Angela Ackerman's Blog: Writers Helping Writers, page 117

Diversifying Your Characters’ Voices

“Voice” is one of the things we authors agonize over—finding the character’s unique and authentic way of speaking. It’s especially critical to get this right when we’re writing in multiple viewpoints, so each character sounds like him or herself and readers can tell the difference between them. Liam Carnahan is here today to share some techniques for differentiating between your characters’ voices.

[image error]

Writing engaging and realistic dialogue is hard enough on its own. When your novel or story has multiple characters, it’s an even bigger challenge—you have to give each character his or her own voice as well.

Without unique voices, conversations between characters can confuse your readers, and you’ll have to be overly reliant on dialogue tags to keep everything straight. Fortunately, there are a few methods you can use to make each character’s words and interior monologues sound unique.

Who (and What) Influenced Your Character?

To understand how your character speaks, go to the source. Who were the significant people in his life when he learned his first language? Parents and guardians are almost always the first influencers, with extended family, school teachers, and fellow children all contributing to a character’s language development. There are always exceptions to these rules, but unless your character does not speak, he had to learn his words from somewhere.

As we grow, the people in our lives impact our language. Researchers have found that people in close personal relationships will begin to mimic each other’s speaking patterns. Romantic partners, family members, and close friends may share the same verbal quirks—and in this case, making two characters speak in a similar fashion can be a way to underscore their closeness.

However, because each of your characters has unique experiences and histories, consider what other threads might be part of their linguistic tapestry. Culture, heritage, geographic location, and educational background are prime examples of other external factors that should impact how a character speaks. If your characters live in the United States, map resources like this can be a good way to understand how people from different parts of the country talk.

Consider making a list of the people, places, and histories that would have influenced each of your protagonists, particularly in their formative years. Comparing these lists side by side will help you understand how each character differs from the others.

What’s Your Character’s Personality?

Personality dictates tone. Language is in every way a form of expression, and how a person speaks is a reflection of who they are at their core. Your characters may all speak the same language, but their vocabulary, cadence, and manner of speaking are determined by their personalities.

There are a few traits that can help you decide how a character should speak. Ask yourself, is your character more…

Introverted or extroverted? If a character feels energized by conversation, she’ll speak more often and might use longer sentences. A character who prefers to be alone or in small groups might speak less often, with more pauses for consideration and internal monologue.

Pessimistic or optimistic? Your character’s outlook on life will impact her word choices and possibly her speed of speech. Are they cynically sarcastic? Are they cheerfully positive?

Serious or silly? How often does your character crack jokes? How often does she laugh at other people’s jokes? Does she have her head in the clouds, or are her feet always planted squarely on the ground? Humor and playfulness manifest themselves in words as much as in actions.

Honest or coy? Does your character tell it like it is, or is she more likely to withhold information and opinions? When she speaks the truth, is she blunt or gentle? Is she a practiced liar?

Of course, realistic characters will have a spectrum and range of emotions, but exploring questions like these can nudge dialogue in the right direction.

On Dialects and Accents

Dialect and accents of course influence how an individual speaks, but a word of caution: overdoing it with what’s known as “eye dialect” can turn into a big issue for some writers.

“Eye dialect” is when an author intentionally misspells words to make them representative of the way they sound. For example, writing the word “was” as “wuz” or “listen” as “lissen.” Many well-known authors, from Mark Twain to Terry Pratchett, have used eye dialect in their work.

The issue, however, is that it’s very easy for this to come off as stereotypical or even mocking, particularly when it’s associated with a racial or national background. If your book takes place in modern times, eye dialect also tends to make a character’s way of speaking seem dated, which may or may not be an intentional side effect.

As an alternative, consider taking a few moments to describe a character’s accent when they speak. For example:

“The voice was careful, masculine, and local;

the vowels had all the edges sanded off.”

(The Raven Boys, Stiefvater)

Use narrative description to reflect on the sound of their words, or let your characters reflect on each other’s way of talking. This is a much safer (and often more accurate) way of showing a character’s mannerisms when speaking.

Examining your characters’ backgrounds and personalities can help you build uniqueness into their voices. Coupled with character traits and individual descriptions, your cast of characters will make your novel worth reading.

