Angela Ackerman's Blog: Writers Helping Writers, page 33

How to Build Sizzling Sexual Tension in Your Novel

Writing Sexual Tension

Are you tired of writing boring and uneventful romance scenes? Do your readers seem disinterested or even put off by the lack of chemistry between your characters? Fear not!

In this post, I am going to explore how to build sizzling sexual tension in your novel that will leave your readers begging for more. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting out, these tips and tricks will help bring heat to your pages and keep readers flipping until the very end. So, buckle up, it’s about to get steamy in here!

What is Sexual Tension?

Sexual tension is a key ingredient in many successful novels. Whilst sexual tension turns up most in romance novels, it can be part of ANY story. For example, I wrote sexual tension in my crime novel, The Other Twin.

Sexual tension is that feeling of excitement and anticipation you get when something hot and heavy is happening between the characters, but they haven’t yet acted on their desires.

Done well, sexual tension can be incredibly addictive for readers. It keeps them turning pages late into the night, eager to see what will happen next.

If you’re hoping to create some sexual tension in your own novel, there are a few key things to keep in mind. Ready? Let’s go!

i) First, don’t rush it

Take your time building up the attraction between your characters. Let them flirt with each other, or exchange longing looks. Maybe they even engage in some light physical contact before they finally give in to their desires.

ii) Make sure the stakes are high

If there’s no risk involved, then there’s no real tension. Will giving in to their feelings ruin their friendship? Threaten their careers? Put them in danger? The more at stake, the higher the tension can be.

iii) Establish what each character wants

What are their goals? What do they want? Why do they want it? This will help create conflict and tension between your characters as they try to achieve their goals while also dealing with their attraction to one another.

iv) Build up the sexual chemistry between your characters gradually

Don’t let them fall into bed together too quickly. Let the reader see the simmering desire between them, the little looks and touches that build up the anticipation.

v) Use body language

A lot of communication is non-verbal. Use this to your advantage by having your characters give each other smouldering looks, brush up against each other accidentally, or engage in subtle flirtation.

When writing sexual tension between your characters, it is important to consider the body language you use. The way your characters stand, sit, or move can amplify the attraction and tension between them.

For example, if two characters are standing close together, their bodies may be angled toward each other in a way that suggests they are eager to be close. Or, if they are sitting next to each other on a couch, their legs may be intertwined in a way that suggests they cannot keep their hands off each other.

vi) Build up the anticipation

Don’t let your characters act on their desires too soon. Make them yearn for each other, wonder what it would be like to touch or be touched by the other person. The longer you can drag this out, the greater the pay-off will be when they finally give in to temptation.

By building up that sense of anticipation, you build up the sexual tension between characters. This means you can create a scene that is truly sizzling with sexual tension.

vii) Establish boundaries early on

Make it clear from the outset that there are certain things your characters will not do. This will heighten the sexual tension as they work around these boundaries.

For example, in the TV series The Rookie, there was sexual tension between Officer Bradford and his rookie Chen from the offset. However, he is her superior and a stand-up guy, so he would never act on this. Similarly, when Chen graduates and becomes an officer herself, she will not act on her feelings and cheat on her boyfriend with Bradford.

When the officers DO finally get together, Bradford has been promoted to sergeant. This prompts him to take a demotion so he can drop out of Chen’s line of command.

vii) Make sure your characters have flaws

No one is perfect, so by giving your characters believable flaws and vulnerabilities, you’ll make them more relatable��and increase the sexual tension as they try to hide those imperfections from each other.

viii) Write sexually charged dialogue

Sexually charged dialogue can be a great way to build sexual tension between characters in a novel. By writing dialogue that is flirty, suggestive, or even graphic, you can create a scene that is full of sexual tension. Erotica novels often do this, but you can utilise this technique in any story you choose.

ix) Don’t forget about the little things

Sexual tension is often created as much by what is NOT said or done. A charged silence, a stolen glance, an accidental touch … These are all things that can ratchet up the tension and leave readers desperate for more.

Concluding …

Sexual tension can be a key ingredient in making your novel sizzle. When it comes to writing romance into ANY story, one of the most important elements is sexual tension. This is what will keep your readers turning the pages, desperate to find out what happens next.

Remember to pay attention to the characters�� emotional states and body language. This will make all the difference between writing a mundane scene or a passionate encounter. If used correctly, creating this type of atmosphere can help readers get deeply invested in your book and its characters. MORE: Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Sex Scenes

Good Luck!

The post How to Build Sizzling Sexual Tension in Your Novel appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

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Published on June 20, 2023 02:00

Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Rebel Archetype

In 1959, Carl Jung first popularized the idea of archetypes��”universal images that have existed since the remotest times.” He posited that every person is a blend of these 12 basic personalities. Ever since then, authors have been applying this idea to fictional characters, combining the different archetypes to come up with interesting new versions. The result is a sizable pool of character tropes that we see from one story to another.

