thewriterswitch:

Me: Opens document with unfinished writing

Me: Yep, it still exists *closes document*

me

aye-write:

And than have a demon.

writing-and-nutmeg:

me

striving-artist:

avelera:

Probably the single hardest lesson for me to internalize in writing was that you don’t design a character you design a character arc.

One reason you as a writer might end up stuck with a flat or boring character, or one that just isn’t doing the things you need to create a vibrant plot, despite working out all the details of their life for hours, is because you’ve made the mistake I always do. You’ve made a character who is a blend of all the characteristics you envision for them, rather than saving some characteristics for the end of their journey. 

What do I mean by this? Maybe you envision a character who is a handsome prince, honest, brave, and true. In your plot, though, he’s going to be an antagonist for a bit but you don’t really want him to be seen as a bad guy, necessarily. But when you drop him into your story, he’s just… there. Being honest, brave, and true. 

That’s because the prince has no character arc. He is a static figure, a cardboard cutout. 

Let’s go a little deeper with a great example of one of the best character arcs in YA animation: Prince Zuko. He is, objectively, honest, brave, and true (to his cause of finding the Avatar) from the outset. But he’s also a dick. He’s a privileged, imperialist brat, who is rude to his uncle and vicious to our protagonists. 

By the end of the series, though, Prince Zuko is still honest, brave, and true, but he’s also a good person who has learned many lessons over the course of his trials and obstacles. He has failed over and over again at his initial goal of capturing the Avatar. He has failed at winning his father’s regard. He has failed at numerous smaller goals of day to day adventures. He has learned from all of these. We have seen his journey. But, if you started your vision of how to write Zuko from who he ends up being, he’s got nowhere to go as a character. 

It’s not just about what flaws he has corrected though. It’s about what lessons about life he has internalized. What flawed views of the world he has corrected and how. 

Rather than saying, “The character starts out a dick and learns to be nice,” be more specific. “This character starts out believing the empire he is loyal to is morally in the right for its conquests, but over the course of working for that empire’s ruler and seeing his cruelty first hand, not to mention fighting the empire’s enemies and mingling with its civilian victims, he becomes a better person and learns the error of his ways.” 

Already, right there, you have more than a cardboard character. You have a character who has an arc that molds to your plot. 

@avelera my darling. A+ content. Excellent. Yes. Marvelous. I’m so making you do a conversation with me on a video.

But can I add a thing? Because you mention it briefly, but I think it’s the critical core of character creation. (ps all of this is stolen from Playwright theory)

Here’s the thing you mentioned that got me like this: Prince Zuko is honest brave and true to his cause. Yes he is.

That’s the thing that makes the difference, and why his character is so great. He has a cause. He has a thing he’s doing. He has a goal. He has a thing he is aiming for from the beginning, but here’s my thing.

His goal isn’t to capture the Avatar at the beginning. It’s not. I know he says it all the time, but that’s cause its the method he thinks is required to achieve his actual goal, not his actual priority.

His goal is to restore his Honor.

And that fact doesn’t change. Not from the first episode to the end of Season 3, and what we see of him in LoK. That gives the character a coherence, even as you throw all this other stuff at him. He’s shown the abhorrent things done by the Fire Nation, and he’s forced to change his world view. His initial prejudice and ego gets broken down and turned into kindness, and he becomes a better person and learns the error of his ways. Absolutely. All that is true.

But the reason the character works is that he changes - but not entirely - He doesn’t become a new person, he keeps this core of himself that is not, will not, can not be altered. He changes his definitions when confronted with the truth, he changes how he wants to achieve his goal, but the character is amazing to us because his central goal never ever falters.

He never stops striving to restore his honor.

foxiswriting:

story outlining methods, pt. 1:

take off your pants!! (“take off your pants!: outline your books for faster, better writing” by libbie hawker)

this outline starts with a character — specifically their biggest flaw — and leads to five points that will make up the core of your story. it’s best for plots and subplots that focus on overcoming the flaw!

this outline doesn’t just have to be used for coming of age novels. it is just as important in your dystopian, fantasy, or thriller novels that the main character learns something or has changed by the end.

