How to Create Stakes in Your Fiction Novel That Hook Readers
Want to write a novel readers can’t put down? Learn how to raise the stakes in your story so readers care deeply about your characters and keep turning the page.
How to Figure Out What the Hell Your Character Wants: Goals vs. Desires
If you’ve ever struggled to untangle what your character wants versus what they need—or to sort out all the talk about “external goals” and “internal objects of desire,” well then you’re not alone. It really comes down to goals and desires. In this article, I’m digging into what makes goals and desires different, why both matter, and how to use them to braid plot and character transformation together!
How to Use Story Structure and Character Arcs to Write More Compelling Fiction
Today, we’re diving deep into some essential craft topics: story structure, plot, character arcs, and character development. These elements are inseparably linked, and understanding how they interact will elevate your writing.
Mastering Character Development: How to Get Your Characters to Spill Their Secrets
We all know that one-dimensional characters won’t cut it, and we strive to create dynamic and emotionally resonant fictional characters.
We also understand that to do that, we have to figure out what drives our characters to take action and engage in our plots. We have to figure out what they want, what they need to learn, what they fear, and the internal struggles that stunt them.
The million-dollar question is, “How?”
How to Write Character Thoughts: Read Deep to Write Better Fiction-The Micro Elements (Part 3)
Inner monologue are the thoughts the POV character thinks but doesn’t voice out loud. It’s their “inside voice.” This inside voice is key to allowing the reader into the story's experience. Without it, the reader will feel like a spectator, forced to watch something they don’t completely understand.
How to Craft a Corruption Arc: A Case Study of Walter White
The corruption arc is the easiest to spot of all the negative character arcs. You know this one. It’s the good person gone bad story, where a character begins on the morally “good” side of the tracks, and they understand right and wrong, but more than that, they believe in doing what’s right.
How to Write a Falling Character Arc in a Fiction Novel
The falling character arc is the truest of tragedies. These characters pursue their external want, backed by their false belief (what they believe about the world or themselves that does not serve them), to insanity or death with rare exception.
How to Write a Disillusionment Arc in a Fiction Novel
While often portrayed in a negative light, the disillusionment character arc can serve as a powerful tool for delivering a message of caution and encouragement. By exploring the struggles and challenges characters face, these stories can ultimately provide readers a sense of hope and inspiration.
Learning How to Write a Negative Character Arc in a Fiction Novel
I do love a good negative character arc. That's probably why I enjoy writing my antagonist or a wicked side character almost as much as—sometimes even more than—my hero.
Negative character arcs allow us to explore the darker side of humanity, and they don’t get much attention in the writing world.
How To Construct A Character Arc Your Readers Will Love
If you looked at the previous posts on story structure you can probably tell much of that content talked about how what happened at those major turning points in the story challenged the protagonist to change internally.
This is because PLOT/STRUCTURE and CHARACTER are intimately linked. You can’t have one without the other. So the structure isn’t a bunch of arbitrary plot points. The sequence of events has a specific mission: to affect an inner change within the character, their world, or both.
We refer to this internal change as a character arc. Here’s what you need to know to craft a character arc your readers will love!