Enchanting Powerful Words. Writing Examples Included
Allure
No man had ever been able to refuse her allure, but it didn’t seem to even phase him.
Tantalizing
This tantalizing morsel is everything that I imagined flying to Paris.
Charmed
“Charmed to meet you.”
“Oh please! Don’t be so polite. I know who you are.”
Luscious
“That fruit might look luscious, but I assure you it is extremely poisonous. One lick with your tongue and you’ll swell up like a jumbo baked bean burrito on an all you can eat fiesta sale. Oh, and you’ll die too”
Irresistible
“Your deal sounds irresistible. What’s the catch?”
“The catch? Well, besides never seeing your family and friends again I’m not sure what you mean by catch?”
“I guess it was self-explanatory.”
Enchanting Powerful Words. Writing Examples Included
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Write power words to help your reader feel a certain way towards characters or situations.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider for fiction as well as non-fiction.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use simple power words that are easy to understand but that pack a punch compared to other boring words.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
Enchanting Powerful Words. Writing Examples Included
Enjoying Enchanting Powerful Words. Writing Examples Included? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
Enchanting Powerful Words. Writing Examples Included
Enjoying Enchanting Powerful Words. Writing Examples Included? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
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How to Write a Story from the Villain’s Point of View
Most stories are written from the hero’s point of view, but every once in a blue moon we see a story set from the villain’s perspective.
We can or may not know at the outset that we are following the villain. In my opinion, the more secrecy the better. But you can do it however you like.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
This saying ultimately means that the character didn’t mean to be evil. They ultimately meant to do good.
They had good intentions, but in the end they made some REALLY questionable choices that lead to the ruin of one or more characters.
Spoiler alert for: The Talented Mr. Ripley.
This reminds me of The Talented Mr. Ripley. He ultimately meant to do good and to find a happy life for himself and others, but he kept using murder to solve his problems AKA people.
Other people kept getting in the way of his goals and instead of working it out he would end up killing them.
Even though his original intentions were good, he ultimately turns out to be the villain.
Spoiler alert for: Mr. Brooks.
This story is fantastic. It’s one of my favorites. We follow Mr. Brooks most of the story who is a loving, caring, and gentle father, but soon we find out he’s also a recovering serial killer.
A recovering serial killer?
That’s correct, we follow him in his journey to try to not do something he’s addicted to, which is to kill people in certain ways.
The way they portray all the characters in this story is fantastic.
If you want to write a villain that’s trying to be good but is ultimately evil this is a good story to study how to write it from his or her point of view.
This saying means, “the end result justifies what you do along the way, even if some of your choices are morally suspect.”
An easy “end justifies the means” villain is Thanos in Infinity Wars. He justifies the mass slaughtering of trillions and ultimately half the universe to give the other half abundance of living.
He’s not exactly Daddy warbucks, but he ultimately has a good end in mind for some beings. His way of getting there is morally questionable.
Your villain can be an end justifies the means villain or an evil intentions villain, but how do we show this from their perspective?
Malicious intent.
Spoiler alert for: The Perfect Getaway
If you haven’t seen it. I recommend watching it before reading the rest of this post. You have been warned. 😬
One of the best stories I’ve seen where we follow the Villain’s point of view is: The Perfect Getaway.
One reason is that it’s an amazing twist. The second reason is the villain is completely evil and ultimately selfish.
I don’t always appreciate the villain that “has good intentions,” but ultimately ends up making bad choices.
I like it black and white sometimes.
There are so many “misunderstood” villain stories these days, that finding one where the writer says, this guy or girl is purely evil is actually refreshing (In a strange way.)
This story is amazing for writing a villain’s story from their point of view, because the entire time we follow the story it’s from the villain’s perspective but we absolutely have no clue.
This makes it a great story to follow the villain’s journey and makes a wonderfully fun twist towards the end.
You have to choose.
You ultimately have to choose if your villain is deliberately evil or if they are trying to be good and failing.
If you are going to write it from your villain’s point of view I recommend that being a twist (But it doesn’t have to be. Think The Joker.) Study some of the stories I’ve mentioned here to grasp how that is done well.
Hide your villain in a good person’s story.
The Getaway works so well because, the entire journey we are led to believe that the two characters we are following are two newlyweds on their honeymoon in Hawaii.
Who is more innocent then two young newlyweds?
Use ideas like this. Place your villain into a normally good person’s life.
Your villain loves their family. They pay the rent. They are a hard worker. They help the elderly cross the street. They pay all their taxes.
In their personal community, they’re an upstanding citizen.
Find ways to make your villain look like the naïve innocent person where you reveal their evil intentions or choices later.
In Sweeney Todd, we actually end up following the evil intentions of two villains (not just one) from their perspectives.
They both justify the evil they do to survive in a harsh environment. And Sweeney ultimately justifies everything horrible he does to anyone with his only goal, which is revenge.
It’s honestly a very tragic tail but worth a good study for writing from the villain’s point of view.
Revenge is actually one of the easiest motives to give your villain for them to justify every evil act they do.
What is your villain’s motive?
In order for your audience to enjoy your villain from the villain’s perspective they have to believe the villain’s motive is powerful enough to justify their actions or it just doesn’t work.
Some believable villain motives are:
greed
revenge
saving someone
saving themselves
selfishness
There are actually many good motives to work from, you just have to decide which best fits your villain.
Remember that the anti-hero is not a villain.
The anti-hero is more the character where the end justifies the means but in a different way.
A good way to think of it is this:
The anti-hero will torture a bad guy to save the innocent.
The villain will torture the innocent to save someone they love or themselves.
The anti-hero uses questionable tactics to save the innocent.