[image error]

 

Liam Carnahan is the founder and chief editor of Invisible Ink Editing. With four other professional editors on staff, Invisible Ink Editing offers a variety of book editing services for fiction authors. Liam can be reached at Liam@InvisibleInkEditing.com , or you can connect with Invisible Ink Editing on Facebook or Twitter .

Writing By Design: A New Way To Envision Storytelling

[image error]Part 1: The Significance of Space

As writers, we often think of ourselves as “word people,” fully entrenched in the realm of language and all things verbal. Yet we have more in common with our artsy counterparts than we think. Some people even go so far as to call writers story architects and engineers of narrative. We might not use clay, paint, or plaster, but words can serve as building blocks just like bricks and stone.

Yet this notion of writer as builder doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. As writers, we don’t just create a books as objects, we are story designers and our job is to craft immersive experiences for our readers.

As a graphic and product designer, I spent the beginning of my professional career designing toys and packaging. Even now as a writer, I often find myself thinking about stories and writing in design terms and I’m excited to do a deep dive into some key design elements and how they relate to our craft. Today we look at space.

The Final Frontier… Okay, Not Really

[image error]

Unlike the infinite darkness explored by the intrepid Star Trek cast, in design you often have to deal with space in terms of limitations. Space is a precious resource, and the amount you have available—along with its configuration—will determine what you can do with the design. This means that somewhere along the way, you will need to make difficult choices, deciding what to include and what to leave out.

The same is true in writing. While a 90,000 word novel might feel huge when you’re just starting to write, if you go too far over that, you will need to trim it down. That cutting process can be hard. In fact, many writers find it easier to add five thousand words to a manuscript than to cut that same number.

The finite nature of space—both in design and in writing—forces us to make choices, and that’s where things get interesting. We can’t cram every last detail in our story because it would either bore readers to tears or we’d simply run out of room. This means we must choose to show certain details on the page while others are implied but extend beyond the page. In design terms, this concept is called closure.

Closure

As an avid comic book fan, I’ve been surrounded by closure my entire life, I just never realized it. Closure is that notion that even though you don’t see an image in the comic’s frame, it still exists outside the field of vision.

As an example, imagine a comic showing Wonder Woman flinging her lasso, but the frame crops out part of that lasso (along with the bad guy she’s hitting with it). Readers won’t look at that drawing and think that the lasso ends abruptly at the edge of the frame. Instead, they “see” that lasso as extending far beyond and hitting the bad guy in the face, even though those elements are not actually in the picture. The human brain is smart and fills in the gaps.

As writers, we can use closure to our advantage by being deliberate in what we crop into (and out of) the picture we present our readers. We don’t need to show mundane, repetitive actions, because readers can infer that characters do normal “human” things like commute, shower, sleep, eat meals, or go to the bathroom.

In fact, when we put these routine moments on the page, readers may expect something out of the ordinary to occur. If you’re going to describe something mundane and repetitive in a character’s life, there needs to be something significant about this particular instance that justifies including it in the frame of your story. Trust that your reader will fill in the blanks otherwise. This ties closely to the idea of negative space.

Negative Space

If you’ve ever taken an art class, you’ve likely heard teachers talk about negative space, which is the space around an object as opposed to the space occupied by the object itself. In drawing classes, I always thought it a mild form of torture when the professor would force us to sketch an object not by looking at the thing itself, but by filling in the negative space, the air around it.

[image error]While drawing negative space in an art class might make your eyes feel like staring at one of those “magic picture” 3D images, it can be a worthwhile exercise for writers when looking at their novels. In writing terms, the negative space of your story is anything that happens off the page. This might include scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor, things that happen to supporting characters when the main character isn’t around, and so forth. Yet even though these moments do not appear in the final manuscript, they still affect the story that ends up on the page.

Just like you can look at negative space and “see” the object within it, similarly those negative space story elements can influence choices you make in the story itself. When you examine your story, don’t just look at what’s on the page. Look for what’s missing, what’s not being said.

There are so many design principles that apply to writers and storytelling and I can’t wait to introduce you to more of them in my next article.

