Everybody loves a good villain, but every writer knows that creating a good villain is one of the more difficult things to do. Regardless of whether you want a sympathetic, lovable, or truly despicable villain in your story, you need to put a lot of work into their character to …
Intoxication is a complex biological process, and it can affect people in a variety of different ways—making it a particularly difficult thing to write about. However, the acts of drinking, partying, and drowning sorrows in a bottle are prevalent themes in our world and in literature. Chances are, you’ll have …
Minor characters are an often grossly underutilized tool in storytelling. Any good story is going to be filled to the brim with extras, whether they’re neighbors, store owners, teachers, or even creepy gravediggers that tell the main characters the haunting history of their town. Minor characters are constantly appearing in …
Annoying children are unfortunately overly prevalent in literature and media. It’s not that writers deliberately create these characters to be annoying, but they end up that way when they aren’t given the same amount of backstory and personality as the adults in the story. Child characters deserve to have just …
A Guide to Writing Child Characters Authentically Read More »
This is it—the big moment! Your characters are about to meet the enemy that has been ruining their lives, they just have to walk down a long, imposing hallway to get to his office. The scene is meticulously crafted and eerie, and you’ve thought out exactly how you want to …
Sometimes, a story just needs a creep. Whether you need to creep out your characters for a brief moment, or foreshadow the development of a major antagonist with creepy behaviors, you need to be able to effectively write a creepy character. However, that isn’t always as easy as it sounds. …
When you’ve put a lot of time and care into crafting the perfect character for your story, it can be difficult to give them any trait that could be classified as a “flaw.” After all, you want people to like them, and giving them a morally dubious, gross, or selfish …
Writing genius characters might seem like a daunting task, and it isn’t one to be taken lightly. If you can’t realistically convey the character’s genius, then your readers might not take your story seriously. A character that is impossibly smart isn’t interesting or practical, while a character that doesn’t properly …
Characters that struggle with anger management issues are some of the most fun to write, because they tend to be the most complex and tragic. Most often, people include this as a villainous trait to spice up their antagonists, but there are several reasons to be careful with this. Not …