STEP ONE: think about your character

• your main character — what is their name, and what are their important features?
• what are your character’s flaws? what about their FATAL flaw? ex: hubris, overconfidence, stubbornness, etc.

STEP TWO: think about the end of the story

• the story (whether the main plot, a subplot, or a facet of the main plot) is the journey lead to overcome the flaw. now that you know the character’s flaw, you know what lesson they need to learn.
• the end of the story = the flaw mastered, the lesson learned.

STEP THREE: think about the external goal

• the external goal is the plot, the outer motivation to push the character to the end of the story where the goal is mastered. if you remember my post on quests, you know that a quest has two reasons to be there: the external factor (shrek saving fiona for his swamp), and the real reason (the lesson learned)
• the external goal should provide a chance for the character to recognize their flaw and begin to change. how does your plot tie into their character development?

STEP FOUR: think about the antagonist

• thinking about the external goal should reveal who the antagonist is. the antagonist should want to achieve the same goal or a goal that impedes with the protagonist’s goal. the antagonist should be the biggest obstacle to the character.

STEP FIVE: think about the ally/allies

• the character(s) that is capable of forcing the protagonist down the correct path. where your protagonist most likely will resist changing and confronting their flaw, the ally will help force them to do so anyway.

STEP SIX: think about the theme

• so what’s the point of your book? if you are struggling to boil it down to one sentence, you might want to think about it a little longer. this is what keeps the story feeling coherent. what are you trying to tell us?

STEP SEVEN: think about the plot

• each main plot element should somehow relate to the core of the book, aka the character’s development in overcoming their flaw
• OPENING SCENE - set the stage. address the flaw or the theme
• INCITING EVENT - what forces the character out of their everyday life and into the story?
• REALIZING EXTERNAL GOAL - what makes the character begin seeking their goal?
• DISPLAY OF FLAW - if the character’s flaw hasn’t been made blatantly clear, now is the time. make it known to the reader.
• DRIVE FOR GOAL - what is your character’s first attempt to reach their goal?
• ANTAGONIST REVEAL - how do you first show your antagonist’s opposition to your character?
• FIRST THWART - what happens to your character that keeps them from reaching their goal?
• REVISIT FLAW - show the character’s flaw again, even if they themselves aren’t aware of it yet.
• ANTAGONIST ATTACKS - what does the antagonist do that makes things worse?
• SECOND THWART - where your character fails most likely due to the attack
• CHANGED GOAL - the character finds a new goal or focuses on the external goal in a different way
• ALLY ATTACKS - what does the ally do to force the character to see the flaw?
• AWAKENING - the character knows what they must do to reach the external goal. how will you show that the character has also awakened to their flaw? how will you show them changing?
• BATTLE - the final showdown with the antagonist!
• DEATH - the character’s flaw dies here. how will you show that the character truly is different now?
• OUTCOME - show whether the character won or lost the external goal, reveal the theme of the story.

naturally, you don’t have to follow that outline exactly, but it can be a good place to start ;)

writtendevastation:

When your brain gives you ideas for spin offs of one of your WIPs and you’re not even halfway through the story

Originally posted by fraddit

wordsnstuff:

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress || Studyblr || Studygram

Where To Start

Start with the zero draft. Honestly, the only thing you need to know about your story in order to complete a solid zero draft is the basic timeline of events and 2-3 main characters. Zero drafts don’t need to include any minor characters, backstory, world building, subplots, anything. They’re just a rough estimate of what your story is going to be and where it’s going to go. 

This way, you have something to work with when you do approach the task of maturing your story, which is a lot easier to do when you have already gotten the garbage ideas onto paper, seen them, realized they’re bad, clipped out the good parts, and developed a better understanding of your story’s trajectory. 

Keep reading

thanks op