[image error]Gabriela Pereira is the founder of DIYMFA.com, the do-it-yourself alternative to a Masters degree in writing. She is also a speaker, podcast host for DIY MFA Radio, and author of the forthcoming book DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build Your Community (Writer’s Digest Books, July 2016). Join the word nerd community at DIYMFA.com/join.

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Save

Save

Save

Occupation Thesaurus Entry: Emergency Dispatcher

Jobs are as important for our characters as they are for real people. A character’s career might be their dream job or one they’ve chosen due to necessity. In your story, they might be trying to get that job or are already working in the field. Whatever the situation, as with any defining aspect for your character, you’ll need to do the proper research to be able to write that career knowledgeably.

Enter the Occupation Thesaurus. Here, you’ll find important background information on a variety of career options for your character. In addition to the basics, we’ll also be covering related info that relates to character arc and story planning, such as sources of conflict (internal and external) and how the job might impact basic human needs, thereby affecting the character’s goals. (See this post for more information on this connection.) It’s our hope that this thesaurus will share some of your research burden while also giving you ideas about your character’s occupation that you might not have considered before.

[image error]

Occupation: Emergency Dispatcher

Overview: When someone calls 911 during an emergency situation, the first point of contact is the dispatcher. This person takes calls, gathers vital information, offers medical advice when necessary (such as how to perform CPR), passes the information along to the correct agencies (police, ambulances, fire department, etc.), and records the information into a database so it’s available to all parties. While the job requirements are fairly technical, this position requires a lot of finesse, since the dispatcher will need to remain calm and think clearly under high pressure, life-or-death circumstances. Turnover is high in this field due to the stressful nature of the job.

Necessary Training: Most dispatch positions require a high school diploma or GED. Required instruction includes on-the-job training as well as extensive classroom training that usually occurs during the dispatcher’s first year.

Useful Skills, Talents, or Abilities: a knack for languages, basic first aid, enhanced hearing, exceptional memory, gaining the trust of others, good listening skills, knowledge of explosives, multitasking, predicting the weather, reading people, typing quickly, working well under pressure, being able to communicate clearly, quick decision making

Helpful Character Traits: analytical, calm, centered, cooperative, courteous, decisive, discreet, efficient, empathetic, focused, kind, objective, organized, patient, perceptive, perfectionist, persuasive, proactive, professional, pushy, sensible, supportive, wise

Sources of Friction: becoming emotional about a case while one is trying to work it, taking out workplace stress on people at home, technical difficulties or machinery malfunctions, hysterical callers who can’t be reasoned with, making a mistake that results in someone’s death or injury, freezing up at a critical moment (not knowing what to say, drawing a blank when needing to give advice, etc.), taking a call as a new dispatcher that one isn’t qualified or trained to handle, receiving a call from someone one knows, taking a call about a large-scale emergency that affects one’s loved ones, someone needing help immediately but emergency services are delayed, witnessing a traumatic event on the call (a death, kidnapping, abuse, etc.), turning off one’s feelings at work and having difficulty turning them back on again after hours, budget cuts that make one’s job difficult (resulting in old or faulty equipment, insufficient emergency vehicles and responders, lack of training, etc.), one’s performance being questioned when a call goes bad, conflicts of interest (if a loved one is a first responder with a certain team, etc.), physical discomfort from sitting in a chair and working from a computer screen for long hours, increased worry or anxiety for loved ones due to the day-to-day traumas one deals with

People They Might Interact With: people in crisis, other dispatchers, supervisors

How This Occupation Might Impact One’s Basic Needs:

Safety and Security: The situations a dispatcher encounters can become traumatizing over time. After prolonged exposure to crime, victimization, and violence, dispatchers may worry about the ability to protect their own loved ones or themselves from danger.
Love and Belonging: An emergency dispatcher has to be able to walk a fine line of being empathetic enough to help callers while not internalizing and dwelling on the situations they deal with. In some cases, dispatchers may turn off or minimize their emotions at work; if they’re unable to turn them back on after hours, it can cause strain with loved ones
Esteem and Recognition: The stakes don’t get higher than they do in this occupation. One mistake or memory lapse, or not knowing what to do in a given situation, can cost someone their life. If something does go south, it can cause a dispatcher to question their decisions and abilities, which may further impact their ability to function well at work.

