Category: fictional

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5 Tips on Naturally Writing Effective Dialogue

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Add the punctuation after you feel the dialogue is right.

Take your time in the editing process of your dialogue to make sure it sounds natural and each character has their own voice just like a real human.

When their talking and interaction seems right for them add the punctuation.

This helps compartmentalize the creative process from the technical process.

Common dialogue pitfalls to watch out for.

– Don’t overuse names.

Overusing someone’s name in real life is weird and it’s weird in writing too. Unless your character is a creepy salesperson.

– Try not to create a repetitive chain of information.

If you need two characters to talk about information that you already introduced once just make it that the second character found out from another source.

“Did you hear about so and so?”

“Yeah I did. Jackie just told me. Crazy right?”

– People in real life day umm a lot and make filler noise. Characters do not mostly.

Take this thought liberally as every once in a while it helps make a certain character to give them a weird noise that they make while they are thinking, but for the most part, cut it out.

– Get on get out.

Make each line have a purpose.

Most characters shouldn’t talk too much. And other characters shouldn’t talk too little but our dialogue needs to have a point and move the characters forward in the plot.

If they decide to head for Starbucks to gab about ‘whatever’ in reality one of the characters is about to bump into someone important.

Otherwise they need to be meeting up at Starbucks to discuss things that are important to the plot and revelation of character.

– Help the reader see who’s talking without being annoyingly redundant.

He said.

She said.

He asked.

She said.

We don’t have to add ‘they said’ at the end or beginning of every quotation.

The goal is to just make sure that we are clearly letting the reader know who is talking and then write the dialogue in such a way that they can skim through and it’s very clear who is saying what even if we stop writing he said/she said/ she asked, etc.

Make your main goal to just tell the story and make it simple. Don’t be tempted to over display what they are feeling with adverbs while they speak.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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5 Tips on Naturally Writing Effective Dialogue

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1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

July 3, 2020July 13, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

There is one thing that many authors do.

It could be by accident. It could be on purpose.

But if you cut out just this one thing, your writing will be better to read instantly.

What is that one thing?

Passive voice.

Now this doesn’t mean we can Never use passive voice as authors.

It just sounds better and it’s less wordy if we don’t. And less wordy is almost always better.

What is passive voice?

Passive voice makes the object look dominant to the subject.

For example, passive voice would say,

– The book was thrown by the student.

– The guitar was played by the musician.

– The door was opened by the driver.

Instead as writers we mostly want to use active voice.

What is active voice?

1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

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1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

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Active voice makes the subject the emphasis over the object.

For example,

– The student threw her book.

– The musician played the guitar.

– The driver opened her door.

You can tell from the examples that active voice makes each sentence more concise and more clear. Not to mention it just sounds better.

It’s less wordy. And less wordy is less stress on the brain to figure out what is happening and why.

We want our reader to flow through our sentences and not think about the fact that they are reading.

We don’t want them to have to stop to think about which is the object and which is the subject.

We just want to be clear the first time.

How do I find passive voice in my writing?

The fastest way is to look for the subject and the object in each sentence.

If you can find those then you’ll see whether the object of emphasized or the subject is.

Passive,

– The mouse was chased by the cat.

Active,

– The cat chased the mouse.

Cut out “was”and “were” from most of your sentences when you can.

When to use passive voice?

If you want to put the dominant thought onto the object instead of the subject then use passive voice. Otherwise just default to active voice.

So there you have it.

One of the easiest things to do to improve your story is to run away from passive voice and never look back.

Your sentences will be easier to read.

Your reader won’t have to stop to think about what is acting upon what.

Your sentences will be less wordy.

Cut out passive voice and your writing will be better today.

It is an easy and steadfast trick to making any story or project perform better with little effort.

Go back and look at some of your past writing to see how often you use passive voice.

If you change it, does it look better?

Do you notice the difference when you emphasize the subject instead of the object?

To make your ideas more clear for your reader, cut out passive voice.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

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1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

Interested in starting a blog of your own (and making an extra $100-$600 monthly)? Check out Bluehost.

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Is Writing your craft? You might love this. Check out the 4,900+ reviews it has on Amazon to see if this might be what you’re looking for.