Archetypes and tropes are popular storytelling elements because of their familiarity. Upon seeing them, readers know immediately who they’re dealing with and what role the nerd, dark lord, femme fatale, or monster hunter will play. As authors, we need to recognize the commonalities for each trope so we can write them in a recognizable way and create a rudimentary sketch for any character we want to create.

But when it comes to characters, no one wants just a sketch; we want a vibrant and striking cast full of color, depth, and contrast. Diving deeper into character creation is especially important when starting with tropes because the blessing of their familiarity is also a curse; without differentiation, the characters begin to look the same from story to story.

But no more. The Character Type and Trope Thesaurus allows you to outline the foundational elements of each trope while also exploring how to individualize them. In this way, you’ll be able to use historically tried-and-true character types to create a cast for your story that is anything but traditional.

Rebel Archetype

DESCRIPTION: Rebels are out-of-the-box thinkers who like to push boundaries and are undaunted by chaos. Whether they’re organizing a revolution, seeking revenge, or are making personal choices that challenge the status quo, these characters are often the catalyst for change.

FICTIONAL EXAMPLES: Robin Hood (the Robin Hood legend), Lisbeth Salander (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), William Wallace (Braveheart), Ferris Bueller (Ferris Bueller��s Day Off), Estella/Cruella (Cruella)

COMMON STRENGTHS: Adventurous, Bold, Creative, Decisive, Focused, Independent, Intelligent, Passionate, Persistent, Persuasive, Private, Quirky, Resourceful, Socially Aware, Spunky

COMMON WEAKNESSES: Antisocial, Confrontational, Cynical, Disrespectful, Evasive, Impatient, Impulsive, Judgmental, Manipulative, Pushy, Rebellious, Reckless, Stubborn, Uncooperative, Vindictive, Volatile

ASSOCIATED ACTIONS, BEHAVIORS, AND TENDENCIES
Deviating from societal norms��has their own style, refuses to conform to expectations or roles, etc.
Easily breaking laws and rules they disagree with
Being oppositional; is comfortable being at odds with others
Calling out injustice when they see it
Exhibiting loner behaviors (prefers solitude, keeps their own council, values privacy, etc.)
Respecting those who think for themselves
Engaging willingly in acts of subversion
Taking risks
Not always thinking things true (impulsivity)
Emotional volatility
Being blunt rather than sparing people’s feelings or beating around the bush
Distrusting authority figures, assuming they’re inept or corrupt
Difficulty following other people’s processes or instructions
Looking for ways to poke holes in the system or undermine the people in power
Discernment; being able to read people and see their true motives
Struggling in controlled environments, such as classrooms and 9-to-5 jobs
Making choices based on personal beliefs and values
Needing freedom to flourish (of thought, movement, opportunity, etc.)
Having less attachments than most people (to others, places, possessions, etc.)
Being highly loyal to the few people the character trusts
Scorning people who follow the rules or do what society dictates
Viewing themselves as being alone against the world
Engaging in delinquent or criminal behavior

SITUATIONS THAT WILL CHALLENGE THEM
Being asked by a trusted loved one to conform in some way
Having to enforce rules or norms (with a younger sibling, at work, etc.)
Being forced into a situation where the character must follow rules and take orders (being sent to military school, needing to stay in a job with an overbearing boss, etc.)
Becoming aware of an injustice that will require the character to work with people they despise
Being watched and monitored
Being betrayed by a trusted ally, friend, or family member
Seeing a path to change but being blocked from it

INNER STRUGGLES TO GIVE THEM DEPTH
Seeing admirable characteristics in someone with opposing views or beliefs
Wanting to remain self-reliant but growing tired of the isolation
Discovering the cause they are fighting for is not what it purports to be
Having a loved one join the cause who is unsuited to navigate the dangers ahead
Being confronted with a truth that threatens everything the character believes in
Experiencing a failure that threatens the character’s self-esteem and confidence

TWIST THIS TROPE WITH A CHARACTER WHO��
Is secretly attracted to someone with opposing beliefs or who is in a position of authority
Is an extrovert and is always part of a group despite despising what the group stands for
Has other interests and goals, rather than a single focus on bringing the system down
Is ironically living a lie, rebelling when what they really want is a normal, uneventful life
Has a secret that, if discovered, reveals they are a hypocrite
Has surprising common ground with those they are seeking to undermine
Has a physical or cognitive challenge that they won’t allow to limit them
Is also a mother, grandfather, or other type of nurturing caretaker
Has an a-typical trait: diplomatic, tactful, hypocritical, vain, nurturing, materialistic, etc.

