Jerry B. Jenkins's Blog, page 11

How to Create Memorable Character Names

Naming your characters doesn’t sound that hard, does it? 

Then why is it?

Naming characters can be nearly as stressful as naming a newborn.

You want something interesting and memorable, but not quirky or outrageous—unless you’re writing a comedy.

You definitely don’t want to be boring.

When you hit on the right name, you’ll know it. And I’d wager your favorite novels have unforgettable characters whose names alone evoke memories of the great read.

Do these ignite anything in you? If they do, you will likely instantly remember the titles they come from.

Jay Gatsby
Atticus Finch
Jane Eyre
Harry Potter
Frodo Baggins
Sherlock Holmes
Katniss Everdeen

So, what’s the secret to creating character names that stand the test of time?

Tips For Naming Your Characters
1 — Make it memorable.

Typical names are easy to forget.

I like my character names to have a little music to them.

If you choose a common first name like Jim or Dan or Mary, make the last name interesting, maybe with an alternate spelling.

I wouldn’t name one of my characters Jenkins, but if I did, I might spell it the Old English way, J-E-N-K-Y-N-S.

It’s still easy to pronounce, and readers can “hear” it in their heads, but it becomes more memorable because of the unique spelling and isn’t easily forgotten.

2 — Lend it meaning.

Allegories call for telling names like Prudence and Truth and Pride, but modern stories should be more subtle.

I wrote a Christmas parable in which I named the main character Tom Douten (get it? Doubting Thomas), and his fiancee was Noella (Christmasy, a believer in Santa) Wright (Miss Right).

Your theme and the role your characters play should go into your research of the meanings of their names.

George Lucas named his Star Wars villain with a variant of the word dark (Darth) and the Dutch word for father (Vader).

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings character Frodo Baggins came from the Old English fróda, which means “wise by experience.”

Suzanne Collins’s heroine in The Hunger Games came from a plant with arrow-shaped leaves (the katniss) and from Bathsheba Everdene, a character in Thomas Hardy’s 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd.

3 — Make it fit.

Your character’s name can even hint at his personality.

In The Green Mile, Stephen King names a weak, cowardly character Percy Wetmore.

Also consider ethnicity and family names. You wouldn’t name a Greek character Bubba Jackson.

The name you choose should be historically and geographically accurate and fit your genre.

You wouldn’t name characters Jaxon or Brandi, for instance, in a story set in Elizabethan England.

4 —  Keep it reader friendly.

Be careful of names difficult to pronounce, unless it becomes part of the story.

I created a character named Wojciechowski and had him tell another character,  “Just call me W.”

5 — Keep Character Names Distinct.

If I had 26 characters in my novel, I’d start each of their names with a different letter — whatever it takes to differentiate them from each other and not confuse the reader.

Where to Find Cool Character Names
1 — Baby name lists

Websites like suggest names for both genders and most also include the origin, ethnicity, and meaning.

I’ve even gotten story ideas from such information.

2 — Online character name generators

Give a try and you might love the combinations it suggests. At least, it’ll give you ideas on which you can build.

3 — World Almanac or Atlas

I often refer to these to find names of foreign characters.

I’ll pair the first name of a current government leader in their country with the last name of one of their historical figures, but not one so famous that the reader wonders if he’s related, like François Bonaparte.

4 — Wikipedia

A great resource for common and organized by country and region.

5 — Media

Movies, sitcoms, even commercials and the news often contain memorable names. Watch for names just different enough to work.

6 — Life

J.K. Rowling found some of her Harry Potter character names in a graveyard.

Pay attention to the names of people you meet, including flight attendants, cashiers, and servers.

Combine the names of people you admire.

It’s fun to honor a friend or family member by using their name in a story. Just make sure it’s a good character — your aunt might not want to be the villain.

Time to Breathe Life Into Your Character

Don’t rush the naming process or settle on the perfect name without bringing your character to life.

Whether you’re a Pantser like me or an Outliner, have fun getting to know your character.

My Character Arc Worksheet is a simple tool to help you do that.

Click here to download my character arc worksheet!

The post appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

How to Get Inspired to Write: A Proven Process

Slogging through the writing of your book and running out of gas?

Or have you trashed most everything you’ve written and find yourself  back at square one?

Maybe you can’t picture ever finishing—or starting again.

I can tell you from experience, you can rekindle the inspiration to write.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Just look at Stephen King.

Ever notice he announces his retirement almost every time he finishes a book?

After more than 60 novels and a net worth of over $400 million, even he often feels spent, unable to write another word.

After I finished Riven, one of my own novels, I couldn’t imagine ever writing another. I mentioned that to Stephen.

The Key to Reigniting Your Writing Inspiration

“Whatever you do,” he said, “don’t make any decisions—or worse, any announcements—right now.”

He told me he finally learned to quit going public with his retirement declarations when he realized how short-lived his exits were. “Take some time for R&R,” he said. “Think about anything but writing.”

Stephen said he would kick back, do nothing, read, watch TV, and try to keep up with the news. Before long, an idea would form. It might be based on something real, something he’d heard or read, or it might seem to come out of nowhere.

But it was always a what-if.

What if that guy was an alien?
What if I were the only one who knew?
What if his wife…?
What if their child…?

Soon, he’d feel that old stirring. And before he knew it, he returned to the keyboard, “suddenly unretired.”

Just as he predicted, I was soon back at it too. Since that time, I’ve written a lot more books, running my total to nearly 200.

But finishing a book so empties me, I still honestly believe I’m done every time.

But I don’t announce that. I get away, regroup, and engage in activities that help inspire me.

How to Get Inspired to Write: Proven Strategies
If you’re distracted…
1. Turn off the electronics.

All of them.

A powerful distraction-blocking app called Freedom (an affiliate link, so I earn a small commission at no cost to you.)

blocks social media, browsing, and notifications on your devices when you program it, to allow you uninterrupted writing time.

2. Create a clutter-free space.

Set aside room for writing that helps eliminate distraction.

3. Establish a strict writing schedule.

Make yourself unavailable during your work time. Set straight  friends and loved ones who assume you’re “not doing anything right now, so…”

Learn to say no.

If you’re exhausted…

Schedule and practice Rest & Recreation.

Forget writing for a while. You’ll be amazed how a little extra sleep renews not just your body, but also your mind and spirit. You’ll soon find yourself inspired by even little things.

Also, take care of your body. Make exercise part of your schedule, especially after writing for long periods.

Work before you play, but play every day.

Read a book
Find a hobby
Take a walk or ride a bike
Go fishing
Go shopping
Watch a movie
Watch your favorite TV show
Listen to the radio
Have dinner with a friend
Get a massage
Invite friends over
Take a vacation

You never know when or how an idea will present itself.

Stephenie Meyer says the idea for the Twilight series came to her in a dream.
J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired to write The Hobbit while grading papers.
E.B. White was inspired to write Charlotte’s Web after watching a spider spin a web.
George Orwell saw a boy whip a horse and was inspired to write Animal Farm.
Suzanne Collins’s idea for The Hunger Games came while channel surfing between reality TV and war coverage.
Agatha Christie’s character Mrs. Marple was inspired by her grandmother.
A lively debate with a friend inspired Margaret Atwood to write The Handmaid’s Tale.
J.K. Rowling got the idea for Harry Potter traveling by train.

Your next story idea might be right in front of you.

If you’re a perfectionist…

Separate your writing from your editing.

As you write your first draft, take off your perfectionist cap. You can return to editor mode to your heart’s content while revising, but for now, just get the story down.

Separate these tasks and watch your daily production soar.

If you fear failure…

You have big dreams and good intentions, but let’s be honest: writing a book is hard. The competition is vast and the odds are long.

Maybe that  has you stuck, feeling inspiration has left you.

Here’s some hard, but ultimately good, news: your fear is legitimate.

It’s justified.

You should be afraid.

Recognizing that you’re right to fear your own inadequacy and the competition should humble you. But don’t let it make you quit. Let that humility motivate you to work harder and do your absolute best work every time. That’s what leads to success.

That’s how fear can become a good thing.

Dean Koontz, who’s sold more than 450 million books, says:

“The best writing is borne of humility. The great stuff comes to life in those agonizing and exhilarating moments when writers become acutely aware of the limitations of their skills , for it is then that they strain the hardest to make use of the imperfect tools with which they must work.”

Embracing your fear turns it into humility, humility into motivation, motivation into hard work, and hard work into success.

If you’re a procrastinator…

I could regale you for half a day with the ridiculous rituals I perform before I can start writing.

I know what you’re thinking: surely my track record proves I’ve overcome procrastination.

In a way, I did. But not by eliminating it. As with fear, I actually embraced it.

After years of losing sleep over what a terrible procrastinator I was, I finally concluded it was inevitable because it must be a necessary part of the writing process.

I find that when I do get back to work after procrastinating, my subconscious has been working. I’m often surprised at what I’m then able to produce.

So if procrastination is both inevitable and an asset, I accept it and even work it into my schedule.

That’s right.I actually build procrastination days into my schedule.