Common Work-Related Settings: ambulance, car accident, emergency room, fire station, hospital room, house fire, police car, police station, prison cell

Twisting the Stereotype: There tend to be more female dispatchers, so consider this occupation for your male characters.

Got 15 Minutes? How to Write 500+ Words

Life is busy, and for many of us, writing happens in smaller blocks of time rather than in big chunks. If we fall prey to one of the many distractions that are competing for our attention, then BAM, that writing time is gone in a blink, and nothing gets written.

[image error]It doesn’t have to be this way–the terrifically brilliant Colleen Story of Writing and Wellness is here to show us that if we can find 15 minutes, we can get the words down. Please read on!

[image error]

You just put the baby down for a nap, and you’ve got 15 minutes before that conference call.

Fifteen minutes of free time. You could write! Goodness knows it’s hard enough to find the time these days. You could take advantage of this small window and finish chapter seven…maybe.

Or…you could open up your laptop and fritter away that 15 minutes reading emails, perusing your Facebook feed, or following some research tangent that you didn’t really need to follow.

If you had 15 minutes, which would you do? Here’s how to make sure you use that precious time to pound out 500 words or more.

We’ve Finding it Harder to Focus

Unfortunately, we’re living in a distracted nation, and most of us are finding it increasingly difficult to focus on anything, say nothing of our writing.

[image error]Technology giant Microsoft recently surveyed 2,000 people and studied the brain activity of 112 others to gather data about our current ability to focus. They found that the human attention span had fallen from twelve seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds today.

Goldfish, on the other hand, have been found in studies to be able to pay attention for nine seconds. (Gulp. Or should I say, glub?) The researchers blamed technology and smartphones.

As a writer pressed for time (and what writer isn’t?), you need to be able to take full advantage of any free time you may get, which means increasing your focusing skills. Here are three ways to do just that.

Make it Easy to Tune Out

You may imagine that focusing on your story is all about being able to tune into your characters, setting, and plot, but the truth is that how well you focus is about how well you can tune out everything else.

There’s a part of the brain called the “ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC)” that fires up when you need to inhibit a natural response, like answering a text or email in the middle of your writing time. It’s the brain’s natural braking system, and scientists say the better your VLPFC works, the better you are at focusing on a task.

This system isn’t the most hearty of systems, unfortunately. Things like mental fatigue, stress, interruptions, multi-tasking, and lack of exercise will all make it less effective. Age doesn’t help either. When the fine lines start showing up around your eyes and the gray hairs make their appearance, that’s about the time your brain starts changing, too, making it harder for you to resist those automatic impulses.

The first thing you need to do, then, is to make it easier on your brain to tune everything else out. You’ve got 15 minutes. Spend the first one:

Turning everything off (smartphone, Internet, email, etc.). Don’t fool yourself that you can concentrate regardless. Remove the temptations.
Isolating yourself. Put a “do not disturb” sign on the door, or hide out somewhere. (Seriously!)
If you can’t get away, use noise-cancelling headphones or music to drown out the other distractions around you.
Opening a notebook or notebook application. If a thought comes up (my brother’s birthday is tomorrow!), write it down and get your brain back on your story.
Get a glass of water. Even if you’re only slightly dehydrated, it will affect your ability to think clearly.


Meditate the Easy Way (Practice Focusing)

[image error]Most of us have trained ourselves not to focus by responding to distractions all the time. (“Ooh, I got 50 retweets!”) Meditation can help you ditch this bad habit. And don’t worry—you don’t have to be fancy about it.

All you have to do is set the timer for ten minutes, sit quietly, breathe deeply, and focus on one thing. Maybe it’s an image of your favorite place, a candle flame, a spoken sound, or the flower in the corner of the room. Allow your thoughts to come and go without reacting to them. Keep bringing your attention back to your focal point.

Expect it to be uncomfortable. Expect that your brain will keep bugging you to do something else. Resist. Sit. Focus. (I dare you.)

Meditation is the perfect training for focus and concentration. The more you do it, the better you will get at it. If you try it for just a week, you’ll likely notice improvements in your ability to focus faster.

Practice Delayed Gratification

You can make your VLPFC stronger by finding daily ways to resist your impulses.