1 Bad Writing Tip You Can Cut Out Right Now That’ll Make Your Writing 10X Better

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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader for More

June 2, 2020June 2, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

The cliffhanger is not a new technique.

In fact, writers have literally made movies around the idea of dangling our beloved character off the side of a cliff to get us at the edge of our seats, biting our nails, ignoring everything else in the universe to see “what happens next?!”

Thankfully even though this technique has been waaaaayyy overused. It still works.

We can definitely add this one to the proverbial toolbox.

Keep it simple

We don’t always have to dangle our character over a cliff in order to make this technique work.

In reality, this won’t work if we do it too much. Our reader will see through our antics and get bored.

If our main character almost dies at the end of every chapter hanging over a cliff, you can bet the reader will be saying “fool me twice, shame on me” by chapter three.

Instead find creative ways to make little cliffhangers during chapters and at the end of chapters.

Them almost dying at the end of every chapter makes for boring and not suspensful, but if they were about to lose a relationship, or be caught doing something they shouldn’t and the reader has to go to the next chapter to find out what happens next, then you’re winning.

Examples:

– Characters are in a fight and might break up

– Something is about to hurt character like a dangerous animal

– One character just went missing

– A character just witnessed another doing something suspicious and unexplainable

Basically we want to create a smaller conflict that needs to be resolved in our reader’s mind that will gnaw at their curiosity until they get the answer.

This works best if we have done a good job of getting them interested in the characters’ lives and feelings.

Keep creating questions

We have to be careful how we do this one.

If we create a question for our reader to look forward to the answer, we better darn well answer it.

And a great skill to practice is the creative ability to create questions when we give answers.

Use dialogue to help the reader see the answer and the next question.

Dan Brown does an amazing job with this in the DaVinci Code.

He uses Langdon in this way.

Langdon will answer one of the mysterious questions, one of the riddles, but then he’ll say something to the effect of, “but if that’s true then what about this?“

And then Langdon will say, “we need to go to the Sistine Chapel,” and before we know it Langdon is being shot at on the way to the Sistine Chapel and we’re hooked to find out if he’ll make it.

This is genius for answering a question we made and leading the reader right into the next one without drawing it out to much and leaving the reader bored as they wait for the next riddle to solve.

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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

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Your character can simply say, “this answers this question, but now we have this question to deal with.”

Now when your character needs to go to the next place we are happily following along.

It would be a bad idea to have no reason for your character to go to the next place and we just somehow end up there and stumble upon the next clue.

This technique can be toyed with, but I think you get the idea.

Create questions while answering questions, but BE SURE to answer all your questions eventually. Don’t leave your reader feeling cheated of the time they invested in reading your story.

Make them feel like they can predict what’s going to happen next, only to fool them.

Lead your reader into the most obvious choice or answer to the riddle.

And just when they think they’ve figured it out, put a twistaroo on it. (twistaroo is not a real word 🙂 )

This is called a good twist.

One of my all time top 10 fave twist moments was in the Sixth Sense. “I see dead people.”

I recommend watching it if you haven’t and as long as you aren’t easily spooked.

Spoiler alert:

The twist in the end was so shocking to me, I never saw it coming that Bruce Willis was dead the entire time.

It was like a left hook sucker punch for me and I, to this day cannot think of a better twist or reveal. Now that I think about it, it’s easily in my top 5 twisty movies.

So just like that, lead your reader into thinking that they know where you’re headed just to cut them off at the pass.

Surprise them wherever you can and they’ll love you for it.

Give them something to look forward to at the start

Don’t waste any time setting your reader up for cliffhangers.

Get started right away in chapter letting them know they are in for a fun ride.

Our main job as writers is to entertain.

Start off with a bang:

– “That’s the moment he knew he’d never see her again.”

– “As he looked at the clock sweat began to fall off his nose. He was taking to long.”

– “Bubbles were still surfacing as I dove into the river after the sinking suburban.”

Create mystery, intrigue, and suspense right away.

Don’t waste time explaining the plot, characters, or other detailed ideas. Allow the plot to unfold without them thinking, “oh so the plot is going to be about this.”

Allow your reader to discover clever ideas as you get them to turn the next page with cliffhangers.

Don’t let the reader in. Don’t show all your cards too quickly.

Be strategic.

