Believable characters are the difference between a book readers finish and one they abandon. These posts cover character arcs, protagonists worth rooting for, antagonists with real motive, anti-heroes, and the craft of making people on the page feel like people.
Character DevelopmentFyodor Dostoevsky survived a staged execution, four years in a Siberian prison camp and a ruinous gambling habit, then wrote his greatest novels in monthly installments for money he'd already spent. The deadlines didn't hurt the books. In several cases…
Character DevelopmentMary Sue started as a one-page joke in a 1973 Star Trek fanzine. Here's the story behind the parody, how the name spread, what a Mary Sue really is, and when the label is fair.
Character DevelopmentThe flat head and neck bolts appear nowhere in Mary Shelley's novel. Her creature had yellow skin, flowing black hair and the voice of a philosopher. Here's how he changed from page to stage to screen, with the pictures to…
Character DevelopmentReal people run on spite, envy and grudges as much as noble causes. The big goal drives the plot, the petty one shows who the character is. Here's why petty motivations make characters believable, and how to give your characters…
Character DevelopmentGuillermo del Toro has spent thirty years making monsters into heroes. His advice to writers comes down to nine ideas, from trusting your own voice to giving the villain a real reason. Here they are, with my own take on…
Character DevelopmentJokes don't count. The most insulting line ever written seriously for the screen is She-Hulk telling Bruce Banner that catcalling and mansplaining make her better at controlling anger. Here's why it fails, and the lines that come close.
Character DevelopmentMatt Damon's Loki ended up floating in the Mediterranean. The original ended up chained in a cave until the end of the world. How the trickster of Norse myth turned into Wagner's fire god, Marvel's adopted brother and Kevin Smith's…
Character DevelopmentPlot armor is the invisible rig that keeps a protagonist alive, lucky and competent because the story needs them. Here are the four kinds readers spot, from wounds that don't count to choices that never cost anything, and how to…
Character DevelopmentNovelists joke that their characters took over the plot, and the joke is accurate. A character who rejects a planned scene is telling you the outline was written before you knew her.
Character DevelopmentWriters have always turned people who hurt them into villains. Why a fiction disclaimer won't protect you, what makes a character too recognizable, and how to borrow a real villain safely.
AdaptationAusten published four novels anonymously, earned a few hundred pounds from all of them, and died at forty-one. She also perfected the technique most modern fiction runs on, and almost nobody who reads her for the romance notices it happening.
Character DevelopmentConan Doyle built the detective story into its permanent shape, killed his own creation because he resented him, was forced by public pressure to bring him back, and spent his later years defending claims his detective would have dismantled in…
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