It’s time for another Character Under A Microscope post where I dig deep into character development. While most people pick up a story for the plot, they stay for the characters. Therefore, you want to make them as realistic and interesting as possible. Today, I want to discuss character mannerisms Read more
Have you ever read a story and felt cheated by the end? Perhaps there was some tense situation, but it turned out to be nothing. Or maybe the protagonist’s lover died but then in the end you’re told the two faked the death so they could run away together. Most Read more
Today, I want to talk about just one part of speech: adjectives. Unlike adverbs, these descriptors are more accepted in literature. However, some adjectives are better than others. Let’s get into three types of adjectives and how they should (or shouldn’t) be used in stories. First, we’ll talk about empty Read more
I’ve discussed pacing before, on a sentence-level and then scene-level, and now I’d like to look at it on a book-level. Whether you are planning to write a book or going back to one that’s already written, you’ll need to consider pacing so readers stay engaged. Too slow of pacing Read more
A while back I was asked a question about character backstory, and it’s stuck with me. I’ve done a post on initial characterization, but I want to zoom in and focus specifically on backstory today. It’s a crucial part of developing a story, but it’s also often misused. Let’s talk Read more
How do you tell a story? Writers often talk about what you put into a story and the key elements such as setting, character, plot, etc. But what is needed to effectively communicate the tale to readers? When you tell a story, there are five different modes you can use Read more
Our post today in the Character Under a Microscope series is about liars. Regardless of how good humans try to be, we all lie. What kind of lies people are willing to tell defines part of their character. I’ve divided the world into six levels of liars, and I want Read more
Are you familiar with the concept of character identification? Readers say they identify with a character. Agents send rejections based on the fact they couldn’t identify with the protagonist. There seems to be some magic ingredient that makes or breaks a character, but the reason for the attachment often varies. Read more
I recently dove into studying how to write better descriptions and imagery in books, and I learned just how many different types of figurative language are available to us. It’s overwhelming! Today, I want to go over seven different types I’ve found to be helpful. Some will be very familiar Read more
There is a lot of advice on how to write a story’s climax. While many sources state you must have an internal change in the protagonist right before or during the external plot’s climax, very few focus on how to create that change. It’s essentially the climax for the internal Read more