Set up a powerplay by creating a moment of intense intrigue and use it to carry your reader to the next plot point without them knowing how they got there.

Entertain them as you reveal that your character’s mother is the true villain and everything they were raised to think was a lie.

It’s absolutely okay and maybe a good idea to make your reader confused and in the dark as long as you are going to show them the light and solve their confusion by the end of the story.

Never leave your reader feeling, “Why did I just read that? What was the point of all that?”

Give them something to continually look forward to or else they will look forward to it elsewhere.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

Resources:

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Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.

Is Writing your craft? You might love this. Check out the 4,900+ reviews it has on Amazon to see if this might be what you’re looking for.

4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

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4 Tips How to Write Cliffhangers, Hooking in Your Reader For More

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6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

May 30, 2020January 25, 2021 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

Schools are up in the air.

Some of us loved it. Some of us hated it, and some people just liked a few things about school.

But nonetheless whether we hate it or love it it has been a part of most readers’ lives.

Writing schools in fiction doesn’t have to be a difficult daunting task. It can be fun and full of creativity. Thankfully many writers before us have created schools in fiction and so we have a lot of wisdom to glean from.

Creating a fictional school is a great way to resonate with audiences and bring many story elements that are nostalgic to a broad amount of readers.

We don’t have to go far to find inspiration for writing a school in fiction because the majority of humans on the planet attend some type of school in their lifetime.

These are some of the best places to draw inspiration from for writing schools in fiction. Draw from your own experiences and memories. Do you remember the teachers that you couldn’t stand?

Do you remember the ones that bored you do death?

Do you remember who you sat next to in math or science?

These are the places to take inspiration from and turn it into a story of your own.

Teachers

Everyone has teachers they’ve loved or hated.

There are so many vibrant teacher personalities that can add unique Dynamics to any story.

You can have:

– the crazy teacher

– Fun teacher

– Strict teacher

– Mean teacher

Teachers can be supportive characters and challengers.

A really fun dynamic is having the teacher be the ultimate villain hiding in plain sight.

Teachers are a huge resource to a writer making a fictional school.

Peers

Again there’s an endless world of possibilities in peers.

Every personality you can think of under the sun you can add and take away.

There could be many relationships or only a few.

There could be a few peers that play pivotal roles. Or maybe just one repeating character peer.

The location of the school

The location of the school is a big deal.

Is it near the main character’s house?

Is it far away?

Do they walk there?

Or do they have to take Transportation?

Is it other worldly?

6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

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6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

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Is the school on Earth at all?

Is it in the city?

Is it in the country?

What country is it in?

Depending on where the school is, it means a lot for how the reader will preconceive the details of the school and what it looks on the outside and the inside.

The number of students

The number of students affects:

– Sports

– Classroom size

– Competitions

– Band

– Music

– Arts

– Number of classes

– Number of teachers

The number of students affects many details and should be considered.

Curriculum

Is this a regular school?

Is it a school for the dead?

Is it a magical school?

School for animals?

School for adventurers?

What is the school’s main purpose?

Some extra random thoughts to consider for writing your fictional school:

Are there competing schools?

How are the students arranged in the classroom?

When it comes to making a fictional school there are lots and lots of details to sort out.

The more questions you can answer before writing chapter one the better and it’s best to write these answers down somewhere so that you have a reference to look back on.

Otherwise it’s tough to remember how you first felt about the school and what you dreamed it would be.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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Resources:

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Interested in starting a blog of your own? Check out Bluehost.

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Bluehost hosts your blog so that you can own your domain and make money blogging. Check them out only if you’re interested in making money blogging; otherwise, go for a free blog instead 🙂

Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.

Is Writing your craft? You might love this. Check out the 4,900+ reviews it has on Amazon to see if this might be what you’re looking for.

6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

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6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

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Try Grammarly, The Free tool that should be in every writer’s toolbelt.

Is Writing your craft? You might love this. Check out the 4,900+ reviews it has on Amazon to see if this might be what you’re looking for.

6 Thoughts on Writing Schools in Fiction

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…we have to earn the right to talk about our fictional characters and why they are important to the reader and the story. Click to Tweet

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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story

May 28, 2020May 28, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes NOT BORING While Revealing the Story to Your Reader

Master writers and editors know what it takes to make scenes not boring while revealing the story.

