There’s a theory that storytellers hypnotize their readers by the power of suggestion. I’ve never studied hypnosis, but I see the similarities and have put it on my list of topics to research further. In this post, we are going over the five levels of brain waves and one way Read more
When you write a scene in your story, it can be hard to balance the description with the action. The readers need to be able to picture the setting and characters, but too much description can make the story feel like it isn’t moving forward. There is a three step Read more
Every writer wants to have engaging characters that hook the readers. In this post, I’m going to talk about three elements that can create a character that readers want to get behind. These are proactivity, competence, and sympathy. All three elements should be treated like sliders instead of an on/off Read more
When I first started submerging myself in writing lingo, I listened to podcasts by authors. I heard the word denouement several times and recognized it as French, but I had no clue what it meant. While the word itself isn’t mandatory to know as a writer, what it represents for Read more
We’ve talked about the Try/Fail cycle and how it needs to be repeated at least three times in a novel, and now we’re going to focus on one moment in the last cycle. Arguably, the most important scene in your book. This moment has been called many things: the Reversal, Read more
This week we’re getting to the heart of the major conflict in any plot. James Scott Bell emphasizes that every story is about a character confronting death, but it’s not as straight forward as it sounds. There are three types of death: physical, professional, and psychological. All stories need conflict, Read more
This week is about application of what we are learning. I’m going to take the eight character types we discussed the last few weeks and apply it to one book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I picked this story to show that, though these roles seem to be geared Read more
The last pair of characters I’m going to discuss at this time is the love interest and the temptress. These may seem straightforward, especially in the romance genre, but they are more complicated than they appear. They can also be present in any genre. The love interest and the temptress Read more
Next on the list of character types are the sidekick and the henchman. There can be one or more of each of these characters. Though they don’t play a huge part in the overall story, they are important characters who help build up internal conflict for your protagonist. While the Read more
Now that we have discussed the most important characters in a story, let’s move down on the tier of character types. These next ones are powerful side characters that either help or hinder your main characters. They aren’t powerful enough to end the conflict between good and evil (that’s your Read more