Start by resisting for only five minutes. If you want that donut or other nighttime snack, make yourself wait for five minutes. If you’re dying to answer a text, wait for five minutes. If you feel a little chilled, give it five minutes before you put on your sweater.

The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it, until you’re able to focus quickly and for long periods of time without getting distracted.

[image error]Guess What? It Takes Only Weeks to Improve Your Focusing Skills!

As it becomes easier to sink into your story every day, broaden your application to your other projects. Ask yourself how long it takes you to focus on a task at work, for example, on a conversation with a colleague or friend, or even on a television show. Watch yourself to see how often you are distracted, and how many times you resist those distractions.

 Focus is a skill, much like playing a musical instrument or…writing! Practice, practice, practice, and you will get better. You may surprise yourself at how quickly you can pound out those 500+ words.

Sources
Kevin McSpadden, “You Now Have a Shorter Attention Span than a Goldfish,” Time, May 13, 2015, http://time.com/3858309/attention-spa....

[image error]Colleen M. Story is the author of Overwhelmed Writer Rescue—a motivational and inspiring read full of practical, personalized solutions to help writers escape the tyranny of the to-do list and nurture the genius within. Get your free chapter here!

For more information, please see her motivational blog Writing and Wellness and her author website, or follow her on Twitter (@colleen_m_story).

Critiques 4 U!

[image error]Oh my gosh, people! What a roller coaster the last two weeks (months??) have been. But The Emotional Wound Thesaurus has officially been released into the wild, launch week is done, and now Angela and I can safely collapse :). Let me just take one more opportunity to thank everyone who participated in our celebration, those of you who bought a copy of the book, and anyone who has sent us a kind word of encouragement about our work. It’s been a tiring week but also an uplifting and exciting one. We’re so grateful to all of you!

With all the craziness, it’s been a few months since we’ve been able to host a critique contest. I didn’t want to let another month go by without one, so in the spirit of getting things back to normal, its CRITIQUE TIME!

If you’re working on a first page and would like some objective feedback, please leave a comment that includes: 

1) your email address. Some of you have expressed concern about making your email address public; if you’re sure that the email address associated with your WordPress account is correct, you don’t have to include it here. But if you do win and I’m unable to contact you through that email address, I’ll have to choose an alternate winner.

2) your story’s genre (no erotica, please)

Also, please be sure your first page is ready to go so I can critique it before next month’s contest rolls around. If it needs some work and you won’t be able to get it to me right away, I’d like to ask that you plan on entering the next contest, once any necessary tweaking has been taken care of.

Writers Are Beautiful People…And No Matter What, They Persevere

[image error]Just a very quick note to thank everyone who participated in #writerspersevere. Oh my gosh, the stories we read…you guys truly are amazing people. Becca and I admire you so much. It is clear to us that just like the characters we write, we may come from different backgrounds, different life paths, and we have suffered different types of pain, but we are all the same when it comes to our passion for story and our persevering spirits.

For some, what I asked wasn’t easy. Opening up about difficulties we have faced or still face…this can make us feel exposed. But I want you to know I saw something else as I read through the comments to your posts, and responded to messages and emails: people were inspired by you. They felt a kinship with what you struggle with. And best of all, several people told me that what you said and what we all celebrated these last few days gave them courage to keep going. So thank you for sharing those stories.

[image error]I know exhaustion causes me to wander ever closer to  the the precipice where my sappy, sentimental thoughts live (somewhere in NY Becca is screaming, I am sure, lol), but every day, writers astound me with their kindness. It is such an honor to be part of the community. A big thank you to everyone who sent in stories, loaned us their blogs, tweeted and shared, commented, reviewed out books, and wished us well as we launched book #6.  With each book, we try to do right by you and earn the faith you have in us. Becca and I hope you find this newest volume to be just what you need to carry your writing upward.

Help Us Celebrate The Incredible Strength of Writers (And A New Book!)

[image error] The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Emotional Trauma is out in the world!

Full disclosure: this book was not easy to write. Emotional wounds are not fictional–they create heartache in the real world, too. Life, as we are all acutely aware, can be a painful teacher.

