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Tips: Characters, Plot
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Tipsheet Articles on Characters and Plotting
For your convenience, we've clustered all the tipsheet articles that focus on characters or plot.
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Help Your Readers "See" Your Characters
Marg McAlister
When you go to see a movie, you instantly know what characters look like; one glance at the screen lets you absorb dozens of small details. Obviously, writers have a much harder task... . . . keep reading
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How Much Does Your Character Notice?
Marg McAlister
One thing that gives away an inexperienced writer is overuse of tags such as 'she noticed' or 'he saw'. WHY is this a problem? Because instead of allowing the reader to walk in sync with the character, and experience events through the character's thoughts, feelings and emotions, the writer is REPORTING what is happening. . . . keep reading
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Just Too Convenient
Marg McAlister
Last year, I critiqued several scenes in one week for a writer. In two of them, she'd made life much too easy for her characters. It's time to share a few tips on how to make life a little more INconvenient for your story people! We'll look at four main areas of 'convenience'... . . . keep reading
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Characters With Personality
Marg McAlister
Eighty per cent of the time, our enjoyment of a novel is based on our involvement with a character that draws us into the story. In fact, characters are so important to the success of a novel that I am sometimes amazed by the lack of thought writers give to (a) character creation and (b) the way they introduce those characters. . . . keep reading
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Effective Character Description Part 2
Marg McAlister
When you're looking out at the world through the eyes of the scene's viewpoint character, how do you show the reader what your character is like? We're going to look at three different ways of exploring a viewpoint character's looks and personality. . . . keep reading
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Effective Character Description Part 1
Marg McAlister
We all like to make our characters as three-dimensional as possible, so that the reader sees them as real people. So why is it that - despite our best efforts - sometimes our characters STILL don't come to life? . . . keep reading
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Why Your Main Character Should be Likeable
Marg McAlister
Let's make it clear from the start that I'm not saying that ALL your characters should be likeable. Of course not. We all need characters that we love to hate! But when it comes to the main character - think carefully before you present this person to your readers. . . . keep reading
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Unlikeable Characters
Marg McAlister
What's the one thing that is most likely to make a reader discard a book without finishing it? An unlikeable character. This was brought home to me forcibly last week... . . . keep reading
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Putting Yourself in Your Stories
Marg McAlister
Every story you write will be filtered through your own experiences and opinions. It's virtually impossible to hide your own likes, dislikes, prejudices and biases. You'll find that your character . . . keep reading
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How to Use Sub-plots
Marg McAlister
If your book is suffering from the dreaded 'sagging middle' syndrome, it's likely that you either don't have a subplot or you haven't paid enough attention to your subplots. Some writers really wrestle with subplots. Either they're not entirely sure what a subplot IS, or they can't think of one that will blend well with the main story... . . . keep reading
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Plotting Problems - Episodic Writing
Marg McAlister
The rejection letter says: "Your story, on the surface, appears to be well-told and has appealing characters. However, the writing is episodic; the story lacks direction." You frown. Huh? The story lacks direction? How could it? Your main character is on a quest; how much more of a direction could you have than that? Clearly, this editor doesn't know what she's talking about... . . . keep reading
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The Many Paths to Plotting
Marg McAlister
You can read six books on plotting and come up with six different methods... and that's only a fraction of what's possible. The bottom line is, and always will be, DO WHAT WORKS. . . . keep reading
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