Think of your favorite villain. What makes them memorable? From Professor Moriarty to Cersei Lannister to The Joker, the ‘method behind their madness’ often plays a big role in cementing their place in popular culture. In this post, we’re going to break down what villain motives are, how they can be used to make a…
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Writing great dialogue is hard. You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. People talk – some people constantly. From parties with friends to the dinner table with family, from our own inner thoughts to the media we consume, our lives are filled with endless chatter. But dialogue isn’t idle chatter. Dialogue has to propel your plot…
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When you’re writing your novel, you want every element of your story to shine. You want your reader to close the last page remembering your characters, your plot, and your settings, and to think “Wow! That book had some really memorable characters!” And few ways are better at making your characters vibrant and distinct than…
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How can you ensure your characters leap off the page and into your characters’ hearts? Characters are the lifeblood of any story, and if you can work out how to create the kinds of characters that readers will love, then they will become lifelong devotees of your books. But how to do it? Do you…
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Author Bio : Lisa Sparrow, an experienced psychology expert and University of Edinburgh alumna, brings a considerable amount of counseling knowledge and a deep fascination with the human psyche. With expertise in the 16 personality types, she has served as both a school counselor and researcher, guiding students through life’s challenges. As an experienced writer for…
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Sometimes characters come to us fully formed, complete with desires, flaws and quirks. Other times, they may come to us as rough sketches, with a beating heart, but needing fleshing out. And sometimes the characters don’t want to come at all. They hide in the shadows, refusing to show themselves. In this article, we’re going…
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There are many aspects to writing a good novel: beautiful prose, exciting conflict, compelling themes – but there is probably little more important than the main character arc. Humans are drawn to stories because they resonate with our own lives and help us learn more about who we are. The best stories teach us how…
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There’s something delicious about writing a good villain – perhaps it’s about letting our dark side peek out, safe in the knowledge that it’s only fiction and nobody is really going to get hurt. But writing a good villain isn’t as easy as coming up with a good cackle and kicking a few puppies. That…
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There are many aspects to creating fictional characters which are important – backstory, flaws, quirks, and relationships, for example. But if you want to write stories that keep your readers gripped, then there’s one aspect of character creation you really need to make sure you understand and master. And that’s character motivation. Motivation is where…
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Michael Hauge’s ‘Writing Screenplays that Sell’ The information and advice in this article are all based on ideas from Michael Hauge’s book Writing Screenplays that Sell. I highly recommend you buy that book and read it. As well as giving more detail about each of the ideas below, it covers many other areas relating to…
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