CLICH��S TO BE AWARE OF
The reluctant rebel who must lead the revolution but doesn’t want to
Inspirational rebels with no flaws to humanize them
The single-minded rebel who is devoted only to the cause and has no other passions or interests
The impulsive rebel who sacrifices everyone to the cause, then feels guilty about it later

Other Type and Trope Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (16 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

If you like, swing by and check out the video walkthrough for this site, and then give our Free Trial a spin.

The post Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Rebel Archetype appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

View more on Angela Ackerman's website »

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Published on June 17, 2023 00:39

Writing About Emotional Trauma Without Triggering Readers

Trigger warnings are often debated in the writing world. Some opine that readers should be warned if something potentially harmful is included in a book, and others feel the audience shouldn��t be bubble-wrapped and need to chin up if they want to read fiction. Like most things, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.

It can be easy to scoff away the idea of ��being triggered�� if one has never experienced damaging trauma, or if they have, they were able to process it in a healthy way. The reality is that dealing with emotional trauma is 100% personal. Even people experiencing the exact same event will cope with it differently based on their personality, age, support system, past experiences, education, and a host of other factors. So, assuming everyone should react the same way is ill-informed.

Where does this leave us, the authors? Ironically, in the same place had the trigger debate never occurred: we do our best to respect our readers, and use good judgment as we write.

No matter how dark and gritty our fiction is, we should never be gratuitous, meaning we should only show what we need to, not more. Genres will vary, but even if you��re writing a torture scene, there��s no need to slap every scream, sensation, and sweat drop onto the page. Overdone description will kill the pace and the impact will be lost under a wall of sensory words. Just like any other scene, our description should be balanced, pulling readers in without overwhelming them.

Here are a few ideas on how to handle potentially triggering content.

Use Symbolism and Mood to Seed Hints

The back jacket copy should indicate some of what will unfold in the story and perhaps even allude to trauma your character experienced in the past. But you will still need to show a scene (or several) that portrays these wounding experiences. If you��re worried about triggering, then don��t have this event slam into the reader out of nowhere. Lay a few clues so readers can put emotional safeguards up if they need to.

Mood, for example, is an excellent way to steer reader emotion. Weather, light and shadow, and universal symbolism can all help you nudge the reader toward the dark content about to be shown. Personal symbolism tied to the POV character can also lay the groundwork that something hurtful may be about to unfold: a sound, a smell, an object, a texture, a place that has specific meaning for the character. Including something that triggers their memory can help foreshadow something uncomfortable may be coming.

For example, if your character is about to be assaulted behind the restaurant where she works, take a moment to show her reluctance to take the garbage out. Maybe it��s because of the lack of alley lighting, or a memory surfaces of being surprised by a ranting homeless man who was digging in the trash another time she performed this chore. You could have her ease the door open and try and listen for hidden noises before venturing out to the bin. Or have an unpleasant odor hit her as she enters the dark. Symbolism and mood not only increase tension, they can give a subtle heads up that something significant is about to happen.

Vary Your Narrative Distance

Deep POV is all the rage these days, but there are times when we shouldn��t use it. Don��t get me wrong, I��m not suggesting that emotionally difficult scenes should be reported rather than experienced from within the character��s shoes. I��m suggesting that you can pull readers in using deep POV to feel the intimate sensations and horror of the moment for a while and then zoom out to give them a break. A bit of filtering language (she thought, she smelled, he reached, he felt, it seemed, etc.) can achieve this as it adds distance. Or you could occasionally choose to name an emotion rather than show it in depth (NOTE: be careful with these techniques��always have a reason for using them or it will come across as lazy writing).

Weave In Facts (Telling) To Give a Break From Showing

Show, Don��t Tell implies ��all or nothing,�� but really this rule is meant to convey that writers should knowing WHAT to show (and when), and WHAT to tell. Deeply emotional scenes work best when there��s a good mix of show AND tell. Breaking up painful emotion and sensory detail with a few factual statements creates a balance, and if you need it to, will slide in a touch of distance so readers aren��t overwhelmed.

A good example of this is the Hunger Games, when Peeta and Katniss are on the Cornucopia as a fellow tribute is being torn apart by genetically engineered dogs. Susanne Collins doesn��t describe every gore spray and tear although she could have (the book states this goes on for over an hour, because of course the game makers are all about putting on a show). Describing such a horrific scene in full would be gratuitous and most people would stop reading. As someone attacked by a dog as a child and dragged around in the snow, helpless, I know I would have. But Collins handled it well, using narrative distance, selective show and tell, and information to get the horror across without overdoing it.

Only you can decide how close and personal you want to get with emotionally traumatic situations. It��s your story, your art. If you can justify to yourself what you need to show and why, you are respecting readers. It will feel authentic, not gratuitous, and they should respect your storytelling style in turn.