By accommodating my procrastination, I can both indulge in it and make my deadlines.

How?

By carefully managing the number of pages I must finish per day.

If procrastination steals one of my writing days, I adjust the number of pages I must write per day to still hit my deadline. It’s one thing to increase that number by one or two a day, but it’s another to double it. To keep my deadline sacred, I can’t let my pages per day become unmanageable.

Set realistic goals, and accommodate procrastination by building it into your schedule.

If you’re having trouble getting started…

Imagine telling your best friend your story. Don’t hold back, don’t overthink it, and don’t edit — just write.

Every day.

Showing up day after day gets the job done.

Use These Strategies for Writing Inspiration

Don’t give up.

Don’t quit.

Pushing through discouragement, fear, and procrastination is all part of the journey.

The post How to Get Inspired to Write: A Proven Process appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

How to Write Your Memoir: A 5-Step Guide

Memoir is not just a fancy literary term for an autobiography. I say that from the start, because I so often hear the terms incorrectly interchanged.

Your memoir will be autobiographical, of course, but it can’t be about you.

Confused yet? Stay with me.

Autobiography vs. Memoir: What’s the Difference?

An autobiography is your life story from birth to the present.

A memoir is theme-oriented with anecdotes from your life that buttressing a specific theme.

Too many authors write a memoir because they believe their lives are so interesting that even strangers would enjoy a detailed account.

Don’t misunderstand, maybe you are interesting.

All of us are, to a degree. I hardly know anyone who doesn’t have a story.

But unless you’re a celebrity, a household name, most people beyond your family and close friends aren’t likely to care.

They care about themselves and what your book offers them.

So your theme must be reader-oriented, offering universally true transferable principles that will help them.

The closest I have come to writing my own memoir, Writing for the Soul, uses selected anecdotes about famous and interesting people I’ve met to illustrate points I make about writing.

Had I merely written an autobiography and not offered writing instruction, it would’ve been largely ignored.

So your memoir should draw on anecdotes from your life selected to show how you progressed from some unlikely place to where you are today.

In that way, it’s about you, but it’s for the benefit of the reader.

Maybe you’re:

From the other side of the tracks
From a broken home
A victim of abuse
A recovered addict
An orphan

Yet you have achieved:

Financial security
Acceptance
Happiness
Health
Faith

You might start with how bad things once were for you and how unlikely it was that you would escape your situation.

Then you would show pivotal experiences and people important to your transformation, what you learned, and how your life changed.

Naturally, the better your stories and the more significant your change (in fiction we call this character arc), the better your memoir.

However, great stories are not the point — and frankly, neither is the memoirist (you).

The point is reader takeaway.

Readers should be able to apply to themselves and their own situations the larger truths and principles your theme imparts.

That way, you don’t have to awkwardly try to apply your message to them. Ideally, they’ll do it for themselves.

They may be enduring something entirely different from what you did, yet your story gives them hope.

What Publishers Look For

Don’t buy into the idea that only famous people can sell a memoir.

Memoirs by previous nobodies succeed all the time—and for one reason: they resonate with readers because readers identify with them.

Truth, especially the hard, gritty, painful stuff, bears transferable principles.

Such candor attracts readers, and readers are what publishers want.

An astute agent or acquisitions editor recognizes how relatable a memoir will be and takes a chance on one.

Agents and editors tell me they love to discover such gems — the same way they love discovering the next great novelist.

So, when writing your memoir…

You may be the subject, but it’s not about you.

It may seem counterintuitive to think reader-first while writing in first-person about yourself, but readers long to be changed by your story.

Give them insight about life through your experiences. Give them the tools they need to overcome their own struggles, even if they’re not at all like yours. Give them a model for overcoming.

Couch it in entertaining, educational, and emotional stories, and they’ll not only stay with you till the last page, but they’ll also recommend your memoir to their friends.

Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here.
How to Write a Memoir 

Settle On Your Theme
Select Your Anecdotes
Outline Your Book
Write It Like a Novel
Avoid Throwing People Under the Bus

Step 1. Settle On Your Theme

Your unstated theme must be, “You’re not alone. If I overcame this, you can overcome anything.”

That’s what appeals to readers. Even if they do come away from your memoir impressed with you, it won’t be because you’re so special — even if you are. Whether they admit it or not, readers care most about themselves.

They’re reading your memoir wondering, What’s in this for me? The more transferable principles you offer in a story well told, the more successful your book will be.

Cosmic Commonalities

All people, regardless of age, ethnicity, location, and social status, share certain felt needs: food, shelter, and love. They fear abandonment, loneliness, and the loss of loved ones. Regardless your theme, if it touches on any of those needs and fears, readers can identify.

I can read the memoir of someone of my opposite gender, for whom English is not her first language, of a different race and religion, who lives halfway around the world from me — and if she writes of her love for her child or grandchild, it reaches me.

Knowing or understanding or relating to nothing else about her, I understand love of family.

How to Write a Memoir Without Preaching

Trust your narrative to convey your message. Too many memoirists feel the need to eventually turn the spotlight on the reader with a sort of “So, how about you…?”

Let your experiences and how they impacted you make their own points, and trust the reader to get it. Beat him over the head with your theme and you run him off.

Avoid being preachy by using what I call the Come Alongside Method. Show what happened to you and what you learned, and if the principles apply to your reader, give him credit for being smart enough to get it.

Step 2. Select Your Anecdotes

The best memoirs let readers see themselves in your story so they can identify with your experiences and apply to their own lives the lessons you’ve learned.

If you’re afraid to mine your pain deeply enough to tell the whole truth, you may not be ready to write your memoir. There’s little less helpful — or marketable — than a memoir that glosses over the truth.

So, feature the anecdotes from your life that support your theme, regardless how painful it is to resurrect the memories. The more introspective and vulnerable you are, the more effective your memoir will be.

Create a list of events in your life and their impact on you. These may be major events like a war, your parents’ divorce, a graduation, a wedding, or the loss of a dear friend or relative.

But they may also be seemingly mundane life events that for some reason affected you deeply. Just make sure they support your theme.

Who is unforgettable and what role did they play in making you the person you’ve become?

Interview family and friends for different perspectives. Peruse photographs, revisit meaningful places, research dates, the weather, and relevant history.

Step 3. Outline Your Book

Without a clear vision, trying to write a memoir will likely end in disaster. There’s no substitute for an outline.

Potential agents or publishers require in your proposal a synopsis of where you’re going, and they also need to know that you know.

One that changed the course of my writing career is novelist Dean Koontz’s Classic Story Structure, spelled out in his classic How to Write Bestselling Fiction. Though obviously intended as a framework for a novel, I discovered it applies perfectly to almost any genre (including TV sitcoms, if you can believe it).

And fortunately, for the purposes of my subject today, Koontz’s classic story structure serves a memoir beautifully too.

Here it is in a nutshell:

1 — Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible

2 — Everything he does to try to get out of it makes it only progressively worse until…

3 — His situation appears hopeless

4 — But in the end, because of what he’s learned and how he’s grown through all those setbacks, he rises to the challenge and wins the day.

You might be able to structure your memoir the same way merely by how you choose to tell the story. As I say, don’t force things, but the closer you can get to that structure, the more engaging your memoir will be.

For your memoir, naturally you’re the main character.

And the Terrible Trouble would be the nadir of your life. (If nadir is a new word for you, it’s the opposite of zenith.)

Take the reader with you to your lowest point, and show what you did to try to remedy things.

But what about that “as soon as possible” caveat?

Maybe your terrible trouble didn’t manifest itself until later in life.

Fine, start there. The backstory can emerge as you progress, but you’ll find his structure and sequencing will make for the most compelling read.

Important in fiction as well as in a memoir is to be sure your reader is invested in the main character enough to care when he is plunged into terrible trouble.

While in fiction that means some hint of the stakes — he’s a husband, a father, has suffered some loss, etc. If that’s also true of you, subtly inject it.

Also in a memoir, you want to promise a good outcome, some form of your own wonder at who you are no compared to who you once were or destined to be. That way readers can take from your story that things can dramatically change for the better in their lives too.

One of the reasons this structure works so well in fiction is because it’s often true in real life.

If you’ve become a successful, happy person despite an unfortunate background, it’s likely that you tried many times to fix things, only to see them deteriorate until you developed the ability to break through.

All Koontz, and I, are saying is to emphasize that.

Keep your outline to a single page for now.

Then develop a synopsis with a sentence or two of what each chapter will cover.

Write this is present tense. “I enroll in college only to fid that…”

And don’t worry if you’ve forgotten the basics of classic outlining or have never felt comfortable with the concept.

It doesn’t have to be rendered in Roman numerals and capital and lowercase letters and then numerals, unless that serves you best.

Just a list of sentences that synopsize your idea works fine too.

And remember, it’s a fluid document meant to serve you and your book. Play with it, rearrange it as you see fit — even during the writing.

Step 4. Write It Like a Novel

It’s as important in a memoir as it is in a novel to show and not just tell.

Example:

Telling

My father was a drunk who abused my mother and me. I was scared to death every time I heard him come in late at night.