Let’s talk about what makes a scene boring.

There is one major thing you don’t want to do to your readers when writing a scene and revealing the story.

Don’t make it work for them to read it.

Period.

If you make it a ton of work for them to get through chapter one scene one, they are going to put down the book and probably never want to pick it up again.

Here is how you make it a ton of work for your reader to make it through your scene.

Chapter 1: I tell them about the world, the shops in the world, the streets in the world, the mountains, the trees, what the birds look like, the cool and exotic plants. I tell them about the characters and every tiny detail about them. I tell them about her hair and her eyelashes. What she thinks about the flowers…

Do you get where we are going with this?

We are being a bit exaggerated here, but let’s be honest, it happens. And stuff like that used to work, but not today.

To make a scene “too much work didn’t read” (TMWDR) aka (TLDR) we give them a million descriptive details to read through without once moving the story along!

And our reader is left feeling like, “let’s get the ball rolling people!”

We can give them the details about the beautiful world in our imagination, but give it in small doses and allow them to use some imagination.

Move the story forward

We can give them some descriptions and we should, but great authors know that in order to be allowed to explain what a character looks like we have to earn the right to talk about them and why they are important.

The way that we earn the right to tell the reader anything while revealing the story, is when they are thinking this one secret thought.

We have to put this one thought in their minds and keep it there, the moment we’ve lost this thought that we’ve put in their heads, they’ll put down the book.

That secret thought is the same one all great writers use across all mediums, whether it’s story, freelance, copywriting, blogging, or marketing.

The secret thought is: “If I just read a little bit further, I’ll find out what I want to know.”

Figure out how to put this one thought into your reader’s mind and they’ll read everything you write them: “If I just read a little bit further, I’ll find out what I want to know.” Click to Tweet

When we are so into reading anything, a story, an article, a blog, we have this same thought too. It’s really more of a feeling. But we read on intently looking for the answer to our questions.

Questions like, “What will happen next?” “What is going to happen to this character now?” are what we want our readers to think as writers in any medium.

The way we plant the secret question in their head using story

The way we create the secret question is simple.

Keeping it in their minds is the hard part about writing a story and writing one that readers can’t put down until they’ve read every last page.

The way is simple but executing takes time, practice, and insight.

How do we create the secret question in their head?

We create a problem that must be resolved.

The way we make scenes not boring

The way to make scenes not boring is to move the story along. (I know we said this above but go with me here as we explain further.)

We need to give the reader something to be curious about and look forward to.

Along the way we slowly but surely reveal characters and scenery and explain little bits and pieces of the world and bring them into our world and share it with them.

But to make a scene not boring and to move the story along we must create curiosity about what happens next!

How to get your reader thinking what happens next?

It is the coveted moment. The reader can’t stop reading page after page, chapter after chapter all because they keep thinking, “what happens next?”

But how do we get them thinking this through every chapter?

I already told them about the hero and the bad guy and he wants to destroy the world, what else keeps them curious?!

The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story

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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story

The journey.

Moving the story along is the journey it takes to get from the introduction of our characters to the main problem that faces them to seeing it out to the end and all the misadventures in between.

But how do we make the journey interesting?

Let’s ask a more detailed question.

The one we’ve been asking all along.

How do I make each scene interesting?

Give each scene a purpose.

If every single scene we bring the writer into doesn’t have a purpose in moving the story forward then why on Earth are we telling them about the scene?!

So when you plot your outline be thinking of each scene and the “why” behind it’s necessary existence, because if your reader reads one or two scenes that seem to be not purposeful, that is, there is no “pay off” for them taking the time to read it they will likely put down the book.

Make sure each and every scene you write creates curiosity and has a “pay off,” for your reader. Click to Tweet

An easy way to give our scenes a why

Yes, in our scenes we may want to show a certain detail about character development or reveal a hidden artifact, but the easiest way to get the reader through it and on to the next page is to create mini difficulties for the characters.

Our main problem may be that the antagonist(s) wants to blow up the world but while our hero is on the way to stop the no good antagonist(s) they need to run into many challenging obstacles on the way.