How to Show the Impact of a Wound

The Emotional Wound Database at One Stop for Writers contains over 120 types of trauma a character might have experienced, including abandonment, injustices, betrayals, hardships, failures & mistakes, childhood trauma and more.

If you need help, each entry guides you to better understand how a character’s behavior and personality may change in the aftermath of a specific trauma, the fears that can emerge, and how their view of themselves and the world shifts.

Examples from this database:
Being Stalked
Telling the Truth and Not Being Believed
Accidentally Killing Someone
More emotional wounds

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Published on June 15, 2023 02:00

Story vs. Plot vs. Theme: Know Your 5Ws and H

Journalism writing often uses the 5W1H structure. The first few paragraphs of a news article should answer 6 basic questions (which start with 5 Ws and an H): Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

While fiction writing doesn��t try to cram the essentials into the beginning paragraphs, those same questions are important for our storytelling. In fact, we can use specific questions from that structure to understand the big picture��or essence��of our story, plot, and theme.

Story vs. Plot

First, though, we need to understand that our story and our plot are not the same. A story is about our characters�� struggle, while a plot is the events that reveal the characters and choices explored in the story.

Let��s illustrate the difference with an example plot idea: An asteroid is coming to smash the Earth to smithereens.

Yikes! Okay, but what about it? Who��s doing the struggling against those consequences?

Without characters, that asteroid��s just going to do its thing, same as it would on an uninhabited planet. Boom, crash, the end. There��s no story there because there��s no story problem there��no characters attempting to overcome the obstacles of the plot.

What��s a Story?

To have a story, we need characters who face a problem. And it��s only when we decide who our characters are or the choices they��ll face that we��ll know what our asteroid story is:

Plucky team of astronauts try to destroy the asteroid before it reaches Earth.Doomed world leaders debate how to help their citizens react in the last days.Estranged family members reach out to each other and heal wounds before the end.And so on��

Each of those character examples defines a story problem��they want to destroy, debate, or heal. In turn, the story problem defines the story, as the characters attempt to solve their problem.

What��s a Plot?

On the other hand, if the asteroid is only big enough to cause a few cloudy days, our characters would have no reason to make big changes or choices. That��s where plot comes in: Plot events are the triggers forcing choices and changes in our characters.

Story Questions vs. Plot Questions

Now back to that 5W1H structure��

Story Questions

As a story is about a struggle or an attempt to solve a story problem, we can begin to define the layers of our story with questions that focus on that struggle or problem:

Who? Who is doing the struggling or attempting to solve the problem? (team of astronauts)What? What is the struggle or problem? What do our characters want? (destroy the asteroid)

We can further define our story with other questions, especially in certain genres such as historical or science fiction (When? 1892 or the distant future, Where? England or outer space), but the two bullets above are generally the most important.

Plot Questions

As a plot is about the events that force choices and changes, we can begin to define the layers of our plot with questions that focus on those events:

How? How are the characters being pushed into action or choices? How are they trying to reach their goal? (an asteroid is coming to smash the Earth, so they��re trying to blow it up)

Note that it may seem like additional questions would help us further define the plot:

What? What plot events will best reveal our characters? (an accident takes out the mission leader and the protagonist needs to step up)When? or Where? to describe the circumstances causing the story to take place now (explaining the reasons those estranged family members finally reach out to each other, when they technically could have healed the wounded relationship at any time)

But those are all just other ways of getting at the How, defining the triggers that force the changes and choices in our story.

How Does Our Story��s Theme Fit In?

Theme is usually said to be a story��s ��message,�� but what does that mean in practice? How can we define what the theme of a particular story might be, especially when��

themes are less concrete or obvious (often found in the subtext or a single sentence)stories contain multiple themes (formed by story premise, worldview, character arc, plot events, etc.)stories often include unintended themes (which can undermine our intended themes)

In other words, we might not know what our story��s themes are��or should be. Even if we brainstorm from ��theme idea�� lists, those nouns or short phrases (war vs. peace, coming of age, love, survival, etc.) aren��t themes until we figure out what we��re trying to say about that topic.

Theme Questions

To figure out what we��re trying to say with our story, we can begin to define the layers of our themes with big-picture questions:

Why? Why does our character participate in the story (in the big picture)? Why are we writing this story? (such as: our protagonist believes the world is worth saving, or we want to inspire others to not give up)

Our Why answers help us narrow down what we��re trying to say with our story, which then helps us define our intended themes. Our protagonist could learn to not take life for granted. Our plot events could present reasons and opportunities for our protagonist to give up, but they believe in the importance of their actions and make choices revealing their persistence. And so on.

