Tutorial Categories
Understanding humans is the key to writing characters.
Unforgettable Characters: Define Their Superpower
Relationship Psychology: Understand Why We Fight
Setting & Worldbuilding: How Our World Works
Tough Writing Prompts: Know Thyself
Counterattack
Clear characters choose consistently, when faced with a problem.
The audience loves watching a character they know try to tackle some new challenge and see how they get themselves to safety. But no character is an enigma.
Each character gets their own unique strategy that defines their life. Without a clear strategy at the heart of a character, they can feel alien– or worse, without a clear strategy, the character can be difficult to write.
Once you know the go-to move that each character takes, you’ll know how they’ll react in every inventive scenario that tests and pushes the character.
Read an article about having an extra year, and how we’d all spend it differently here→
Read an article about how we could make each other stronger here→
Their Own Worlds
Every character is living in their own world. Each has become specialized according to the type of inciting incidents that defined them.
Unconditional Love
It’s easy to love those who agree with us, and easy to hate those who oppose us, but the work of society is the work of loving those who oppose us, and the research says everyone opposes us on something.
Read an article about the daily process of communication here→
Read an article about all the work that goes into not-attacking one another here→
End The Honeymoon
When two characters always agree, one of them is unnecessary.
Whether it’s an actual marriage, a long-term friendship, a business deal, or our extended family, eventually, every person in our lives gives us some reason to be disappointed in their choices.
Having trouble writing your story? Do your characters agree on more than they need to? Not only is it more realistic to have characters who can’t see eye-to-eye, but it generates the story for you: When two people attempt (what should be) a simple task, but they disagree on how to proceed, that scene will be meatier and more dynamic than a scene where two people perform a task without a second thought.
Learn History. Repeat It.
Some billionaire was asked what would change in the next twenty years, and he remarked that he doesn’t know and doesn’t try to know: his business is based on what will be the same no matter the decade.
Unless you grow your own food and sew your clothes from fabric you make, your creative life is possible because other people provide enough services that you have left over energy to think.
Writer’s block can creep in when we don’t know what our characters should do. But all characters are driven by consistent needs that must be met. That means, your character: has to deal with people. Start the story there.
Read an article about how commerce doesn’t work, here→
Read an article about the importance of all the work we each do in the world here→
Logistics
You probably didn’t build the device you’re reading this on… How did it get to you? How many people were involved?
Don’t Write. Type.
Perhaps today there is no clear way to move the story forward. But if someone asked you about your story, you could ramble at them…
Useful Procrastination
‘Capital-W’ Writing can be the enemy of the communicator.
Writing boils down to the organization of your own thoughts.
You are a communicator.
Today might be a good time to practice typing out the words in your head, without any thought of where you’ll publish them.
Try a photo prompt.
Instead of just text, have a list of prompts all inspired from the same image.
Not sure what writing from a prompt looks like? Every page has an example.
All Articles
If you’d rather see all the articles in one place, you can see the archive, here→