Showing

As soon as I heard the gravel crunch beneath the tires, I dove under my bed.

I could tell by his footsteps whether Dad was sober and tired or loaded and looking for a fight.

I prayed God would magically make me big enough to jump between him and my mom, because she was always his first target…

Use every trick in the novelist’s arsenal to make each anecdote come to life: dialogue, description, conflict, tension, pacing, everything.

Worry less about chronology than theme.

You’re not married to the autobiographer’s progressive timeline.

Tell whatever anecdote fits your point for each chapter, regardless where they fall on the calendar.

Just make the details clear so the reader knows where you are in the story.

You might begin with the most significant memory of your life, even from childhood.

Then you can segue into something like, “Only now do I understand what was really happening.” Your current-day voice can always drop in to tie things together.

Character Arc

As in a novel, how the protagonist (in this case, you) grows is critical to a successful story. Your memoir should make clear the difference between who you are today and who you once were. What you learn along the way becomes your character arc.

Point of View

It should go without saying that you write a memoir in the first-person. And just as in a novel, the point-of-view character is the one with the problem, the challenge, something he’s after. Tell both your outer (what happens) and your inner (its impact on you) story.

Setups and Payoffs

Great novels carry a book-length setup that demands a payoff in the end, plus chapter-length setups and payoffs, and sometimes even the same within scenes. The more of these the better.

The same is true for your memoir. Virtually anything that makes the reader stay with you to find out what happens is a setup that demands a payoff. Even something as seemingly innocuous as your saying that you hoped high school would deliver you from the torment of junior high makes the reader want to find out if that proved true.

Make ‘em Wait

Avoid using narrative summary to give away too much information too early. I’ve seen memoir manuscripts where the author tells in the first paragraph how they went from abject poverty to independent wealth in 20 years, “…and I want to tell you how that happened.”

To me, that takes the air right out of the tension balloon.

Many readers would agree and see no reason to continue reading.

Better to set them up for a payoff and let them wait.

Not so long that you lose them to frustration, but long enough to build tension.

Step 5. Avoid Throwing People Under the Bus

If you’re brave enough to expose your own weaknesses, foibles, embarrassments, and yes, even your failures to the world, what about your friends, enemies, loved ones, teachers, bosses, and coworkers?

If you tell the truth, are you allowed to throw them under the bus?

In some cases, yes.

But should you?

No.

Even if they gave you permission in writing, what’s the upside?

Usually a person painted in a negative light — even if the story is true — would not sign a release allowing you to expose them publicly.

But even if they did, would it be the right, ethical, kind thing to do?

All I can tell you is that I wouldn’t do it. And I wouldn’t want it done to me.

If the Golden Rule alone isn’t reason enough not to do it, the risk of being sued certainly ought to be.

So, What to Do?

On one hand, I’m telling you your memoir is worthless without the grit. On the other, I’m telling you not to expose the evildoers.

Stalemate? No.

Here’s the solution:

Changing names to protect the guilty is not enough. Too many people in your family and social orbit will know the person, making your writing legally actionable.

So change more than just the name.

Change the location. Change the year. Change their gender. You could even change the offense.

If your own father verbally abused you so painfully when you were thirteen that you still suffer from the memory decades later, attribute it to a teacher and have it happen at an entirely different age.

Is that lying in a nonfiction book? Not if you include a disclaimer upfront that stipulates: “Some names and details have been changed to protect identities.”

So, no, don’t throw anyone under the bus. But don’t stop that bus!

Common Memoir Mistakes 

Making it too much like an autobiography (missing a theme)
Including minutiae
Bragging
Glossing over the truth
Preaching
Effecting the wrong tone: funny, sarcastic, condescending

How to Start Your Memoir

Start slowly by setting the stage or explaining family dynamics and your reader will soon lose interest.

Hook your reader from page one by beginning in medias res — in the middle of things. That doesn’t mean it has to be slam-bang action, but something must be happening.

Memoir Examples

Thoroughly immerse yourself in this genre before attempting to write in it. I read nearly 50 memoirs before I wrote mine (Writing for the Soul). Here’s a list to get you started:

All Over But the Shoutin’   by Rick Bragg (my favorite book ever)
Cultivate by Lara Casey
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Still Woman Enough by Loretta Lynn
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
Molina by Benjie Molina and Joan Ryan
Undone by Michele Cushatt
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? By Sean Dietrich

Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here.

The post How to Write Your Memoir: A 5-Step Guide appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

How to Create a Compelling Story Arc

You’ve got a great story idea you’re confident can become a page turner. 

This is the one that won’t leave you alone.

Every time you think or speak of it, you embellish it.

Now what? 

Plan your story like you’d plan a vacation — you wouldn’t leave home without an idea of where you’re headed, what you’ll do when you get there, and how things will end (even we Pantsers need an idea where we’re headed).

So first map out your story arc — a blueprint to guide you as you write. 

What is Story Arc?

It is to your novel what the skeleton is to the body. 

This framework is designed to help grab readers from the start and hold them till the end. 

Structuring Your Story Arc

The good news is that there are many story structures to choose from.

Here are 7 that have worked for many bestselling authors, beginning with the one that revolutionized my career and has informed every novel I’ve written since the 1980s.

(Click on any structure for more info.)

Dean Koontz’s Classic Story Structure
In Medias Res
The Hero’s Journey
The 7-Point Story Structure
Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method
The Three-Act Structure
James Scott Bell’s Disturbance and Two Doorways

You’ll find that these all have a lot in common, with certain elements labeled slightly differently. 

So regardless which you decide to use, it will contain some version of this Classic Story Structure:

1. The Opener

The beginning of your story should introduce your main character and establishing his* problem, challenge, quest, journey, or dilemma — and the stakes must be dire enough to justify an entire book.

Your singular goal here is to invest your reader in your main character as soon as possible and keep him turning the pages. 

*I use the masculine pronoun inclusively to mean male or female characters and readers. 

2. An Inciting Incident that Changes Everything

It’s not enough to render a character frustrated by the status quo or angry at an annoying opponent.

His dilemma must force him to act or suffer dire consequences.

I’m talking way more than frustration, embarrassment, regret, or even shame. Imagine the worst possible result so your lead character spends the rest of the story battling to prevent it.

3. A Series of Crises that Build Tension

These should be logical, not the result of chance or coincidence, and they should grow progressively worse.

Trying to fix things, your protagonist will build new muscles and gain skills that will serve to make him heroic in the end. 

4. The Climax

Don’t mistake the climax for the end of your story.

Rather, this is the point at which your lead character must appear to have fatally failed and everything appears hopeless.

Some refer to this as the bleakest moment.

5. The End

Everything must be resolved to satisfyingly conclude your story.

Your main character must succeed — or fail, based on what he’s learned from the crises throughout.

Tie all loose ends.

Your reader must be left both satisfied and wanting more. 

Story Arc Examples



1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins




Opener: Katniss Everdeen awakens to find that her sister Prim has gone to sleep with their mother, probably because she was having bad dreams about the Hunger Games, in which competitors battle to become the last one standing in an event called “The Day of Reaping.” 





The Inciting Incident that Changes Everything: When Prim is chosen to participate in the deadly day of reaping, . Katniss volunteers to take her place. 





A Series of Crises that Build Tension: The stakes are raised when she prepares her mother and sister for her death. Katniss does well during the practice games, which makes her a target of the rest and of the totalitarian state behind the competition. The games begin, and she’s in for the fight of her life. Allies die, and she teams with her friend Peeta.





Climax: Katniss and Peeta soon become the only two remaining competitors, pitting them against each other. She decides to commit suicide with Peeta, which would make a mockery of the Games. To foil their plan, the state declares them both winners. 





Ending: Peeta is injured and Katniss doesn’t see him again until a televised interview during which Katniss learns her actions were recognized as rebellious. She and Peeta return to their district, where they are hailed as heroes despite knowing the state has targeted them as enemies. 




2. The Boy Who Cried Wolf, an Aesop Fable




Opener: A mischievous shepherd boy decides to play a trick on the villagers. 





Inciting Incident: The shepherd boy screams for help, leading the villagers to believe a wolf is attacking him and the sheep. When villagers arrive, the boy laughs and mocks them, and they angrily return to the village. 





Crises: The shepherd boy plays the trick again and again, further angering the villagers. 





Climax: A real wolf attacks but the distraught boy’s cries for help go unanswered as villagers refuse to be made fools of yet again. When he finally reaches the village, he admits his lie and assures them that this time it was the truth. 





End: The boy learns the hard lesson that one who lies will not be believed, even when he’s telling the truth. 

When you’re unsure how to develop your plot, try creating a story arc that can guide you as you create a novel that’ll have readers coming back for more.

The post How to Create a Compelling Story Arc appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

The Writer’s Guide to Worldbuilding: How to Create Captivating Settings

A book like A Game of Thrones, a movie like Star Wars, or even a video game like Final Fantasy can make it appear their creators have effortlessly built a fantasy world out of nothing.

In fact, these worlds may feel as real as the world you live in.

How do they do it? More importantly, how can you do it?