From Journalism to Storytelling

Taking a page from journalism writing to identify the most important aspects of our story can help us see the big picture as we plan, draft, or edit our story. Using the 5W1H questions forces us to focus on the essence of our story, especially:

Who are our characters?What do they want?How are they going to try to get it?Why is the story important (to our character(s) and to us)?

Those answers give us direction as we attempt to get our big-picture thoughts onto the page for our readers to enjoy. *smile*

Have you ever struggled to see your story��s big picture or to identify/develop your story��s themes? Does this framework of using specific questions to define our story��s essence make sense to you? Do you have any questions about story vs. plot vs. theme or how to apply these questions?

The post Story vs. Plot vs. Theme: Know Your 5Ws and H appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

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Published on June 12, 2023 22:04

Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Orphan Archetype

In 1959, Carl Jung first popularized the idea of archetypes��”universal images that have existed since the remotest times.” He posited that every person is a blend of these 12 basic personalities. Ever since then, authors have been applying this idea to fictional characters, combining the different archetypes to come up with interesting new versions. The result is a sizable pool of character tropes that we see from one story to another.

Archetypes and tropes are popular storytelling elements because of their familiarity. Upon seeing them, readers know immediately who they’re dealing with and what role the nerd, dark lord, femme fatale, or monster hunter will play. As authors, we need to recognize the commonalities for each trope so we can write them in a recognizable way and create a rudimentary sketch for any character we want to create.

But when it comes to characters, no one wants just a sketch; we want a vibrant and striking cast full of color, depth, and contrast. Diving deeper into character creation is especially important when starting with tropes because the blessing of their familiarity is also a curse; without differentiation, the characters begin to look the same from story to story.

But no more. The Character Type and Trope Thesaurus allows you to outline the foundational elements of each trope while also exploring how to individualize them. In this way, you’ll be able to use historically tried-and-true character types to create a cast for your story that is anything but traditional.

Orphan Archetype

DESCRIPTION: Orphans are characterized by trauma, neglect, and/or rejection. Having lost their own family (or never having had one to begin with), they’re driven by a need to belong and will go to great lengths to find acceptance. This makes orphans especially susceptible to manipulation and abuse which, over time, can result in them becoming withdrawn and further isolated.

FICTIONAL EXAMPLES: Harry Potter (the Harry Potter series), Oliver Twist (Oliver Twist), Kya Clark (Where the Crawdads Sing), Simba (The Lion King), Will Hunting (Good Will Hunting)

COMMON STRENGTHS: Alert, Cautious, Discreet, Empathetic, Humble, Independent, Intelligent, Loyal, Observant, Perceptive, Persistent, Private, Proactive, Resourceful, Spunky

COMMON WEAKNESSES: Abrasive, Apathetic, Childish, Cynical, Defensive, Dishonest, Evasive, Impulsive, Insecure, Irresponsible, Oversensitive, Paranoid, Rebellious, Reckless, Resentful, Rowdy, Self-Destructive, Stubborn, Uncooperative, Volatile, Withdrawn

ASSOCIATED ACTIONS, BEHAVIORS, AND TENDENCIES
Being highly observant
Sticking like glue to the trustworthy people in their life
Being highly attuned to injustice, manipulation, and other forms of abuse
Fighting for justice and equality
Resiliency
Having just a few close friends
Being unable to see the faults of the people they’re loyal to
Getting involved in toxic relationships (because it’s what the character is used to)
Sacrificing personal beliefs or standards if it means gaining affection from someone
Difficulty setting or maintaining personal boundaries
Being too eager when someone shows them attention
Difficulty trusting others
Becoming reconciled to isolation because it’s better than risking being hurt again
Being suspicious of people and their motives
Being jaded
Keeping people at arm’s length
Sabotaging relationships to avoid abandonment or rejection
Not rushing into new relationships or situations; taking time to evaluate them first
Being dishonest or evasive when it comes to personal information
Finding community on the fringes (through hobbies, interests, lifestyle, etc.)
Being insecure and unsure of their own worth
Struggling with depression
Abusing drugs or alcohol
Adopting a victim mentality
Being highly independent (because they’ve had to be)

SITUATIONS THAT WILL CHALLENGE THEM
Suspecting that a trusted friend is being dishonest
A friend questioning the motives of someone close to the character
Being forced to face their unresolved past trauma
Being specifically targeted by a con-artist or manipulator
Entering a new environment (school, a new job, etc.) that requires the character to start over with strangers
A love interest wanting to take the relationship to the next level

INNER STRUGGLES TO GIVE THEM DEPTH
Being offered a place in a group, but it means having to change or hide who they really are
Being accustomed to playing the victim for past hurts but recognizing that their own decisions are now train-wrecking their life
Struggling with insecurity and feelings of inadequacy
Doubting their gut responses (because their need for acceptance has driven them into toxic relationships or bad situations in the past)
Believing there’s something wrong with them, that they’re to blame for being abandoned or alone
Struggling with despair; believing their situation will never change

TWIST THIS TROPE WITH A CHARACTER WHO��
Has been orphaned but maintains their optimism and hope in humanity
Has learned a valuable skill or ability because of their abandonment
Is able to view their abandonment as a positive (because it frees them from an abusive environment, allows them to relocate, etc.)
Isn’t financially dependent on the family that abandons them, making it possible for them to survive without being monetarily crippled
Has an atypical trait: obedient, respectful, diplomatic, confident, fussy, scatterbrained, etc.

