FIND A WORD:
Is there a word that tickles your brain or makes you chuckle? The word, curmudgeon, best describes a grouchy person and always makes me chuckle. Curmudgeon is also used to describe a person who is ill-tempered or stubborn. Do you know any curmudgeons?
Here is a suggestion that will surely cure writer’s block, which is a situation that often causes writers to become curmudgeonly. Find a word that tickles your brain, and begin writing why it makes you chuckle. Next, think of someone or something that fits with that word and continue writing why or how the two match. Before you know it, you will have a full page of writing.
Tickling your brain will get the creative juices flowing in the process of writing. Have fun!
WRITING TIPS 2: CHARACTERIZATION
Can your main character carry an entire story on his/her shoulders? Here are some questions to help build a character’s emotional traits.
1. What is his/her overall goal in the story?
2. Who or what stands in the way of this goal being achieved?
3. What will happen if the main character does not achieve this goal?
4. What is the character’s greatest strength?
5. What is the character’s greatest weakness or flaw?
6. Who or what frightens the character?
7. Does the character have a secret?
8. Does the character have a dream?
9. Who or what does the character love?
10. Who or what does the character hate?
Pearly words…
“Motivation is the business of supplying your fictional character with plausible reasons for them to act as you would have them act in order for your stories to be dramatically effective.”
--Lawrence Block
