You have Character A and Character B. You have them in Place at Time. What you don’t have is your plot. You turn to the tried-and-true method: giving your characters a goal. The idea behind pointing your characters towards a goal is to give them a motivation. Character motivation is the reason a character does… Continue reading Why Character Goals Aren’t Driving Your Plot
Tag: character driven
Emotional Arcs
In every scene of your story, your characters should want something. What they want can vary wildly and often contradicts what other characters want. This is a part of creating conflict and tension. Today however, we’re talking a little bit about actions and reactions. More specifically, we’re discussing how emotional arcs work in scenes. With… Continue reading Emotional Arcs
Character vs. Plot Driven
When it comes to moving your story forward there are usually two driving forces: plot and character. Because each one drives the events in a story a little differently, this gives us plot-driven and character driven stories. With plot-driven stories, the events drive each other forward. High taxes from the king cause a famine in… Continue reading Character vs. Plot Driven
Using Negative Traits for Arcs
Like real people, characters should have flaws. After all, Nobody is perfect and your characters need to be Somebody. Hence, they need to have flaws and negative traits to help balance out their strengths. Having a negative trait in their character also helps provide conflict and gives you as the writer a place to build… Continue reading Using Negative Traits for Arcs
Excercise: The Main Character’s Reasoning
There's a reason why your Main Character is the Main Character. This might be because they have a particular skill or an emotionally compelling reason to be involved in the main conflict. As an exercise freewrite for ten minutes on why your Main Character is the main character of this story. Consider what about the conflict… Continue reading Excercise: The Main Character’s Reasoning
The Written Vixen 