CLICH��S TO BE AWARE OF
The literal orphan whose problems are solved when they’re adopted into a family
Groups of orphans banding together to form their own family or community
Villains who started out as orphans��

Other Type and Trope Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (16 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

If you like, swing by and check out the video walkthrough for this site, and then give our Free Trial a spin.

The post Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Orphan Archetype appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

View more on Angela Ackerman's website »

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Published on June 10, 2023 00:40

Using Talents and Skills to Reveal Hidden Layers

When you��re creating a well-rounded and realistic character, there are many factors to consider: their backstory, personality traits, fears, desires��the list goes on. Each is important because it plays a part in defining and fleshing out the character for readers. But there��s another aspect of characterization that authors overlook��one single element that can reveal multiple hidden layers about who your character really is: a talent or skill.

At first blush, this may not make sense. Why does it matter that my character can bake or read people or throw their voice? These are things they do. What does a talent or skill tell people about who they are?

I��m so glad you asked .

Personality Traits

Let��s say your character has been dancing since they could walk and their star is on the rise. They��re an accomplished dancer, sure, but as such, there are certain things you can also infer about their personality:

They��re likely to be disciplined��not only in the hours spent practicing, but in their diet and the things they give up to devote so much time to the art. To achieve this level of skill, the character is going to be incredibly driven.Their work ethic is no joke.They may be a bit of a perfectionist.

Many talents and skills can give readers an overview of who the character is personality-wise. Revealing a talent in the story��s opening is a great way of showing this information to the reader instead of telling them. Then it��s just a matter of reinforcing the associated traits as the story goes on.

Other Strengths and Abilities

Not only can a talent reveal personality, it can also hint at other aptitudes that are common or even required for that activity. If your character is skilled at hot-wiring cars, for instance, they��re also going to be good with their hands, have knowledge of wiring and how electronics work, and be adept at blending in and avoiding notice. They might be mechanically minded overall, and this specific talent is just one piece of their skillset.

Knowing how other abilities coincide with a talent or skill can give you realistic ideas of what else the character might be able to do and how those aptitudes could play into your story.

Values and Morals

How the character uses their talent can tell you something about their moral code and belief system. White hat hackers, humane hunters, and serial killers who only prey on people who have caused great harm��these are examples of characters using their skills in ways that hint at deeper values. When it comes to using skills to characterize, the how and why can matter even more than the what.

Motivation and Backstory

Speaking of why��the reason your character chooses to pursue an activity can provide valuable insight into what��s driving them. Sometimes it��s as simple as them enjoying that hobby or reveling in something they��re good at. But the reasons often go deeper.

Let��s say your character is a gifted boxer. A passion or aptitude for the sport is only one of many reasons she may have taken it up. Consider the following possibilities:

She started taking lessons after a physical assault as a means of self-defense.The character has difficulty expressing her emotions in a healthy manner, and boxing allows her to do so without hurting herself or others.Her dead father, who she idolized, was an amateur boxer, and this is her way of honoring him.She��s sticking it to her mother, who despises the sport.The instructor is hot.

The reasons behind your character��s pursuit of a talent or skill can reveal a lot about their fears, wounding events, healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, and motivations. But those connections only work if you��ve taken the time to understand who your character is, why they are that way, and how a skill ties into their history.

People Skills

Talents can also give you an indication of your character��s people skills. Someone with a knack for manipulation, mentalism, or making friends is going to be good with people. They��re able to read others and know what to say or do to gain their trust. On the other hand, a character who spends the majority of their time alone and has turned fishing or gaming into an art form, may be more comfortable on their own than with others. This information can give readers a hint about whether your character is an introvert or extrovert, as well as their level of social aptitude.

Readers won��t be able to figure this out for sure from just a talent or skill. But combine it with personality traits, how they choose to spend their time, and a glimpse into their interactions with others, and the audience will be able to put the pieces together.

A Little Extra Help

A talent or skill can provide a window into who the character is. It��s also a natural vehicle for showing, which allows you to reveal important information with an economy of words. Now it��s just a matter of figuring out which abilities make the most sense for your character.

