up weird dialogue.
Let’s break down the essentials of dialogue tags so we can all write clearer conversations.