More than two-thirds of my nearly 200 books are novels, but creating fictional worlds never seems to get easier.

It’s an art, and in genres such as Fantasy or Science Fiction, worldbuilding is more important than ever and can make or break your story. 

In this worldbuilding guide, I’ll give you tips to follow and errors to avoid. 

Worldbuilding can be as complex as designing a unique venue with exotic creatures, rich political histories, and even new religions. Or it can be as simple as tweaking the history of the world we live in. 

Go as big as you want to, but remember: Worldbuilding is serious business.

You want to create a world in which your readers can lose themselves.

Do this well and they become not just fans, but also fanatics. Like those who obsess over:

Star WarsStar TrekHarry PotterA Game of ThronesThe Marvel UniverseHalo

Each approaches worldbuilding in a different way:

1: Real-World Fantasy

Here you set your story in the world we live in, but your plot is either based on a real event (as in Outlander) or is one in which historical events occur differently (for instance, had Germany won World War 2). 

In Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, he imagines a world in which Franklin Roosevelt was assassinated in the early 1930s.

2: Second-World Fantasy

Here you create new lands, species, and government. You also invent a world rich in its own history, geography, and purpose.

Examples include:

A Game of ThronesThe Lord of the RingsStar WarsDiscworld

Some novels combine the Real World and Second World Fantasy. The Harry Potter series, for instance, is set in the world we live in but with rules and history foreign to us.

(The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland are also examples of this.)

Your job is to take readers on a journey that leaves them satisfied. 

A Worldbuilding Guide (with Exercises) 







Step 1: Plan but Don’t Over-Plan

Outliners prefer to map out everything before they start writing.

Pansters, those who write by the seat of their pants, write as a process of discovery.

Largely a Panster, I can tell you that “discovering” a new world is a whole lot harder than building it before you get too deep into your writing.

Build your world first, and you can focus on your story.

However, over-planning can also be a problem.

Many fantasy writers tell me they become so engrossed in worldbuilding that they find reasons not to write.

Worldbuilding must not come at the expense of your story.

If you’re mostly a Panster, like I am, you may have to spend more time planning than you’re used to.

If you’re an Outliner, draw a line in the sand and start writing as soon as you’re ready, even if you suspect you’ll have more spadework to do as you go.

Step 2: Describe Your World

Paint for your reader a world that transports them, allowing them to see, smell, hear, and touch their surroundings.

Core aspects to consider:

Climate / Environment: everything from the weather to the fundamental building blocks of your world. Is it like Earth or an alien planet? Resources: water, food, air, etc. A post-apocalyptic world, for instance, might likely lack fuel, money, or power.Geography: the landscape, important locations, landmarks.

When James Cameron wrote the movie Avatar, he created countless reference books on Pandora’s vegetation and climate and even botany. 

In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the main characters live in a post-apocalyptic world covered in ash and largely devoid of life. Their entire journey revolves around finding food and water and how to stay warm.

In A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin went as far as creating maps.

Other novels that feature maps:

The Lord of the RingsThe Chronicles of NarniaDiscworld The Princess Bride



World building questions:



How much of your world do you need to show to support the story?How does the terrain influence your story?What is the weather like?How many mountains, oceans, deserts, forests?Where are the borders?What are the natural resources and how do they impact your story?



Step 3: Inhabit Your World



Are the inhabitants people but somehow different from you and me?Are they aliens, monsters, or some other new species?

When writing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave Frodo a past, certain personality traits, and unique morals. But he first had to determine what a hobbit looked like and how he lived.

When Worldbuilding, don’t worry yet about the individual. Establish the inhabitants as a species.

World building character questions:



How big is their population (i.e., how big is your world)?How did they become part of your world (their backstory)?Do they have a class system?What are the genders, races, and species?How do they get along with one another?Are there alliances?What resources do they enjoy?What resources do they lack?

Next:

Decide what they look like.Write a short story from one character’s POV. 



Step 4: Establish the History of Your World

Many stories are defined by their pasts:

The Lord of The Rings focuses on an ancient war.The Hunger Games is built on decades of oppression.The Divergent trilogy follows characters unaware of what the world used to be like.

When worldbuilding, consider:

The Deep Past: What happened way back when that fuels the present economy, environment, culture, etc.Trauma: Wars, famines, plagues, and their aftermaths.Power Shifts: Political, religious, or technological.



World building questions:



Who have been the major rulers?What took place during their reigns?What environmental disasters took place (famine, plagues, floods…)?What wars have taken place? 

Next, organize all this history chronologically. 

Step 5: Determine the Culture of Your World



ReligionSocietal StructurePolitical Power and Government

In Star Wars, for instance, religion (The Jedi vs. The Dark Side), societal structure (slaves and free), and politics (the trade wars) play huge roles.

Worldbuilding questions:



What is the political structure of your world?Who holds the most power?Does your world revolve around totalitarianism, authoritarianism, or democracy?Will your characters bend or break the rules?Are the rules considered fair, or is society opposed to them?How are inhabitants punished if they break the rules?What is the religious belief system?What gods exist?How do religious rituals or customs manifest themselves?Is there conflict between different religious groups?How do different social classes behave?How are gender roles defined? How do families, marriages, and other relationships operate?What behaviors are considered improper or immoral?



Step 6: Power Your World



Is your world energized by equipment or magic?

Equipment involves technology like Artificial Intelligence, space or time travel, or futuristic weaponry. 

Or it could focus on simpler technology like swords, guns, or horses.

Magic allows you to take your worldbuilding to new realms.

In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke explained how things worked and why, making it as realistic and factual as possible.

When writing his futuristic novels, Iain M. Banks referenced droids and spaceships but never explained how they worked. 

The same applies to magic in your story.

You can either explain how it all works or simply focus on how it is used and why.

Worldbuilding questions:



Does magic exist in your world? How does it manifest itself?Can it be controlled?Can it be learned or are people born with it?Where does the magic come from?Are wands or staffs, etc., needed to perform this magic?Do people fear it or embrace it, and what makes the difference? Is there good and evil magic, and how do they differ?What other technologies do people use?How do they travel and communicate?Do governments use technology to gain or maintain power?

In Fantastic Beasts, J.K. Rowling wrote a guide that focuses on how the magic works. 

If magic or futuristic technology play roles in your world, consider doing the same. 

It doesn’t have to be as detailed or as complete as Fantastic Beasts. So long as you have a resource that keeps all the rules in one place, you’ll keep your world (and the rules it lives by) consistent.

These Worldbuilding Tips Can Help You Write Attention-Grabbing Fiction

No two writers will approach worldbuilding in the same way. These tips are here to help guide you, but what matters most is your own imagination. 

Have fun with worldbuilding, and your reader will thank you.

Related Posts:

How to Write a Book From Start to Finish

How to Create a Powerful Character Arc

12 Character Archetypes You Can Use to Create Heroes Your Reader Will Love

The post The Writer’s Guide to Worldbuilding: How to Create Captivating Settings appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

What Is an Epilogue? 3 Steps to Writing a Good One

Full disclosure: I’m not a huge fan of Epilogues. That’s not to say they’re all bad.

In fact, I’ve ended several of my novels with Epilogues.

Done right, they can be a powerful way to leave your reader satisfied.

But beware! Approach your Epilogue wrong and you can ruin the end of your story.

So, let’s talk about what they are, whether you need one, and, if so, how to write one.

What Is an Epilogue?

As you might imagine, an Epilogue is the opposite of a Prologue, so it comes at the end of your novel as opposed to the beginning.

The word comes from the Greek epilogos, or “concluding word.”

It’s intended to provide closure and resolution, and it’s often set in the future to explain what becomes of your principal characters.

The questions are whether or why a novel needs an Epilogue. 

I agree with many editors who insist that a story with a strong ending shouldn’t need an Epilogue. 

Still, as I’ve said, not all Epilogues are bad. Done properly — and under the right circumstances — they complete your story and tie up loose ends.

So how do you determine whether your novel needs an Epilogue?

First, don’t mistake an Epilogue for an Afterword.

An Epilogue ties up loose ends from the story.An Afterword focuses on how your novel came to be — largely to promote you and any of your other books. 

The most important aspect of a good Epilogue is its purpose.

It should either show the reader what happens to your main character after the story ends (for instance, jumping ahead a few years and showing your character with a spouse and a child) or it should pave the way for a sequel or even a series.

One thing an Epilogue should never do is reiterate your theme or remind your reader the moral of your story.

If you didn’t accomplish that in the story itself, an Epilogue will not fix it.

Most importantly, after reading your Epilogue, your reader should leave satisfied, never confused. 

What an Epilogue Should Never Do



Leave the reader wondering what it meant.Compensate for a weak ending. Be long or complicated. Serve as a cliffhanger. You can hint at a sequel, but a cliffhanger will only frustrate your reader.



When To Use an Epilogue (and when not to)

As celebrated editor Allister Thompson puts it, “If there’s nothing else to say, don’t be tempted to say it!”

Effective Epilogues 



Look up these Epilogues online and compare them. 



