In my last post, I looked at the secret sauce you need to make antagonists menacing. Today I want to go beyond basics with non-human antagonists. In school, we all likely learned the different types of conflict in literature: human vs human (very common, no examples needed) human vs himself (Hamlet,…
Author: Lisa Hall-Wilson
The Secret Sauce For A Menacing Antagonist
The two most important characters in your story are your protagonist and your antagonist. They both must be equally developed and dynamic. After all, no one looks heroic, brave, or is worth cheering for if they don’t break a sweat—if everything comes easily to them. How annoying is that! We…
Beyond Racing Hearts and Sweaty Palms: Writing the Body Language of Attraction
With deep point of view, being able to show readers how and why your character is or isn’t attracted to another without naming an emotion or using on-the-nose dialogue can be a really important detail to get right. There are at least four types of attraction (sexual attraction being just…
Create Layers of Tension With Subtext To Surprise Readers
What Is Subtext And Why It’ll Make Your Writing Next Level Subtext is the unspoken communication that takes place between characters in a story. It usually takes place when there’s disparity between what a character says, thinks, and feels. It’s also used effectively when the point of view character shares…
Can You Make A Living Writing?
Can you make a living writing? This is a question that came through to the blog last week. My short answer was yes – of course, but I’ve spent some time doing a completely unscientific anecdotal poll of the various writer’s groups I’m a part of so that I can…
5 Quick Hacks To Gear Up Your Setting and Description Into Deep Point Of View
One aspect of writing in Deep Point Of View (POV) that’s often overlooked or downplayed is the importance of filtering setting and description through your point of view character (POVC). Remember, in Deep POV you want to avoid drawing conclusions for readers. Don’t tell readers what to think, give them your POVCs raw…