Get Help from One Stop for Writers

The��Talent and Skill Thesaurus��at One Stop for Writers is a great resource for brainstorming possible areas of giftedness and exploring how each might contribute to your story.

The��Character Builder��enables you to organize all of a character��s details��talents, traits, wounds, motivations, physical appearance, and more��to create a complete picture of who they are so you can bring them to life for readers.

What other hidden elements of characterization can a talent or skill reveal?

The post Using Talents and Skills to Reveal Hidden Layers appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

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Published on June 08, 2023 02:00

The Link Between Character Thought and Credibility

Readers come into a story eager to greet a new world, willing to temporarily suspend their belief in the way the world works to explore your vision of the alternatives. They place their trust in you to make it feel plausible. Could that character really turn into a fly? Would this one really give up stardom for her love?

Stories that fail to ring true break that trust. These brittle, hollow stories break reader immersion again and again before finally driving readers away.

It��s easy to blame the tinny, artificial quality of an unconvincing story on external factors: plot holes, improbable scenarios. We just don��t believe that the plot could happen that way.

But dip into any well-written speculative novel or a tightly crafted psychological thriller, and you��ll see that readers are keen to be led into all sorts of farfetched nooks and crannies. They��ll overlook a certain amount of hand-waving and even step willingly over minor plot holes as long as the characters are all in.

If characters forge a fathomable path into the story through their thoughts and reactions and emotions, readers will dive in alongside them.��

Credibility & Inner Life

Character reactions are signposts that show something has happened in the story worth noticing. When the characters fail to react, readers assume that there��s nothing worth noticing going on.

Inappropriate character reactions leave readers hanging. When a character melts into tears because the donut shop is out of blueberry donuts (I know��it hits me right in the feels, too), readers will wonder if the character is unhinged. Could blueberry donuts really play such a key role in the plot? Or is the author simply unable to convey how the characters are behaving in a believable way?

As long as you offer a frame of reference through your characters�� inner lives, readers will willingly travel fantastic places within your book, plumbing a serial killer��s psyche or accepting magic and alien cultures. Your characters�� inner life is like the legend of the story map, showing how the regions of the story world relate to each other. Stiff, disconnected, or missing character reactions remove that key and scramble readers�� ability to make sense of the story.

The Roots of Verisimilitude

It��s all about action and reaction, stimulus and response. Multiple stimulus-response units within even a simple plot point or exchange of dialogue��the characters�� reactions��are what make the scene feel real. If you gloss over character reactions, the writing feels wooden and inauthentic.

This isn��t a matter of hitting the high points. Getting readers to swallow the twists in your story is a process of making the individual ��transactions of fiction�� seem believable in their eyes, as Jack Bickham explains in Scene & Structure. You can read more about character reactions in our exploration of action-reaction misfires, where we made a step-by-step survey of the experience of tumbling into a hill of roiling ants.

When characters fail to react or when they fail to react appropriately, readers lose trust that things make sense within the confines of the story world. Heap enough action-reaction clunkers on readers, and the entire plot loses credibility. Why are the characters doing this? Why should readers care?

Scene Goals

People tend to dwell on their immediate needs and concerns. This is true whether they��re sweating through a potentially career-making presentation or racing to make it home first at the end of a lousy day to snag the last ice cream bar from the freezer. Momentous or not, people always have some top-of-mind agenda.

��We know that the viewpoint character is strongly motivated toward a specific, short-term goal essential to his long-term quest when he enters the scene,�� Bickham explains. ��Therefore, he will tend to be preoccupied with this goal throughout the scene. In fiction, as in real life, people tend to interpret everything in the frame of reference of their preoccupation of the moment.��

You can keep that agenda in view using the viewpoint character��s inner life. Their continual orientation and re-orientation to their short-term goal (the scene goal) helps readers grasp why they��re doing what they��re doing. As long as readers grasp the why, even implausible actions in an implausible setting can take on an aura of verisimilitude.

��Fiction must make more sense than real life if general readers are to find it credible,�� Bickham writes. But how could it be possible to make fiction make more sense than real life? By showing how and why it makes sense to the characters who are living it.

To put it another way, plausibility arises from consistent authenticity. When the characters�� reactions and choices feel authentic, the plot itself gains credibility. Based on the reactions of these characters in this situation, what��s happening makes sense.

And even when readers disagree with the characters�� choices, they��ll accept them as long as the story clearly shows how the characters arrived at those conclusions.

The post The Link Between Character Thought and Credibility appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

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Published on June 06, 2023 02:00

Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Magician

In 1959, Carl Jung first popularized the idea of archetypes��”universal images that have existed since the remotest times.” He posited that every person is a blend of these 12 basic personalities. Ever since then, authors have been applying this idea to fictional characters, combining the different archetypes to come up with interesting new versions. The result is a sizable pool of character tropes that we see from one story to another.