1: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

This Epilogue shows how you can use one to release tension. Moby Dick closes at such a frenetic pace, the Epilogue serves to reassure the reader that Ishmael survives the shipwreck and is rescued.

2: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

This Epilogue is set 200 years after the story and focuses on a historian who reveals he found Offred’s story and transcribed the tapes.

3: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

This Epilogue provides a glimpse of Harry and his friends 19-years in the future. 

4: Animal Farm by George Orwell

This Epilogue covers Manor Farm many years into the future. It tells the fates of the main characters.

How To Write an Epilogue in 3 Steps







Step 1: Set Your Epilogue in The Future

Provide space between the end of your novel and the Epilogue. 

How long depends on your story. It may be a few days or hundreds of years into the future. The key is what you want readers to know about what’s become of your characters.

Step 2: Set Up a Future Narrative

An Epilogue can set the scene for a sequel. Tell just enough to make clear that more is coming.

Step 3: Don’t Forget Your Hero

If you’ve written a great protagonist, your readers will want to know what happens to him next.

Epilogue FAQs



1: How do I start an Epilogue?

The best place to start is the future:

What’s become of your main character?Answer any other questions your reader might have



2: How long is an Epilogue?

As long as it needs to be, but the shorter the better.

Get to the point and wrap it up.

So Should You Write an Epilogue?

Most books DO NOT need an Epilogue.

Write a strong ending and you shouldn’t need one. But as I’ve said, at times an Epilogue can work. It’s your call, and that’s part of what makes you an author.

The post What Is an Epilogue? 3 Steps to Writing a Good One appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

Your Ultimate Guide to Character Development: 9 Steps to Creating Memorable Heroes

You’ve settled on the idea for your novel. You’ve narrowed it to a sentence or two, and you’re ready to tackle what seems an insurmountable task—breathing life into your lead character.

If you’re an Outliner (one who outlines your novel first), it’s time for character development, an endeavor not for wimps.

Spellbinding stories feature believable characters who feel knowable.

Yes, even if your genre is Fantasy or Allegory or Futuristic. Your character may even be a superhero, but he* must be real and knowable within your premise.

[*I use male pronouns inclusively here to represent both genders only to avoid the awkward repetition of he/she or him/her, fully recognizing that many lead characters are female and so are a majority of readers.]

I’d love to impart some gem that would magically make you an expert at character development. But, sorry, no shortcuts. This is as hard as it sounds. Fail at this task, and it shows.

You cheat your readers when your lead character doesn’t develop and grow. No growth, no character arc. No character arc, fewer satisfied readers.

What About Us Pantsers?

Our name comes from the fact that we write by the seat of our pants. No outlines for us. We write by process of discovery. As Stephen King advises, “Put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens.”

I identify as a Pantser, so I’m sympathetic if you can’t imagine creating a character and giving him a personal history before starting to write. My characters introduce themselves to me and reveal their histories as the story unfolds.

To a new writer or an Outliner, it may sound exciting and dangerous to wade into a story counting on characters to emerge and take over. Believe me, it’s both.

Frankly, Outliners have some advantages over Pantsers here. They know a lot about their lead characters before they start writing.

Fellow Pantsers, don’t ignore or discount this training. We must start with some idea who’s populating our stories. And when we get stuck, there’s no shame in going back and engaging in this exercise.

Regardless which kind of a writer you are, character development—character arc—can make or break your novel.

Consider some of literature’s most memorable characters—Jane Eyre, Scarlett O’Hara, Atticus Finch, Ebenezer Scrooge, Huckleberry Finn, Katniss Everdeen, Harry Potter. Can you name the novels they come from and what they have in common?

Larger than life, they’re also universally humanThey see courage not as lack of fear but rather the ability to act in the face of fearThey learn from failure and rise to great moral victories

Compelling characters like these make the difference between a memorable novel and a forgettable one.

So, what are the keys to making a character unforgettable?

Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here.



Getting Started: What Is Character Development?

It’s how your character responds to obstacles—both internal and external, and how he changes by the end of the story.

In the most memorable classics—especially those with happy endings—the character develops skills and strengths that make him heroic. 

The more challenges he faces, the better for your story and for his arc. Resist the temptation to make his life easy. Only the toughest challenges transform characters.

Steps to Character Development



Introduce him early, by name Give readers a look at him Give him a backstory Make sure he’s human, vulnerable, and flawed But also give him classic, potentially heroic qualities Emphasize his inner life as well as his surface problems Draw upon your own experience in Character Development Show, don’t tell Conduct thorough research











Step 1. Introduce him early, by name

The biggest mistake new writers make is introducing their main character too late. As a rule he should be the first person on stage and the reader should be able to associate his name with how they see him.

Naming your character can be almost as stressful as naming a newborn. You want something interesting and memorable, but not quirky or outrageous. Leave Blaze Starr and Goodnight Robicheaux to the melodramas. (Actually, I wish I’d thought of Goodnight Robicheaux; Ethan Hawke plays him in The Magnificent Seven.)

Allegories call for telling names like Prudence and Truth and Pride, but modern ones should be more subtle. I wrote a Christmas parable where the main character was Tom Douten (get it? Doubting Thomas), and his fiancee was Noella (Christmasy, a believer in Santa) Wright (Miss Right).

For standard novels, typical names are forgettable. Ethnicity is important. You shouldn’t have a Greek named Bubba Jackson.

Your goal is to connect reader and character, so the name should reflect his heritage and perhaps even hint at his personality. In The Green Mile, Stephen King named a weak, cowardly character Percy Wetmore. Naturally, we treat heroes with more respect.

Give naming the time it needs. Search online for baby names of both sexes, and most lists will categorize these by ethnicity.

Be sure the name is historically and geographically accurate. You wouldn’t have characters named Jaxon and Brandi, for instance, in a story set in Elizabethan England.

I often refer to World Almanacs to find names for foreign characters. I’ll pair the first name of a current government leader in that country with the last name of one of their historical figures (but not one so famous that the reader wonders if he’s related, like François Bonaparte).

Step 2. Give readers a look at him

You want a clear picture of your character in your mind’s eye, but don’t make the mistake of forcing your reader to see him exactly the way you do. Sure, height, hair and eye color, and physicality (athletic or not) are important.

But does it really matter whether your reader visualizes your blonde heroine as Gwyneth Paltrow or Charlize Theron? Or your dark-haired hero as George Clooney or Ben Affleck?

As I teach regarding descriptions of the sky and the weather and settings, it’s important that your description of your main character is not rendered as a separate element. Rather, layer in what he looks like through dialogue and during the action.

Hint at just enough to trigger the theater of the reader’s mind so he forms his own mental image.

Thousands of readers might have thousands of slightly varied images of the character, which is all right, provided you’ve given him enough information to know whether your hero is big or small, attractive or not, and athletic or not.

Whether you’re an Outliner (in essence interviewing your character as if he were sitting right in front of you) or a Pantser (getting to know him as he reveals himself to you), the more you know about him, the better you will tell your story.

How old is he?What is his nationality?Does he have scars? Piercings? Tattoos? Physical imperfections? Deformities?What does his voice sound like? Does he have an accent?

Readers often have trouble differentiating one character from another, so if you can give him a tag, in the form of a unique gesture or mannerism, that helps set him apart.

You won’t come close to using all of the information you know about him, but the more you know, the more plot ideas will occur to you. The better acquainted you are with your character, the better your readers will come to know him and care.

Step 3. Give him a backstory

Backstory is everything that’s happened before Chapter 1. Dig deep.

What has shaped your character into the person he is today?

Things you should know, whether you include them in your novel or not:

When, where, and to whom he was bornBrothers and sisters, their names and agesWhere he attended high school, college, and graduate schoolPolitical affiliationOccupationIncomeGoals Skills and talents Spiritual lifeFriendsBest friendWhether he’s single, dating, or marriedWorldviewPersonality typeAnger triggersJoys, pleasuresFearAnd anything else relevant to your story







Step 4. Make sure he’s human, vulnerable, and flawed



Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here.

Even superheroes have flaws and weaknesses. For Superman, there’s Kryptonite. For swashbucklers like Indiana Jones, there are snakes.

A lead character without human qualities is impossible to identify with. But make sure his flaws aren’t deal breakers. They should be forgivable, understandable, identifiable.

Be careful not to make your hero irredeemable – for instance, a wimp, a scaredy cat, a slob, a dunce, or a doofus (like a cop who forgets his gun or his ammunition).

You want a character with whom your reader can relate, and to do that, he needs to be vulnerable.

Create events that subtly exhibit strength of character and spirit. For example, does your character show respect to a waitress and recognize her by name? Would he treat a cashier the same way he treats his broker?

If he’s running late, but witnesses an emergency, does he stop and help?

These are called pet-the-dog moments, where an otherwise bigger-than-life personality does something out of character—something that might be considered beneath him.

Readers remember such poignant episodes, and they make the key moments even more dramatic.

It was George Bailey’s sacrificing his travel-the-world dreams to take over the lowly savings and loan that made his standing up to the villainous Mr. Potter so heroic in the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life.

