One of the ways you an improve the appeal and power of your characters for the reader is to create a realistic psychological journey that is mirrored some how in the physical journey of the protagonist. Is your heroine learning to trust? Then show how her external world challenges her trust issues. Maybe she has a job where her colleagues constantly let her down. Perhaps her family says one thing but does another. Every reader will be able to identify with not being able to trust someone. What if your hero is dealing with identity issues. He’s a failure. He believes he can’t succeed at anything. Develop a world around him that proves, at least for a little while, what he believes is right. In the movie Die Hard, John […]
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Learning from Pixar: Storytelling Rule #7
Recently Pixar’s 22 Storytelling Rules circulated on the Internet. Being as the Pixar gave us great movies like Toy Story and Cars, I figure they might know what they’re doing. Another fun tidbit, my office – the turret tower – was designed and built by a Pixar artist. Fun huh? I feel a bit of connection with Pixar because of it. I picked rule number seven to discuss today. Here it is: #7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front. Most writers start out with an idea. We see the beginning. We have an idea of the inciting incident and how it might move toward the middle of the book, but rarely do we know the ending […]
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So You Want to be A Writer? Well, What Should You Write?
I love writing. I love words. I started doodling in a little girl’s diary when I was six years old. I read every night before bed all through elementary and junior high school. Biographies were my favorite. But I never focused my writing. I wrote from my heart about my life. Writing a set story was harder. Because it required discipline. As a journalism major, I had to learn to write within the rules or guidelines. I had to write factual and objective. Back in the ‘80s, journalist were taught to be objective. It was the pride of the profession. The discipline combined with my natural bent toward writing gave me confidence. I once told a colleague I could write about a pile of dirt if required. Yet when I […]
Read the RestSome Considerations About E-Publishing
Publishing is changing. Some for the good. Some for the worse. But all in all, I feel it’s a grand time for authors to make a way for themselves. I once called e-publishing the “revenge of the writer” because it opened doors previously closed to writers. It was a new chance to put their work in front of the buying public. As I watch the e-revolution, I’m encouraged but maintain a bit of caution. This revolution has just begun. The outcome is yet to be seen. E-author success up ‘til now is unique and constantly changing. But the e-reader phenomenon has created some great author success stories. Yet things are still shaping. Trends are shaking out, slowing down, finding a rhythm, and driving toward permanent change.As you pursue your own […]
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