But for us to bring truth to the page we must be willing to explore all aspects of the human experience, including the psychological trauma of the past. Writers are in a unique position in that they can take these negative life lessons and use them to build authentic characters with real motivations.

We want strong, realistic characters who remind readers of themselves so they see their own life journey within the mirror of the story. If we dig deep enough, we can accomplish this.

The Writer’s Journey

But what of us writers? None of us are strangers to struggle. In fact we share one: battling the same hurdles, challenges, and sacrifices attached to a career in writing.

This is NOT an easy path to follow. Writer’s doubt is a constant companion. It takes passion–and perseverance–to keep going.
And guess what? All of you are doing it!  Because #writerspersevere

For this release, we’re inviting writers to blog about some of the obstacles they have overcome on the writing road. Check out the list at the end of this post and read a few of these stories. Let’s draw inspiration from the incredible strength of other writers. If you like, join in! Share your own story if you like, and inspire others!

[image error]

 

In addition to this, we’re running a giveaway! What can you win? Well, that’s up to you, because the more you share any of the images here, along with the #writerspersevere hashtag, the MORE PRIZES we will add to the prize vault.
Here’s what a FULLY UNLOCKED vault looks like:

[image error]

(Pretty epic, right?)

Winning something on this list could give you a BIG BOOST toward your next writing goal or milestone! More information on each of these prizes can be found HERE.

ENTERING THE GIVEAWAY

18 years or older? Meet the legal requirements here? BOOM, just fill out

 THIS FORM.
Then . . .


1) share this post (or one that links to this post) where appropriate.


2) add an image from the post & the hashtag #writerspersevere
We’ll count the hashtags. The more you share, the more prizes we’ll unlock!

Prizes (the final tally to be determined by Becca and me) will be drawn MIDNIGHT EST Oct 27th, and winners will be notified Oct 28th.  You have 48 hours to claim your prize, or we’ll redraw, so watch your email box! Full rules here. Prize descriptions here.

[image error]One more thing.

Each year, Becca and I donate some of our royalties to a special charity. Because our book is centered on emotionally wounding events, we’ve chosen the American Association for Suicide Prevention. Thank you for supporting us, so we in turn can pay it forward and help others.

Good luck!
#writerspersevere
To see currently unlocked prizes, visit THIS PAGE.
To read stories of inspiration and strength, follow the links below…or join in and share your own experience!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The Mother Lode of Links on Writing Emotional Wounds

[image error]Hi everyone! I thought with the release of  The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma, I’d do a round up of posts on emotional wounds to help with this super-challenging area.

Today I am over at Jane Friedman’s blog looking at Using Dysfunctional Behavior to Reveal Characters’ Emotional Wounds. This post looks at some of the negative defense mechanisms we can use to hint to readers that the character is struggling with the pain of an emotional wound.

If you want to back up the bus a bit and really go over What Is an Emotional Wound? then Becca’s got this covered. (It’s an excerpt from the book, too!)

Here are some ideas on How to Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound, and if you want to understand what “type” of wound your character has, try Understanding Character Wounds: A List of Common Themes.

If you want to better grasp how emotional wounds lead to personality flaws and other types of dysfunctional emotional shielding, check out How Your Hero’s Past Pain Determines His Character Flaws.

[image error]Also, swing by the Tools for Writers page because we’ve already uploaded tools from The Emotional Wound book. We think you’ll find the Character Arc Progression Tool and the Backstory Wound Profile VERY helpful!

If you’d like to check out The Emotional Wound Thesaurus just visit this page here.

You can also add it to your Goodreads shelf. Or if you want to access all 13 of our thesauri in one place online, check out One Stop for Writers’s version of this thesaurus, which we will be adding even more entries to in coming days.

Help Us With Fundraising?

[image error]Finally, if you think you’d be interested in obtaining a webinar recording of an Emotional Wound Master Class Becca and I will be giving, just leave us your address HERE and we’ll contact you with more information as soon as we have it.

We will be selling these recordings for the unbelievable bargain of $10 each to raise money to go toward a writer in our community who lost her home in the California Cascade wildfire. ALL profits will go toward the effort to rebuild.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!
[image error]

From Oct 25 – 27th, we have a stunningly huge amount of prizes up for grabs…if you guys can work together to unlock the vault!