Want to turn your Jimmy Stewart into a George Bailey?

Make him real.

Give him a pet-the-dog moment.

Step 5. But also give him classic, potentially heroic qualities

While striving to make your main character real and human, be sure to also make him heroic or implant within him at least the potential to be heroic.

In the end, after he has learned all the lessons he needs to from his failures to get out of the terrible trouble you plunged him into, he must rise to the occasion and score a great moral victory.

He can have a weakness for chocolates or a fear of snakes, but he must show up and face the music when the time comes.

A well-developed character should be extraordinary, but relatable. Never allow your protagonist to be the victim. It is certainly okay to allow him to face obstacles and challenges, but never portray him as a wimp or a coward.

Give your character qualities that captivate and compel the reader to continue. For example:

a character with a humble upbringing (an underdog) rises to the occasion a character with a hidden strength or ability subtly reveals it early in the story and later uses it in an unusual or extraordinary way

Make him heroic, and you’ll make him unforgettable.

Step 6. Emphasize his inner life as well as his surface problems

What physically happens in the novel is one thing. Your hero needs trouble, a problem, a quest, a challenge, something that drives the story.

But just as important is your character’s primary internal conflict. This will determine his inner dialogue. Growing internally will usually contribute more to your Character Arc than the surface story.

Ask yourself:

What keeps him awake at night?What is his blind spot?What are his secrets?What embarrasses him?What passion drives him? 

Mix and match details from people you know – and yourself – to create both the inner and outer person. When he faces a life or death situation, you’ll know how he should respond.

Step 7. Draw upon your own experience in Character Development

The fun of being a novelist is getting to embody the characters we write about. I can be a young girl, an old man, a boy, a father, a grandmother, another race, a villain, of a different political or spiritual persuasion, etc. The list goes on and the possibilities are endless.

The best way to develop a character is to, in essence, become that character.

Imagine yourself in every situation he finds himself, facing every dilemma, answering every question—how would you react if you were your character?

If your character finds himself in mortal danger, imagine yourself in that predicament. Maybe you’ve never experienced such a thing, but you can conjure it in your mind. Think back to the last time you felt in danger, multiply that by a thousand, and become your character.

What ran through your mind when you believed you were home alone and heard footsteps across the floor above?

Have you had a child suddenly go missing in a busy store?

Have you ever had to muster the courage to finally speak your mind and set somebody straight?

There’s nothing like personal experience to help you develop characters.

Step 8. Keep Character Arc in mind throughout



Step 8. Show, don’t tell

You’ve heard this one before, and you’ll hear it again. If there’s one Cardinal Rule of fiction, this is it.

It also applies to character development.

Give your readers credit by trusting them to deduce character qualities by what they see in your scenes and hear in your dialogue. If you have to tell about your character in narrative summary, you’ve failed your reader.

Your reader has a mind, an imagination. Using it is part of the joy of reading.

As the life of your character unfolds, show who your character is through what he says, his body language, his thoughts, and what he does.

Would rather be told: Fritz was one of those friendly, gregarious types who treated everyone the same, from the powerful to the lowly.

Or be shown this: “How’s that grandson doing, Marci?” Fritz asked the elevator operator. “James, right?”

“Jimmy’s doin’ great, thanks. Came home from the hospital yesterday.”

“Vacation was the tonic, Bud,” Fritz told the doorman. “You’re tanned as a movie star.”

As he settled into the backseat of the car, Fritz said, “Tell me your name and how long you’ve been driving Uber…”

Show and you won’t have to tell.

For more on this, see my blog post: Showing vs. Telling: What You Need to Know.

Step 9. Conduct thorough research

Resist the temptation to write about something you haven’t experienced before conducting thorough research.

Imagination can take you only so far. But you can bet the first time you guess at something, astute readers will call you on it. For instance, I can imagine myself as a woman. I had a mother, I have a wife, I have daughters-in-law and granddaughters, a female assistant, women colleagues.

So I can guess at their feelings and emotions, but I’ll always be handicapped by the simple fact that I’m not a woman. I recently ran into an old friend who told me she was homeless.

I mentioned to some women friends that I doubted her because she looked put together, as if she’d been to the beauty shop.

I said, “If you were living in your car, would you spend money on getting your hair and nails done?”

Naturally that’s the last thing a man would think about. But women in my orbit said, sure, they could see it. Camouflaging your predicament and maintaining a modicum of self-respect would be worth skipping a few meals.

Say you’re writing about what you’d feel if you lost a child. I hope you would only be guessing about such a horror, but to write about it with credibility takes thorough research.

You’d have to interview someone who has endured such a tragedy and has had the time to be able to talk about it.

Is your character a teacher? A police officer? A CEO? Or the member of another profession with which you have no personal experience?

Spend time in a classroom, interview a teacher, arrange a ride-along with a cop, interview a CEO. Don’t base your hero on images from movies and TV shows.

The last thing you want is a stereotype readers cannot identify with and whom some would see through instantly.

You’ll find that most people love talking about their lives and professions.

Examples

We all have a favorite (unforgettable) book, television, or movie character.

A well-written novel that follows a Classic Story Structure plunges its main character into terrible trouble quickly. Then it turns up the heat and fosters change and growth in the character from the beginning. That’s the very definition of Character Arc.

A classic example is Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. So specific was the author’s portrayal of this character that the very name Scrooge has become synonymous with a selfish, miserly, miserable curmudgeon. 

Yet what reader can fail to thrill at the brilliant character arc that sees him become an entirely new man—joyful, generous, and loving—who learns to feel again?

In the popular binge-worthy TV series Breaking Bad, Walter White begins as a nerdy, naïve, kind, and thoughtful high school science teacher who learns he has cancer. 

Because his insurance won’t cover enough of his treatment costs to keep from bankrupting him, out of desperation he uses his skills to develop and sell quality methamphetamine, which allows him to afford the treatments and dig his family out of a financial hole. 

Even after he finds his cancer is in remission, he embraces the illegal drug culture and in the end destroys his own life, his family, and many other lives. 

There’s possibly no better example of character development than in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. 

Huck narrates the tale with humor and brutal honesty. He escapes Widow Douglas’s efforts to reform him and a miserable life with his drunken father, joining his new friend Jim, a runaway slave. 

Huck lies, cheats, and steals his way down the Mississippi River, learns to survive, perseveres through difficulty, and matures into a young man who chooses to do what’s right, regardless the consequences.

Character Development Worksheet

If you’re an Outliner, a character arc worksheet like this one can help you get to know your hero. 

If you’re a Pantser (like me), you may not have the patience for it and might rather dive right into the writing. Do what works best for you. 

Click here to download my character arc worksheet.



The #1 Mistake Writers Make When Developing Characters

Making a hero perfect.

What reader can identify with perfect?

Potentially heroic, yes. Honorable, sure. With a bent toward doing the right thing, yes!

But perfect, no.

In the end your hero will likely rise to the occasion and win against all odds. But he has to grow into that from a stance of reality, humanity. Render a lead character your reader can identify with, and in your ending he’ll see himself with the same potential.

That way your Character Arc becomes also a Reader Arc.

You can do this.

Develop a character who feels real, and he could become unforgettable.

Want to save this guide to read, save, or print whenever you wish? Click here.

Questions about character development? Ask me in the comments below.

Related Posts:

How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps

How to Publish a Book: My Ultimate Guide from 40+ Years of Experience

How to Overcome Writer’s Block Once and for All: My Surprising Solution

The post Your Ultimate Guide to Character Development: 9 Steps to Creating Memorable Heroes appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

7 Daily Writing Exercises to Unblock You, Improve Your Craft, and Trigger Your Next Big Idea

Writing can be grueling.

Some days you feel you have what it takes.

Other days, you want to go back to bed.

Even after writing almost 200 books, including 21 New York Times bestsellers, some mornings the blank page just stares at me.

I feel like a fraud, fear I’ve lost it or never had it to begin with…

Can you relate? Few writers escape it. Not even the greatest.

Hemingway once wrote, “There’s no rule on how it is to write … Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly. Sometimes it is like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.”

Margaret Atwood says, “If I waited for perfection…I would never write a word.”

Yet fear holds back so many.

Am I good enough? Will I ever be?

You’re not alone. There’s no magic to successful writing.  It’s all about hard work.

Even when you suffer writer’s block.

Even when you don’t have the energy.

Even when you’re second-guessing yourself.

All writing is rewriting, and you can’t rewrite a blank page. 

So what to do?

Some writers motivate themselves with writing prompts or other exercises, just to start getting words onto the page. Might that work for you? Try these and see.

Here is a writing exercise for each day of the week, designed to keep you at the keyboard and producing. 

Daily Writing Exercises 







1: Answer 3 Questions

See if these stimulate your thinking.

Who just entered your office?What is he or she carrying?What does he or she want?



2: Write a Letter To Your Younger Self

Tap into your emotions and imagine this as a real, separate person you might be able to move with your words.

3: Imagine a Scene



An ex-love walks into a coffee shop but hasn’t yet noticed you. Should you greet them? What do you say to someone whose heart you broke five years ago?