Think of your story as more of an obstacle course

To get to the finish line our protagonist needs to run through the maze, climb the slippery slime wall, survive the dread log tumble, jump through the fiery hoop, and before they can even see the finish line they have to carry the weighted sack of fortitude up mount killmyback.

That’s a story.

And each obstacle is a scene. We see the obstacles and how the character handles them and each obstacle reveals more and more to us their true character. (“Show, don’t tell.”)

That’s how we move the story along, keep the reader interested, and reveal the true nature of our characters as we go 🙂

If we told the reader all about how each obstacle was made, how long it took, and about the nuts and bolts of it, that might be a little interesting (if you are trying to write a documentary about the story) but not if they haven’t seen it in action and seen how the course wrecks a character and is extremely interesting to watch.

Give each scene a purpose while you are revealing the story.

Make an obstacle around that purpose.

And your reader will be thinking that coveted question, “What’s going to happen next?!”

Give each scene a purpose. Make an obstacle for your fictional character around that purpose, and your reader will be thinking that coveted question, “What’s going to happen next?!” Click to Tweet

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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The #1 Way to Make Your Scenes Not Boring While Revealing the Story

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4 Tips How to Write a Sinister Antagonist

May 28, 2020May 28, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

How to Write a Sinister Antagonist

One of the great things about writing a protagonist that your readers can root for is writing an equally sinister antagonist.

The hero and the villain play off each other.

You can’t have one without the other and your reader has no one to root for if there is no one to fear and root against.

Thus we must create villains that really make the stakes high.

Write your sinister antagonist as more clever and more dangerous than your protagonist and then you will have a good concoction for an epic battle of good and evil.

Then let’s talk about making our antagonist sinister so that we make the plot more interesting.

Make the antagonist sinister by allowing them to reach their goals

What does the villain want?

Power?

Money?

Fame?

Give it to them or make them start out with it.

In ready player one, the main antagonist has an entire company working towards his goal to control the Oasis and thus the world whereas our hero is just one boy.

What are your villain’s morals?

The more your villain lacks morals the more sinister they appear.

Portray this over time and even confuse and make your reader question their intent a couple of times before revealing that they ultimately care for no one but themselves.

As they get closer and closer to their real goal make them act out more and more to show their true brutal sinister rationale.

How does your antagonist feel about their own morality

I think this can go either way. Some villains know they are in the wrong and relish in it.

This makes for a truly sinister villain because at some point you realize there is no hope in reasoning with such an individual.

But on the other hand some authors like to have a misguided character that truly believes they are the hero and are doing what’s best for everyone. (Thanos VS Dr. Robotic)

How to Write a Sinister Antagonist

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What will be your villain’s past?

I disagree with the notion that all villains are nurtured into villainy. Some are born out inclined to act more selfish than others.

So it could go either way for your antagonist’s back story.

Did something happen to them to make them think the way they do or were they just more selfish and turn away from the world at an early age?

When did they start to decide to do evil and enjoy it?

The more they enjoy the harm of others the more sinister and unreasonable they appear.

Make the hero lose hope

Nothing makes a villain appear more sinister when they have seemingly won the hero had given up or lost hope.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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Fictional Characters: 28+ Bad Habits to Introduce to Your Fictional Characters

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6 Tips How to Write the Lovable Jerk

May 27, 2020May 27, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

6 Tips How to Write the Lovable Jerk

Why oh why do we love the jerk?

It’s a common phenomenon.

“Girls like the bad boy.”

” Nice guys finish last.”

“Play hard to get.”

These are common phrases we know and here that revolve around the psychology of people liking jerks.

So how can we use this phenomenon in choosing and writing our characters?

How to write a lovable jerk

#1 Everyone Wants It, But Too Much is a Turn Off:

Confidence

Everyone wants it, but too much is a Turn Off: Confidence… Click to Tweet

Everyone wants it.

But nobody wants arrogance and there’s a fine grey line between the two (is it grey or gray?).

If your character is too confident then it comes across as arrogant and your reader will start to loathe them.

But one main reason most people like the jerk is because she is confident.

Confidence is a very attractive quality.

What is the opposite of confident?

– Needy

– Clingy

– Whining

– Pathetic

– Self-loathing

“Ewww…”

If you’ve been reading and a character is too sympathetic towards their own bad situation it comes across as unattractive. This is self-loathing, the opposite of cool, confident, and collected.

