Recent Posts
A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye
Return To Blog Listing
Life as a freelance writer, writing advice, e-publishing and small press news and information, books and authors, the musings and random thoughts of writer and editor Lillie Ammann
Recent Posts Tagged With 'writing fiction'
Show and Tell
Fiction writers often hear show, don’t tell. But I advise my clients to show and tell. What does it mean to show or tell? When should you show and when should you tell? You show in an action scene, like in a movie: An action scene takes place ...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 8: Developing Characters throughout Your Story
We’ve covered a lot about creating characters. In this last installment in the series, we’ll cover developing your characters throughout your story. If you thought you were finished with character development when you created that charact...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 7: Giving Characters Goals and Motivation
Characters in your story must have reasons for their actions. In real life, we don’t know what people are thinking or why they do what they do, but in fiction, readers will accept the characters’ actions only if they believe the reasons for the...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 6: Putting The Right Words In Their Mouths
I’ve learned about dialogue since the first draft of my first novel. When I’d finished about half the book, a writer friend read it. When she returned the manuscript to me, she said, “Do you realize you don’t have one word of...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 5: Developing Background And Traits Using A Character Chart, Bio, Diary, or Interview
In previous installments in this series, we’ve talked about what the author needs to know about her characters. You should know things about your characters that you don’t necessarily reveal directly to readers—things that cause the cha...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 4: Fleshing Out Characters with Tags, Traits, and Relationships
You’ve got some basic ideas of what your character is like: gender, age, vocation, manner. As described in Finding and Creating Characters, you’ve given your character a problem, a need. Now you’re ready to flesh the character out. ...
Creating Fictional Characters Part 3: Revealing Characters and Point of View
In previous installments of this series, we’ve learned what characters are and discussed how to find and create them. Now, let’s talk about how to reveal characters in your story. Although it may be tempting to describe your characters an...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 2: Finding and Creating Characters
Now we know what characters are. How do you come up with the characters for your novel or short story? In Creating Characters: How to Build Story People, Dwight Swain says You start from a foundation of your fantasies and feelings. Because the char...
Creating Fictional Characters—Part 1: Characters Are Story People
Several years ago, I taught classes in fiction-writing at a continuing education program for senior citizens. I’ve decided to turn my outlines and notes on these classes into several series about writing fiction. Fiction writers usually describ...