You’re a child who’s been told Santa isn’t real. Write about your feelings and how you might interact with younger kids who still believe.



You find a peculiar device in your pocket and have no idea how it got there. You feel someone’s watching you. What do you do?



In fewer than 250 words, describe how a defining moment in your life made you a better person.



Write a story involving an invitation to the secret meeting of a huge activist group. What are they about, and why was your character invited?



Write about how your character’s best friend’s body shows up in front of their house. What will they do to find out who’s responsible?



4: Write a Story Someone Once Told You

Exercise your storytelling muscles.

5: Write From a New Point of View

If you find yourself most often writing from the same perspective, try a different voice. 

First-person (I, Me, My).



Second-person (You, Your). This POV is more common in non-fiction, rarely used by novelists .



Third-person limited (He, She). Common in commercial fiction, the narrator uses the main character as the camera.



Third-person omniscient. The narrator has access to the thoughts of ALL characters (not recommended except as a writing exercise).



6: Write About Someone Who Inspires You



a family membera frienda historical figurea teacherany hero of yours

Try writing a short story in first-person from their perspective. 

7: Write About Someone You Know

With this exercise, you create a story with a lead character based on a family member, best friend, or anyone else you know well. 

Use their actual life to inspire the story. 

Here’s hoping these writing exercises get you unstuck and producing like never before.

Other blog posts that can help you:

How to Write a Book From Start to Finish: A Proven Guide

How to Write a Novel: A 12-Step Guide

How to Develop a Great Story Idea

The post 7 Daily Writing Exercises to Unblock You, Improve Your Craft, and Trigger Your Next Big Idea appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

How to Write a Compelling Synopsis: Your Simple Guide

You know writing a book is going to be hard, even grueling. But synopsizing it should be easy.

So, why does it feel so intimidating? 

It’s not just because you must convince an agent or a publisher (in as few as 500 words) that your novel or nonfiction manuscript will succeed in the marketplace.

It’s because an effective, working synopsis should become your foundational document for the writing itself.

Getting this right can make the writing so much easier. Getting it wrong can expose even the smallest crack in your foundation.

Regardless, synopsis writing is crucial to your success.

You want to craft yours in such a way that it empowers an agent to sell your manuscript to a publisher.

Writing your synopsis can also reveal fatal flaws in your outline, allowing you to make the fix before you invest months in the writing.

Below I detail everything I’ve learned about how to write a synopsis that works for you.

I also give you two synopsis templates — one for fiction and one for nonfiction, with real examples of each.

How to Write Compelling Synopses

I cover both fiction and nonfiction here, so feel free to jump straight to your genre. Just remember that each contains valuable training that applies to both.

Click here if you’re writing fiction.

Click here if you’re writing nonfiction.

What Is a Synopsis?

For FICTION SYNOPSES, summarize the main beats of your story, chapter by chapter.

(Don’t worry — agents and publishers know fiction is organic and stories often take on lives of their own. You won’t be held rigidly to your synopsis, and many story beats will wind up in different chapters than you predicted.)

The point of your synopsis is to reveal the entire story in as few as 500 words, allowing an agent or a publisher to determine whether the premise and approach make it worthy of asking to see the eventual manuscript.

Yes, your synopsis should reveal how your story ends. 

A common mistake is to confuse your synopsis with back cover or advertising copy—which is full of teasers and questions designed to lure readers.

Your potential agent or publisher is not a buyer who needs to be lured. And they don’t want questions—they want answers. Tell what happens in your story and how it ends.

Your agent or publisher (hopefully both) will become your publishing partner.

Let them in on all the secrets and how you intend to tell the story. 

Agents and publishers are deluged with thousands of manuscripts annually. You help them do their jobs and set yourself apart from that sea of competition by giving them every reason to ask to see your manuscript.

A meaningful fiction synopsis briefly tells your story in present tense. You’ll see an example below.

Full disclosure: If you’re a new novelist, few agents or publishers will extend a contract offer based on your synopsis alone (it happens, but it’s rare). Lots of writers can dream up great premises, high enough stakes to justify a novel-length manuscript, and a great ending.

The question is whether they can finish and deliver. Most can’t. Just like employers are cautioned against “hiring a résumé” without a careful screening process, agents and publishers have learned to make sure a writer can deliver an entire manuscript before committing to a contract.

So why not just write the manuscript and submit it whole, if they’re going to insist on seeing it anyway? Admittedly, some require that. But most can tell from your synopsis whether they want to see the manuscript.

NONFICTION SYNOPSES

For memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, and narrative nonfiction, the fiction synopsis example below also applies. You merely lay out — in a sentence or two (in present tense) — what you plan to cover in each chapter. 

For nonfiction, a synopsis should reveal:

The intended audienceWhat you intend to teach readers Why you are qualified to write on the subject

Avoid hard-selling language. Of course you’re trying to sell your manuscript, but the approach and word choice must do the work. Agents and editors are not impressed with grandiose promises and predictions. 

1. Fiction

Regardless whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser, you need to immerse yourself in your genre of fiction. You may intend to break a lot of rules, but you had better know the conventions.

Read dozens and dozens of books in your genre. Your job in writing a synopsis is to summarize a full-length manuscript in 500 words.

That may seem impossible, but it’s also for your benefit. You’ll be amazed at how your synopsis keeps you focused and on track during the writing.

Start with the main elements of your story and flesh out your synopsis from there. 

Step 1: Determine Your Premise

In my post How to Develop a Great Story Idea I walk you through coming up with a bullet-proof story idea.

You’ll know you’ve hit on a potential winner when you can summarize your novel idea in one sentence. Despite that it’s only one sentence, it deserves the time it takes to make it just right.

Moviemakers refer to this as the logline.

In Blake Snyder’s classic book on screenwriting, Save the Cat, he says a good logline must have irony, and then uses this example for the movie Die Hard: “A cop comes to L.A. to visit his estranged wife, and finds her office building taken over by terrorists.” 

That may look simple, but it’s not easy. 

If someone asked you to tell them, in one sentence, what your novel is about, could you do it? Most can’t, and until they can, they’re not ready to write it.

Step 2: Reveal Your Story Structure 

Novels will have some version of the following main beats:

1. An riveting opener

2. An inciting incident that changes everything

3. A series of crises that build tension

4. A climax where everything comes a head and is resolved

5. A satisfying ending

For more detail on the above, read 7 Story Structures Any Writer Can Use. 

Step 3: Flesh Out the Details 

1. Start your synopsis by hooking your reader — in this case an agent or publisher. Your one-sentence premise is the most important line of all. Would you keep reading if the Die Hard logline was the premise? I would.

What if it was, “A man discovers his own brother is living a double life, teaching junior high biology under a different name”? I wouldn’t. Now maybe if the brother were a terrorist or some other kind of a criminal…

2. Next, map out the story, using your story structure as a base. Write a paragraph or two for each of the above five main story beats (or those of whatever structure you’ve settled on). Keep it brief and clear. Aim for no more than 500 words

3. Reveal your main character’s story arc. Who are they at the end compared to who they were in the beginning — both inwardly and outwardly?

 Do this as well for other major characters, like the villain. 

Synopsis-writing tips: 

Write in the third person, present tense, and as tightly as possible: “Jason learns his daughter has been kidnapped,” or “At the grocery store, Sally is riveted by the best-looking man she’s ever seen.”



Boldface or CAPITALIZE first mentions of characters’ names.



Include a brief character sketch: “JON NELSON (38 — a retired mercenary and now a bodyguard) takes a call…”



Novel Synopsis Example

Premise:

In Left Behind, millions of people throughout the world disappear in an instant in what turns out to be the Rapture of the Church at the end of the world. 

Synopsis:

RAYFORD STEELE, an airline pilot, is flying to London when a third of his passengers disappear right out of their clothes.

Rayford fears his devout Christian wife has been right about the prophesied rapture, and if she was, she and his young son will be gone when he arrives home. His college-age daughter, CHLOE, a skeptic like him, will likely have been left behind.

Passenger CAMERON WILLIAMS (a newswriter of international renown) follows the rise of NICOLAE CARPATHIA, a powerful political figure who is eventually revealed as the antichrist. 

[The synopsis continues with what happens in every subsequent chapter, again with no mysteries, teasers, or questions raised. Rather, everything is spelled out and explained so the agent or publisher knows what to expect.]

2. Nonfiction

Steven Pressfield, a successful novelist (The Legend of Bagger Vance) and nonfiction author (The War of Art, Turning Pro, and The Artist’s Journey) advises synopsizing a nonfiction book the same way you would a novel. 

According to Pressfield, a nonfiction work also has a hero, a journey, a villain, an inciting incident, a climax, and the tension between wanted and unwanted outcomes typically found in novels.

Below I share a template for a solid nonfiction synopsis.

Step 1: Promise Reader Benefits

A successful nonfiction book should empower readers to either solve a problem or to achieve a goal, e.g., “To learn to better manage their time.” 