These are simple ways that you can write your lovable jerk. Avoid the above list.

Part of the reason people love a jerk is because without shouting “I’m really confident!” they just are. They ooze cool and confident because they aren’t afraid to say what they are thinking because they could care less what the other character thinks.

If your character is too confident this plays the opposite and your reader starts to despise that character.

We have to let the confident vibes go a little but then play some other strings too to bring the whole song together.

#2 Can’t Keep Up With Him

Quick Wit

Something that helps our jerk be admirable and get away with being a little bit of a jerk is having a quick wit.

Remember all those comebacks you thought of a day later and said “Ugh! I should have said that!”

Your lovable jerk is quick and never misses an opportunity for a quick comeback.

What’s at play here?

People admire and love to be around a person with an entertaining quick wit.

There is a give and take though. (Just remember that to nail down the lovable jerk you’re always on a fine line between annoying and suave, attractive and not so much.)

This doesn’t mean your character is running around insulting everyone. That’s a jerk, not a lovable jerk. Everyone loves to hate the know-it-all jerk and they want to see them get their comeuppance.

That’s the opposite of what you want your reader to feel about this character.

You want your character to be a bit of a jerk but at the right place and time.

Timing is important.

Think of Sherlock. Extremely intelligent and a faster mind than anyone he interacts with. He could dance circles around anyone with his wit, but utterly rude the majority of the time.

Even though he can be insultingly rude at times we still love him and want him to accomplish his goals.

We love him and find him interesting because he is fun to watch and extremely intelligent.

We also like him despite his jerky side for another reason.

#3 Good Will

Slightly good intentions

This works with anti-heroes too.

You can love a jerk like Sherlock because he ultimately is looking to stop the bad guys and save the innocent.

His internal motives may be complex, but at the end of the day his actions save the victim and stop the villain.

In a scenario like this we excuse bad behavior because we experience mostly good behavior.

We as humans are very good at overlooking some bad if the good outweighs it in our opinions.

For instance, if you made a list of pros and cons about a character like Sherlock his pros would outweigh his cons for most readers. Not all of course, but most.

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#4 We are Hoping He’s not as Deep as a Puddle

Character Depth

A lovable jerk can be nothing but a Jerk at the beginning of our reader meeting them, but if they don’t change slightly or if more about their character doesn’t get revealed by you the writer, as time goes on, your reader will never like them.

For example, Finnick from Hunger Games is a jerk character that many fans love.

It helps that he’s attractive but let’s take a deeper look. We all know looks can give you an advantage, but they can only take you so far before you’re labeled as an attractive, stuck up jerk.

When we first meet Finnick he’s just a jerk. Pain and simple.

But then we spend more time with him and find out he’s for the rebellion.

Further in we see multiple caring sides of him as he tries to protect all those around him. He carries an elderly handicap woman on his back to try to save her life.

His fiance is captured and turned crazy and he remains faithful to her. In the end he gives his own life for Katniss Everdeen and a cause bigger than himself.

Finnick may be stuck up and full of himself at first glance but with time we see his depth of character and that makes him a lovable jerk.

#5 Nobody Likes A Whiny Whiner

There’s a specific writing trick where you can add a sad incident or backstory to a character to gain some sympathy for the character.

Tread lightly with this one.

It can be easy to start with that or to drone on and on about how terrible and tragic their unfortunate event is, but don’t do this.

If you are going for a lovable jerk something bad or many bad things can happen to them, but they need to react correctly in order for your reader to feel positively for them.

Unless you use it as humor or a small arc in their story they can’t wallow in sadness for an entire chapter or two. Humorously they can wallow a little, but realistically it can push your reader away from that character if you’re not careful.

If you want them to be lovable they can only mourn for a moment or for a time that the reader can fast forward through.

For example, “he drank himself to sleep every night that year.” And done.

Okay, realistically we can give a few more fun facts about their depression than just that, but soon and very soon something that sparks change needs to take place.

You can use sadness for depth of character but if your jerk is to be loved, make it short.

Another way to use tragedy in your jerk’s life is to make him get over it quickly and to move on.

This can be helpful for creating character depth as well.

#6 “I’ve Been Looking at the Man in the Mirror”

Change

One really easy way to write a lovable jerk is to create a character that is about to make a BIG change.