Stop by and enter here!
 

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

A Mother Lode of Links on Writing Emotional Wounds

[image error]Hi everyone! I thought as we all sit on pins and needles waiting for our book launch event on October 25th for The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma, I’d do a round up of posts on emotional wounds to help with this super-challenging area.

Today I am over at Jane Friedman’s blog looking at Using Dysfunctional Behavior to Reveal Characters’ Emotional Wounds. This post looks at some of the negative defense mechanisms we can use to hint to readers that the character is struggling with the pain of an emotional wound.

If you want to back up the bus a bit and really go over What Is an Emotional Wound? then Becca’s got this covered. (It’s an excerpt from the book, too!)

Here are some ideas on How to Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound, and if you want to understand what “type” of wound your character has, try Understanding Character Wounds: A List of Common Themes.

If you want to better grasp how emotional wounds lead to personality flaws and other types of dysfunctional emotional shielding, check out How Your Hero’s Past Pain Determines His Character Flaws.

[image error]Also, swing by the Tools for Writers page because we’ve already uploaded tools from The Emotional Wound book. We think you’ll find the Character Arc Progression Tool and the Backstory Wound Profile VERY helpful!

By the way, did you know The Emotional Wound Thesaurus is now out?

 

Yes, both the Print & Digital versions are now available. Woot!

Retailer links are HERE.

If you like, add it to your Goodreads shelf. Or if you want to access all 13 of our thesauri in one place online, check out One Stop for Writers’s version of this thesaurus, which we will be adding even more entries to in coming days.

Help Us With Fundraising?

[image error]Finally, if you think you’d be interested in obtaining a webinar recording of an Emotional Wound Master Class Becca and I will be giving, just leave us your address HERE and we’ll contact you with more information as soon as we have it.

We will be selling these recordings for the unbelievable bargain of $10 each to raise money to go toward a writer in our community who lost her home in the California Cascade wildfire. ALL profits will go toward the effort to rebuild.

Don’t forget to check back October 25-27th. We are celebrating How Writers Persevere and have a fantastic giveaway in store!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

A Mother-lode of Links on Writing Emotional Wounds

[image error]Hi everyone! I thought as we all sit on pins and needles waiting for our book launch event on October 25th for The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma, I’d do a round up of posts on emotional wounds to help with this super-challenging area.

Today I am over at Jane Friedman’s blog looking at Using Dysfunctional Behavior to Reveal Characters’ Emotional Wounds. This post looks at some of the negative defense mechanisms we can use to hint to readers that the character is struggling with the pain of an emotional wound.

If you want to back up the bus a bit and really go over What Is an Emotional Wound? then Becca’s got this covered. (It’s an excerpt from the book, too!)

Here are some ideas on How to Uncover Your Character’s Emotional Wound, and if you want to understand what “type” of wound your character has, try Understanding Character Wounds: A List of Common Themes.

If you want to better grasp how emotional wounds lead to personality flaws and other types of dysfunctional emotional shielding, check out How Your Hero’s Past Pain Determines His Character Flaws.

[image error]Also, swing by the Tools for Writers page because we’ve already uploaded tools from The Emotional Wound book. We think you’ll find the Character Arc Progression Tool and the Backstory Wound Profile VERY helpful!

By the way, did you know The Emotional Wound Thesaurus ebook is already available?

The ebooks hit the digital shelves early, which is awesome. And don’t worry, the print version is on it’s way…just a few more days. While you are waiting though, you can add it to your Goodreads shelf or check out the One Stop for Writers version of this thesaurus, which we will be adding even more entries to in coming days.

Help Us With Fundraising?

[image error]Finally, if you think you’d be interested in obtaining a webinar recording of an Emotional Wound Master Class Becca and I will be giving, just leave us your address HERE and we’ll contact you with more information as soon as we have it.

We will be selling these recordings for the unbelievable bargain of $10 each to raise money to go toward a writer in our community who lost her home in the California Cascade wildfire. ALL profits will go toward the effort to rebuild.

Don’t forget to check back October 25-27th. We are celebrating How Writers Persevere and have a fantastic giveaway in store!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save