Such a premise statement answers two questions:

Who the book is for, andWhat it offers them 



Step 2: Establish Yourself as an Authority 

Steven Pressfield writes:

“If you’re a woman writing a book about weight loss for women, you’d better be a size two with washboard abs and have photos of yourself displayed throughout the book. Otherwise we readers will have trouble accepting you as an authority.”

But it’s not readers you need to convince in your synopsis—it’s an agent or publisher. It’s up to them whether your book makes it to the marketplace.

So, sell them on why you’re the person to write this book. 

Example: “I write a time management blog with a monthly readership of more than 100,000. I’ve sold over 5,000 memberships to a productivity course I created, and I coach Fortune 500 executives on performance.”

Step 3: Share the Recipe

Devote a short paragraph to every chapter in the book,  describing in third person, present tense, the content, purpose, and reader takeaway for each. 

Aim for up to 800 words.

Nonfiction Synopsis Example

In Writing for the Soul, I impart experience and wisdom gained from a nearly half-century writing career. I  reveal the rewards that can come to writers who work hard, commit to lifelong learning, and maintain their family priorities. I’ve written nearly 200 books with sales of more than 71 million copies, including 21 New York Times bestsellers.

I share how to find writing success through lifelong learning and polishing the craft.

I also include practical advice and share behind-the-scenes anecdotes of working with well-known biographical subjects (Billy Graham, Walter Payton, Hank Aaron, Meadowlark Lemon, Nolan Ryan, et al). 

In 13 chapters (designed for group study as well), I discuss:

The requirements to make a career of writingBreaking into the industry through reporting and writing for small markets,Establishing a professional imageLifelong learning

Then I list all 13 chapter titles and synopsize each in a sentence or two. 

Writing a synopsis…

…doesn’t have to be daunting. There’s no need to be paralyzed by the fear of producing this tool so critical to both the writing of your manuscript and pitching it to agents or publishers. 

You no longer have to dread the process. My simple, proven approach to writing synopses for both novels and nonfiction books should put you on a path to success.

All the best with yours! 

The post How to Write a Compelling Synopsis: Your Simple Guide appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.

How to Outline a Novel: Your Complete Guide

If you’re a Pantser (one who writes by the seat of your pants), outlining a novel can appear impossible. Trust me, I know. 

I’ve written nearly 200 books, had 21 New York Times bestsellers, and sold over 71 million copies—and guess what? 

I’m not an Outliner. 

I’m a Pantser. 

The truth is, about half of all novelists—including a few you’ve heard of—are Pantsers. (Does the name Stephen King ring a bell?)

Outliners tend to determine everything in advance—every detail researched and the story plotted with precision. 

Pantsers begin with the germ of a premise, maybe with a strong lead character in mind, and an idea where they think it’ll end.

Then they write by process of discovery—or, as King puts it, they “put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens.”

Regardless whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser, you need an idea where you’re headed before you begin.

So, Which Are You: Outliner or Pantser?

There’s no right or wrong answer—neither better or worse. One will simply feel most natural to you. 

You may even be a hybrid— one who needs the security of an outline and the freedom to let the story take you where it will. (In truth, most of us are hybrids to a point.) 

Whichever you are, at some point during the writing you’ll likely wish you were the other. 

When I hit the wall at the halfway to three-quarter mark of just about every novel, an outline sounds like a great security blanket. Especially when I’m wondering where to go next.

Deep down, I know better. Outlines just don’t work for me. Every time I plot a story in advance, things get predictable. 

No idea which you are? Try outlining, and if you get antsy to just start writing, you’re probably a Pantser. 

Try just diving in, and if you’re soon lost and feel as if you don’t even know your characters, you may be an Outliner who needs to back up and think things through before you start. 

Need help writing your novel? Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide.



A Winning Strategy For Your Plot Outline

Don’t mistake a story structure for an outline, because regardless whether you’re an Outliner or a Pantser, you need a structure. 

The Classic Story Structure, created by bestselling author Dean Koontz, changed my career and catapulted me from a mid-list genre novelist to a bestselling author. 

It’s simple. He advises you:

Plunge your main character into terrible trouble as soon as possible. (That trouble will look different depending on your genre. For a thriller it might be life-or-death. For a romance it might mean a heroine choosing between two suitors.) It must be the worst trouble you can imagine for your lead character and carry stakes dire enough to justify a book-length story.Everything your character does to try to get out of that trouble makes it only worse.Eventually things reach a point of apparent hopelessness.Finally, everything your character has learned through all that trouble gives him what he needs to win the day—or fail (occasionally, not often, a sad ending resonates with readers).

Whether you use this, or one of the other six story structures I explain in novel outline step #2 below, find a strategy that helps keep you—and your readers—engaged to the very end.

How to Outline a Novel in 6 Steps

Even though I’m not an Outliner, I never write a novel without a structure in mind.

The story outline process (whatever that looks like for you) should be fluid. It’s designed to keep you on track, keep you from stalling, and gives you a safety net—a good thing, especially for procrastinators. 

For the Pantser, it may be as simple as a single sheet of paper that ends up looking more like a roadmap than an outline.

For the Outliner, it may be a 20+ page detailed list. Whichever it is, it can help narrow your focus so you can get on with writing your novel.

Follow this basic format:

1. Distill your novel idea into one sentence.

This is called your Elevator Pitch: what you’d share with a publishing professional between the time you meet him on the elevator and the time he gets off.

I once wrote a novel about a judge who tries a man for a murder that the judge committed. 

That was my Elevator Pitch..

Simple, short, and concise—it was that germ of an idea that became Margo, my very first novel.

2. Decide on a story structure.

Various writing coaches use varying terms for common fiction elements, but they’re largely similar. Every effective story will include some version of: 

An openerAn inciting incident that changes everythingA series of crises that build tensionA climaxAn end

There’s no end to suggested story structures, but here are seven popular ones: 

Dean Koontz’s Classic Story StructureIn Medias ResThe Hero’s JourneyThe 7-Point Story StructureRandy Ingermanson’s Snowflake MethodThe Three-Act StructureJames Scott Bell’s a Disturbance and Two Doorways

For a more in-depth explanation on these points, visit my post on story structure here. 

3. Map out your characters.

Character development will make or break your story. Outliners have an advantage here, and Pantsers do well to learn from this. 

Outliners tend to map out the backstory of each character, getting to know them. They conduct imaginary interviews and simply ask the characters about themselves. Readers won’t likely see most of this information, but it does inform your writing. 

Whether you get to know your characters in advance or allow them to reveal themselves to you as you write, make them human, vulnerable, and flawed—eventually heroic and inspiring, but not perfect. 

Need help writing your novel? Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide.



4. Flesh out your plot.

The plot of a story is the sequence of events that makes up your novel—the beginning, middle, and end—the what of the story. Plot compels your reader to either keep turning the pages or set your book aside. 

Using a story structure like one of the above, map out your story using one of these plot types:

Adventure — a person goes to new places, experiences new things, and faces myriad obstacles. Change — a person undergoes a dramatic transformation.Romance — jealousy and misunderstandings threaten lovers’ happiness. Mistake — an innocent person caught in a situation he doesn’t understand must overcome foes and dodge danger. Lure — a person must decide whether to give in to temptation, revenge, rage, or some other passion. He grows from discovering things about himself.Race — characters chase wealth or fame but must overcome others to succeed. Gift — an ordinary person sacrifices to aid someone else. The lead may not be aware of his own heroism until he rises to the occasion.



5. Decide on your setting.

The setting of a story is one of the most important elements of writing a novel. (Show, don’t tell.)

Setting may include location, time, or era, but it should also include how something looks, smells, feels, and sounds. 

Thoroughly research details about your setting, but remember this is seasoning, not the main course. The main course is the story itself.

6. Synopsize your chapters.

Write a few sentences in present tense about what happens in each chapter.

Sample: Jack discovers his fiancee is cheating on him and confronts her.

The Ultimate Novel Outline Method

If you’re an Outliner and want to jump in with both feet, tap into the mind of Dr. Randy Ingermanson—the Sheldon Cooper of novelists. 

On The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon has a Master’s Degree and two doctoral degrees. 

Randy got his M.A. and Ph.D. in physics, specializing in elementary particle theory. He also did two years of post-graduate work on superstring theory.

He now applies that intellect to novel writing and teaching writing and has become the story outliner extraordinaire.

Visit his site and check out his Snowflake Method for outlining your novel. 

You may want to invest in his Writing Fiction for Dummies, as well. 

If you’re a Pantser, Randy would tell you to stay far from his method—he says Outliners are Outliners and Pantsers are Pantsers, and never the twain shall meet. 

Just remember, Outliners and Pansters have a lot to learn from each other. Determine which approach works best for you, and then have fun with it. Keep your structure fluid. Let it work for you.

Need help writing your novel? Click here to download my ultimate 12-step guide.

Related Posts:

How to Publish a Book: My Ultimate Guide From 40+ Years of Experience

How to Create Powerful Character Arc

Book Writing Software to Help You Create, Organize, and Edit Your Manuscript

The post How to Outline a Novel: Your Complete Guide appeared first on Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips.