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,…
Tag: fiction writing
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…
Editing In Layers Part 3: Scenes and Sequels
Get off the hamster wheel of revisions and begin editing smarter and more efficiently! We’re working our way through a 5-layer process that streamlines the editing process so you can get a draft to beta readers faster! Prep Work: Goals Layer 1: Plot Layer 2: Scenes and Sequels (you are…
Editing In Layers Part 2: Plot
Are you stuck on an unending groundhog day cycle of editing the same book for years? I created this 5 layer editing system a year ago to be more efficient and effective with my edits and rewrites. Since I started using this system, I’ve written 3 books, rewritten one (for…
Editing In Layers Part 1: Goals
Editing and revising is a necessary part of writing fiction because no one NO ONE writes a perfect first draft. Everyone’s work is improved with the help of a good editor and the first editor who should go over your work is YOU. That said, especially if you’re a pantser…