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Recent Posts
- Let students read what they want?
- Pointed view
- The character who saw too much
- Writing the right-hand man (or woman)
- When characters collide
- What makes a classic, a classic?
- What makes poetry, poetry?
- When characters will not conform
- When characters confuse
- Writing like you talk
- Delusion and Imagery
- What makes a character, a character?
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Category Archives: Writer’s resource
Writing the right-hand man (or woman)
Most protagonists are not complete loners. Interactions with a sidekick, best buddy or groups of friends typically make up a good portion of the story. Creating the peers of the main character may actually take more thought than creating the main character. … Continue reading
Posted in Literary devices, Writer's resource
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Literary devices and charisma
“Edwin Escobar Luz” by Herbert Rouge – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons – Most people determine a leader’s charisma using nonverbal characteristics, such as conveying emotional states, demonstrating passions through gestures and compelling use of … Continue reading
Posted in communication, Leadership, Literary devices, Manipulation, Persuasion
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Rebel with a cause
As much as people may be willing to mimic the behavior and appearance of others in order to fit in, secretly they often envy those who show intentional dissent. According research we admire the person who has the guts to do … Continue reading
Posted in Group psychology, Story structure, Writer's resource
Tagged influence people, majorities, minority view, win friends
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What kind of deviant?
Authors are well aware that readers favor the rebel who follows a different drummer or stands defiant before the crowd. Social psychologists and sociologists have actually done a good deal of research on groups’ reaction to this kind of person. … Continue reading
When characters will not conform
The social psychologist Solomon Asch is famous for his experiments on how peer pressure affects our perceptions in 1950s. According to Asch if all those answering before the research participant selected the same incorrect answer approximately 76% of the people … Continue reading
Posted in Group psychology, Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged creating interesting characters, defiance, descent, deviance, difference, groups, J. Jetten, M.J. Hornsey, non conformists, rebels, rogues, S.E. Asch
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Writing like you talk
When reading a professional author’s discussion thread, I noted that more than one person assumed the trick to creating a unique writer’s voice was “writing like you talk.” There is some truth to this if you are a good verbal … Continue reading
Characters and cohorts
In fiction most protagonists like most people are not complete loners. Interactions with their cohorts make up a good portion of novels, so creating these peers takes a bit of thought. What enables a real-life group to be innovative in business also makes … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Group psychology, Literature, Writer's resource
Tagged cohort, doppleganger, Foil, group diversity, maintaining status quo, work groups
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When characters confuse
When Edgar Allen Poe published “Murders in the Rue Morgue” in 1841 the murder mystery was a relatively new genre. He wrote a few more of these increasingly popular detective stories before leaving behind his own mystery. In 1849 he … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Writer's resource
Tagged MO. signature aspect, modus operandi, motivations, motive, signature behavior
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When characters collide
Consider the possible basic conflicts in fiction: man against environment, man against man, man against society, and man against self. In most plots the conflicts are between people. Even in Robinson Caruso and Castaway, tales of man surviving in isolation, … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Literary devices, Writer's resource
Tagged antagonist, character, conflict, hero, modus operandi, motive, Protagonist, villain
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What makes a character, a character?
Recently I was following a thread of writers discussing how to find names that make characters memorable. Honestly I believe that writers should be looking at the reverse situation. It is the skillful creation of a character whose strengths and … Continue reading
