Tag: Character development

Other Cool Blogs: ProWritingAid

Erin Penn

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

ProWritingAid blog provides many good hints about how to write better, with a wide variety of authors and editors providing content. Krystal N. Craiker wrote “Fantasy Characters: 4 Common Traits and Ideas on Creating Them” (August 31, 2022).

While she focused on Fantasy Characters, these traits apply to all character development.

  1. Creating Character Motivations
  2. Personality Flaws Make Characters Relatable
  3. Add Depth with Emotional Wounds and Secrets
  4. Express Their Emotions and Emotional Responses

Found out how she expands on these traits here: https://prowritingaid.com/fantasy-characters

 

Editing Rant: Romantic Diabetes

Erin Penn


ID 1399397 © Photoeuphoria | Dreamstime.com

“Isn’t s/he the sweetest thing?”

First off, show, don’t tell us the character is sweet. Two, vary the admiration beyond being candy kisses and Hershey hugs. We don’t need Romantic Diabetes.

While the book contained slow-paced well-developed romance between a-beauty-and-a-beast where both the main romantic characters mature during the story, my toleration of the romance dwindled as I was thrown out of the story several times from the Mary Sue / Gary Stu moments. (See my Mary Sue post if you don’t understand the term.)

I didn’t mind the female character, a princess, being an ALL POWERFUL wizard unsure of her abilities because of her youth, or having battle-worthy skills, or perfect beauty. It is a romance after all. Romantic leads tend toward perfection in all things. Some amount of Mary Sue/Gary Stu is expected. (Not too much – “tend toward perfection”, but not BE perfection. Come on, now, tone this back.)

It is the stuff where she (and he) does something that I expect of royalty – and the romantic partner stops the story – just in case I missed reading what happened in the last sentence and go “they are the sweetest thing.” M.u.l.t.i.p.l.e times.

Most of the powerful things done weren’t “sweet” but noble. Very different.

Each time full-stop of the story the author was calling out to the reader “See, this is why you MUST love my characters – because they are cute/spunky/sweet”. Sorry author, you don’t get to tell me I have to love characters. You got to work for it.

And showing them doing something then telling immediately following the action is NOT TRUSTING your reader. Trust your reader.

Magical Words – Age Perspectives

Erin Penn

Photo by Giacomo Lucarini on Unsplash

I’m going to address just one aspect of Tamsin Silver‘s amazing Magical Words (5/11/2016) post: Hump Day Help: 3 Things We Can Learn From Marvel’s Civil War:

The post itself covers three things: 1) working with a large cast; 2) The Purpose of an Added Character; 3) crafting a new breakout character.

Part of number two hit me hard, which is the different perspective age brings to the table. Introducing Spiderman to the greater Marvel Universe didn’t just introduce a new character to give us a fresh set of eyes, it introduced a YOUNG character. Tony Stark – while an immature narcissist who acts like a kid with the biggest toys available – is a full grown man, a business owner, and been a world figure for decades. Steve Rogers is even older.

Peter Parker, he is a teenager. The world-spanning questions of responsibilities and duties required by citizenship within humanity haven’t become hardened in him. Yet, at the same time, it is one of the most central questions of Spiderman’s origin. Civil War was the perfect time to introduce the character.

For writing, expanding the universe beyond a single age group provides different eyes to view the world. Young Adult (YA) gets wrapped up in coming-of-age questions. Other books focus on other considerations, but usually from only the perspective of the main character – therefore urban fantasy and romances focus on twenty-or-thirty-something people with no children while mysteries pivot on forty-to-fifty something people no longer with children. Each book providing just a small window into larger questions.

While reality has people isolated in friendship groups by age, reality also is the spectrum of age. I remember the hunger I had attending church while at college. The undergrad college consisted of two very stratified age groups – students and teachers. No parents, no children. Then I went to church once a week and I became reacquainted with the scope AND VIEWS of different ages. The division between college’s Ivory Tower population and the wider gamut available outside the brick walls was stark.

I needed those trips.

And creative works could use a wider range of ages to hold up the mirror of our imagination when reflecting reality.

Read Tamsin’s full article – again the link is: – and maybe watch the movie again. Review the use of a large cast and when and how AND WHY to introduce new characters. 

Other Cool Blogs: ProWritingAid (12/17/2021) – Big Casts

Erin Penn

Photo by Eddi Aguirre on Unsplash

“Big Cast: How to Write Stories with Many Characters” by Kyle A. Massa (Speculative Fiction Author) – published 12/17/2021 at ProWritingAid. 

I write flashes and I’m working my way up to short stories plus a few romance novels. None of these have large ensemble casts, not like epic fantasy. Even so, making sure every character has their day on the page whether the cast is large or small can be challenging. Mr. Massa provides three pieces of advice:

  1. Narrow Your Point of View (POV)
  2. Reveal Your Cast Gradually
  3. “Zoom In” on Members of Your Cast

Find out how to do each of these by reading this Other Cool Blog post. Again the link is: Writing Stories with Many Characters: How to Do It (prowritingaid.com)

Editing Rant: Know the Job (J is for Job)

Erin Penn

18652428 © Ladislav Soukup | Dreamstime.com
J is for Job
Oh, for the love of Hephaestus’ Hammer. Know how the job your are writing about works. Especially an occupation people are well aware of.
Yes, I know cozy mysteries give out belief coins which allow the non-police to interfere with a police investigation. This allows little old ladies, writers, chefs, scientists, and various assorted “normal” people to poke their nose into something without getting handcuffs slapped on. BUT THERE ARE LIMITS.
In this case, the line is crossed so, so hard into “interfering with an investigation” when the (male) romantic interest of the (female) police officer goes to the first possible suspect at the very beginning of the investigation and harasses the suspect AT THE SUSPECT’S WORK. The (female) police officer arrives to find the female suspect shouting at the not-yet-but-could-be-romantic-interest “I said get out!” …. and the suspect repeats it Three Times before the cop can get to the room. This is chapter two start.
Oh, it gets worse.
The cop then proceeds to tell the suspect how the murder occurred (which is fairly horrific and should not be public knowledge, especially during the initial parts of an investigation).I did a quick jump to the book end to see if anything was redeemable. Nope – male-lead is still mangling the cop’s job and the cop is breaking basic, basic rules.

Yes, in the fiction romantic world, cops bend rules. In the mystery genre, the spunky civilian is allowed to help. But (1) don’t have a romantic lead in a situation smacking of stalker-level abuse and (2) don’t tell the suspect everything about the murder (until the end during the Reveal). Not only did this manuscript destroy any attractiveness of the male romantic lead by his aggressiveness early in the book, it broke mystery genre convention on when and how Reveals are done.
If you write about cops, know how cops work and how they work in your genres. If you write about librarians and researchers, the same. Computer techs. Politicians. Whatever the job is, make it real – and only edge into the fantastic according to the needs of the genre.
(Rant based on a book review, not a book edit)