We’ve seen this done many, many, many, many (if you didn’t know, it’s been done a lot) times and it works out equally well despite maybe being a little over done.

One of the major monarchs of this type of lovable jerk is Scrooge.

Scrooge is an iconic lovable jerk that starts out as… well… he starts out as a Scrooge (pun intended) but we see a transformation in his character and in the end he’s super generous.

Another good example is Jack in The Family Man.

Jack leaves his high school sweetheart for riches and success.

When we meet him he’s so high on the high horse that we couldn’t stand to be around him, but as the story goes on he completely changes into a really awesome character.

This type of transformation, redemptive story is a great way to make a lovable jerk.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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10 Tips How to Write Villains that Play Mind Games with Their Victims

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4 Ingredients on How to Write Characters Readers Love to Root For

How to Write Characters that Readers Love to Root For

May 25, 2020May 25, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

How to Write Characters Readers Love to Root For

One thing Tolkien, Rowling, and Lewis all have in common?

They all know/knew how to create characters that readers love and root for.

What are the secret ingredients they used that we can too?

Child-likeness.

Vulnerability.

The Underdogs.

Naivety.

Child-likeness

In all their stories that ended up changing the world, they either chose children to follow or childlike creatures.

In Harry Potter, we follow Ron, Hermione, and Harry. They all start out as tots and we follow them through some horrific trials hoping nothing bad happens and that they win and that the bad guys lose.

Why is this?

It is because of innocence. We as humans favor the innocent party and blame and condemn the bad guilty party.

Harry didn’t do anything to Tom Riddle to make find and kill his parents and try to kill him. We obviously think this is horrid and we wish Harry will survive and that Tom will receive just judgment.

That is how Rowling got us to first root for Harry.

We started to care for him when he was only an innocent baby and someone evil came and did horrible things to him that ruined his life.

Lewis did a similar thing choosing different children to follow in Narnia.

For instance in the lion the witch and the wardrobe we see Lucy an innocent little girl lost in a strange world with no one to help her against the evil witch that rules over the land in great fear and darkness.

Mr. Tumnus finds Lucy and tricks her into falling asleep at this house so he can deliver her over to the evil witch queen.

Vulnerability

Again we have a vulnerable, naive and innocent youth pitted against an older more powerful character with an unreasonable motive to hurt or kill the child.

Instantly as a rational human, we are rooting for the poor child to not be harmed and for the evil queen to receive punishment for her evil acts.

It’s only natural to feel this way given the scenario.

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How to Write Characters Readers Love to Root For

The Underdogs

Tolkien didn’t use children. But he chose creatures that had a scenario that was just as persuasive: Hobbits.

Hobbits are extremely childlike in nature and we would never want any harm to befall them.

When we think about Sauron sending orcs to carry out genocide on them and burn down the shire we are in no way rooting for Sauron. We are most assuredly hoping for the best for the little fury footed hobbits.

In each of these scenarios, the author gave us a world where the underdogs are pitted against antagonists that are much more powerful and cunning than they.

Why do we root for the underdog?

Who do we love a great underdog story?

Don’t we resonate with the underdog?

Don’t most of us feel like the underdog that is just trying to make it?

Naivety

We were once children and had adventures of our own.

We have children and see them and want to protect them.

Children are the picture of innocence and naivety and we are naturally inclined to root for them.

Use this knowledge if you dare to write your next story.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

How to Write Characters Readers Love to Root For

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8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction

May 22, 2020May 22, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction

What is dystopian fiction?

Dystopian fiction is any fiction writing where the world setting is futuristic and the way people have to live to survive is less than ideal.

The opposite of dystopian would be a Utopia where everyone lives happily as equals and no one suffers want our hunger and there is no crime against humanity.

What is a dystopia?

It is a setting either worldwide or regional in which survival is difficult and corruption and crime are rampant. No Character lives without some suffering in this type of setting.

Discovering a new dystopian world

Our dystopian world doesn’t have to be Earth and it doesn’t even have to be the entire planet that you’re working on.

It can be a region or a different planet altogether, but something looks good with dystopian society is the background.

Usually dystopian happens after a thriving society.