Archetypes and tropes are popular storytelling elements because of their familiarity. Upon seeing them, readers know immediately who they’re dealing with and what role the nerd, dark lord, femme fatale, or monster hunter will play. As authors, we need to recognize the commonalities for each trope so we can write them in a recognizable way and create a rudimentary sketch for any character we want to create.

But when it comes to characters, no one wants just a sketch; we want a vibrant and striking cast full of color, depth, and contrast. Diving deeper into character creation is especially important when starting with tropes because the blessing of their familiarity is also a curse; without differentiation, the characters begin to look the same from story to story.

But no more. The Character Type and Trope Thesaurus allows you to outline the foundational elements of each trope while also exploring how to individualize them. In this way, you’ll be able to use historically tried-and-true character types to create a cast for your story that is anything but traditional.

Magician Archetype

DESCRIPTION: For magicians, the pursuit of knowledge (in any area, not just magic) isn’t enough; fulfillment only comes through understanding and mastery of the seemingly unknowable. While this is similar to the SAGE archetype, magicians differ in that the acquisition of knowledge is meant to increase their own power or achieve their goals. Primarily, their quest for knowledge is meant to benefit themselves more than others.

FICTIONAL EXAMPLES: Sherlock Holmes (the Sherlock Holmes canon, Dr. Strange (the Marvel universe), Voldemort (the Harry Potter series), Anakin Skywalker (the Star Wars franchise), John Locke (LOST)

COMMON STRENGTHS: Adventurous, Alert, Ambitious, Centered, Confident, Curious, Decisive, Disciplined, Focused, Independent, Industrious, Intelligent, Meticulous, Passionate, Patient, Persistent, Persuasive, Private, Resourceful, Studious

COMMON WEAKNESSES: Abrasive, Cocky, Confrontational, Disrespectful, Fanatical, Haughty, Know-It-All, Obsessive, Oversensitive, Paranoid, Perfectionist, Possessive, Rebellious, Selfish, Stubborn, Uncooperative, Withdrawn, Workaholic

ASSOCIATED ACTIONS, BEHAVIORS, AND TENDENCIES
Being passionate about the area of knowledge they’re pursuing
Facing challenges and opposition with confidence; being undaunted
Using highbrow language that isn’t easy for laypeople to understand
Preferring to work alone
Being focused; knowing what they want and going after it without hesitation
Believing that things will work out, even when it’s hard to see the path forward
Learning from mistakes
Thinking on a higher level than most people
Being very intelligent
Being viewed by others with envy or awe
Prioritizing the object of study above everyone and everything else
Being possessive of their knowledge
Holding back information from underlings
Putting safeguards in place to secure their work and keep it private
Having an air of superiority
Difficulty relating to common folk
Lacking deep connections with others
Being overconfident in their own abilities
Breaking rules and conventions if they keep the character from the knowledge they’re seeking
Having workaholic tendencies
Being a team player while other people are necessary, then striking out on their own
Lacking contentment; always wanting more
Wielding their knowledge or status to gain power
Having a fluid moral code depending on what’s needed in the moment
Being self-serving

SITUATIONS THAT WILL CHALLENGE THEM
A competitor making significant strides and threatening to overtake the character in the pursuit of their goal
Being unable to solve a problem or grasp a concept
Having to mentor or work with someone who will only slow the character down
Having to pander to an inferior benefactor or boss
Being held back because of life circumstances or limited resources

INNER STRUGGLES TO GIVE THEM DEPTH
Encountering a worthy challenger who makes the magician doubt their own strengths
The character being tempted from their studies by a distraction (a romantic interest, a new idea, etc.)
Experiencing a significant failure that makes the character consider giving up
Learning that a trusted ally has stolen their work or given it to an enemy
Facing a challenge that requires the character to make a moral sacrifice to overcome it
The character suspecting they may have gone too far in the pursuit of their goal but being reluctant to turn back or make things right

TWIST THIS TROPE WITH A CHARACTER WHO��
Is pursuing knowledge and power in an unconventional area��e.g., as a teacher, in the world of animal husbandry, as a baker, etc.
Cares for others and acts as a mentor or advisor while still having a self-serving goal of being powerful and all-knowing
Has an atypical trait: nurturing, empathetic, indecisive, insecure, traditional, innocent, etc.

CLICH��S TO BE AWARE OF
The magician villain who craves power and is evil just to be evil, with no known reason or motivation
Magicians who are wholly devoted to the cause and never doubt themselves or shrink from the goal

Other Type and Trope Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (16 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

If you like, swing by and check out the video walkthrough for this site, and then give our Free Trial a spin.

The post Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Magician appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS��.

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Published on June 03, 2023 02:24

Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Magician Archetype