This week’s update is going to be short and sweet on account of the holiday. Stay safe this weekend, and don’t let the leftovers get nasty.

Challenge: Think about the people you have encountered this weekend, whether it be family or the people who camped out at Best Buy Thursday night, and create some character sketches from them.

Every now and again a good idea strikes with such force that the writer feels as though they are channeling the idea from some mysterious cosmic fiction-fountain. The rest of the time, however, coming up with a good idea is a pain in the ass and can be quite discouraging. This week, I’d like to talk about the brainstorming process and how to take seemingly “stupid” ideas and turn them into interesting stories.

Keep reading ‘Mining For Ideas’

A character’s personality is something that develops over the course of the writing process. It’s a lot like getting to know another person - it’s impossible to know a whole lot about them before you’ve seen them in a variety of situations. In the prewriting stage, don’t worry about brainstorming a full-fledged character; just stick with the basics we discussed two weeks ago - the immediate backstory and the important details of the characters’ relationships with each other. Your chief concern is getting the story finished, even if it sucks.

Keep reading ‘Developing Personality’

Last week’s discussion of character touched on something that I think I should deal with more fully before I move on. Developing a character’s backstory is just one aspect of prewriting, which is essentially “what you do before you write the story.”

Keep reading ‘What Good is Prewriting?’