Having the remains of what once was a vibrant civilisation is actually a very appealing look for a genre like this.

Think I Am Legend.

All of the buildings and houses of the major cities were left.

Grass, weeds, and trees grew up around them and on them.

Roots broke through roadways. Animals ran through street corners where man had once dominated.

It was now empty and nature was taking it back.

Ideas like this are helpful in creating a dystopian story where you can see what was there before and how it makes the ruins look there after whatever caused civilization to crumble.

Get ideas from reading and watching dystopian fiction critically

Look at stories like:

– I Am Legend

– Hunger Games

– Snowpiercer

– Divergent

– Maze Runner

– The Walking Dead

– A Quiet Place

– Water World

– Children of Men

– Alita

All great places to get a feel for what you are trying to accomplish.

And when we say to consume something critically out just means to watch and read it and be thoughtful about what you like and what you don’t like.

What works for you and keeps you interested and what causes you to lose interest.

This way you can come up with your own story that will be unique and also thought provoking.

Different dystopian scenes we’ve already seen

– Apocalypse

– Zombies

– Military

– Aliens

– Pandemic

– Global Warming

– Nuclear

– A.I.

– Gov take over

– Monsters

– Evil corporation

– Giants

– War ridden

– Anarchy

– Evil overlord

– Cloning

– Breeding

– Vampires

– Werewolves

– And combinations of the above

8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction

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8 Thoughts on How to Write Dystopian Fiction

Main components to think about your future world

1. Setting

2. People

3. Money

4. Barter system

5. Currency

6. Geography

7. Social norms

8. Languages

9. Dialects

10. Hospitalization

11. Medicine

12. Food

13. Wealthy vs Poor

14. Intelligence

15. Technology

What types of characters are we following?

Are we following a group or a herd?

Do we have a main character?

Do we have a specific duo or trio?

Does it eb and flow throughout the narrative?

Do we lose characters or do they all survive?

What to avoid in the main plot

This is just my belief but there really is nothing new under the sun and lots of story ideas have been redone hundreds of times and readers and audiences still really enjoy them.

Some authors might say to avoid vampires, zombies, and aliens etc.

I find that to be overrated input.

Think of all the shows and movies and books that have repeated the same creature themes or end of the world ideas and have still made for great stories.

There are hundreds of vampire stories yet when another one comes out many people are interested.

The key takeaway here is that if we decide to write another alien story in what ways can we tell it better and different than our predecessors?

Try to hone in on what’s relevant

My wife and I (well mostly me) recently watched Colony.

You know what drew me to wanting to watch it?

My sister told me it was about a society that was lock-down by the powers that be…

Coronavirus anyone?

I was immediately intrigued to see what the story was and how it would play out.

Spoiler alert! Don’t read further if you don’t want to know!

But it turns out that it was an alien invasion and even though I’ve seen many alien invasion but now it was still interesting to watch and think about.

So don’t be afraid to use old ideas.

Just do your best to give them in a new package with interesting characters and story points.

Hope this helps!

Happy writing!

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160+ Power Words to Use With Any Style of Writing & Writing Prompts

May 20, 2020July 18, 2020 ~ Jeremy ~ Leave a comment

Focused Power Words By Emotion:

5 Powerful Words that Show Surprise + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Reveal Toughness + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Power + Writing Prompts

5 Short Fantastic Power Words + Writing Prompts

5 Fast Terrific Powerful Words to Write + Writing Prompts

5 Simple Power Words to Use in Writing + Writing Prompts

5 Quick Power Words to Use in Headlines + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Nerve + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Moxie + Writing Prompts

5 Effective Potent Power Words that Pack a Punch

5 Powerful Words that Feel “Costly” + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Spirit + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Vulnerability + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Cheer + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Phenomenon + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Spunk + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Strength + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Self-Consciousness + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Reveal Bravery + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Praise + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Embarrassment + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Express Shock + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Convey Brilliance + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Dread + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words That Express a Disaster + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Misfortune + Writing Prompts

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5 Powerful Words that Show Worry + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Express Fear + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Doom + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Show Tragedy + Writing Prompts

5 Powerful Words that Express Danger + Writing Prompts

5 Power Words that Express Panic + Writing Prompts

5 Power Words that Express Revenge + Writing Prompts

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