The villain carries out evil to acquire their goal, even if their goal ends up being very bad for others. They usually lack sympathy and don’t value human life.
How to Write a Story from the Villain’s Point of View
How to Write a Story from the Villain’s Point of View
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How to Write a Story from the Villain’s Point of View
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5 Corrupt Settings for Your Fictional World Building
Corrupt politicians
Is your world full of corrupt politicians?
Is the whole system corrupt or are there certain secret societies of corruption?
Corrupt justice system
Does your character fight their way through a corrupt justice system?
Do they deal with an entire country or more local corruption?
Are they a lawyer?
Are they a judge?
Are they an officer?
Are they a reporter?
Are they the defendant?
Are they the prosecutor?
Corrupt police force
Des your character deal with a corrupt police system?
Are there a few bad cops or does it run much deeper?
Are they a cop or a citizen?
How do they find out about the corruption?
How does the opposing antagonist threaten them?
Company corruption
Is the CEO embezzling?
Is the board lying and stealing from the customers?
Is the company covering something up?
Are there billions or trillions on the line?
Are individuals that find out dying?
How far do they go to keep everything covered up and out of the light?
Corrupt Government
How far does the corruption go?
Are they stealing from the people?
Do they deny the people their rights and freedoms?
Is there a certain sector of the government that is more corrupt?
Who finds out and how?
What is the allegation?
Put your characters into corrupt situations to create tension and interest for your story.
If nothing ever goes wrong for them, they don’t have very interesting lives.
Follow the natural consequences of the setting to make problems for your characters to overcome
The more organic it is, the more depth the fictional story will carry with it in a natural way.
We hope you are enjoying our series on bad settings that make interesting stories. Look around for more settings that could spark your next best seller!
5 Corrupt Settings for Your Fictional World Building
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5 Corrupt Settings for Your Fictional World Building
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Use These Powerful Words to Express Heartache | Writing Examples Included
1. Pain
There isn’t much pain like heartache.
2. Grief
His grief was inconsolable. No one could get him out of his trance. He just sat day and night waiting for the pain to pass, but knew it never would. That nothing would ever be the same without her.
3. Despair
They came in and took everything. They left nothing for the people they raided. They left utter despair.
4. Sadness
Ever experience the sadness of a heartbreak?
5. Hurt
Even though the damage was only emotional the hurt was physical, sickening and he couldn’t find a way to logically escape it.
If you enjoy 5 Powerful Words that Express Heartache + Writing Prompts, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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5 Powerful Words that Express Heartache + Writing Prompts
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5 Powerful Words that Express Heartache+ Writing Prompts
Be a smart writer and take advantage of every word.
Write powerful words when appropriate to trigger an emotional response from your reader.
You can write powerful words instead of dull words to incite a desirous psychological reaction in your reader while you have their attention.
Write power words to give your reader specific feelings about characters and events.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider for fiction as well as non-fiction.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use simple power words that are easy to understand but that pack a punch compared to other boring words.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
If you enjoy Use These Powerful Words to Express Heartache, Storytelling, and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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 🙂
If you enjoy Use These Powerful Words to Express Heartache | Writing Examples Included, Storytelling and writing in general, you might love owning a domain of your own where you can write about it? Ever want to own your own domain name (Yourname.com)?
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 🙂
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5 Powerful Words that feel Bizarre + Writing Prompts
Odd
“Have you been feeling odd lately?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Well, it could be because of the poison I’ve been putting in your dinners.”
“You’ve been poisoning me?”
“Yes, darling. I told you I’d get you back.”
Peculiar
“Peculiar circumstances have been happening a lot in this community lately.”
Curious
“Well, I’m as curious as you are. Why don’t we just go ask hin already?!”
Outlandish
“Now that’s an outlandish idea. You want to rope up some cows together and see if you can stand on them while they run? And you say this will help you get better at water skiing?!”
5 Powerful Words that feel Bizarre + Writing Prompts
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Unorthodox
“That’s is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of.”
“Yes, it’s a bit unorthodox, but it actually just might work. Our timing has to be perfect though or else sssplat!”
Write power words to help your reader feel a certain way towards characters or situations.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider fiction as well as non-fiction.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use simple power words that are easy to understand but that pack a punch compared to other boring words.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
5 Powerful Words that feel Bizarre + Writing Prompts
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5 Powerful Words that feel Bizarre + Writing Prompts
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Avoid These Common World Building Mistakes When Writing Nature
There are some common tropes that get brought up when creating nature. Peace, tranquility, and innocence.
But if you actually take a look at nature you see very different themes coming up.
It’s a dog eat dog world.
Many writers have written nature as if it is the peaceful land that civilization came and messed up. This thought seems to come mostly from those that actually think that humans and civilization ruin everything.
But let’s examine nature with or without humans.
Most of the animals hunt and kill and eat each other. Wolves murder wolves not in their own specific pack. Foxes kill rabbits. Spiders eat other insects. Fish eat fish. Fish eat bugs.
There is a vast amount of killing and bloodshed in the woods all while humans are away. Violence is present in the wilderness with or without humans.
Nature doesn’t always have to be portrayed as the peaceful and tranquil forest that is untainted by man. You see this a lot in Eastern films. (Don’t get me wrong, anime is awesome) but the point stands that if you wanted to write about the violence of nature that would be a completely understandable theme. (It seems like Attack on Titan explores this theme)
Money is the root of all evil.
A theme we see a lot is the forest is pure until evil man comes and corrupts it with industry and greed.
The quote that “money is the root of all evil” actually comes from the Bible. And this is a misquote of what was actually said.
The actual quote is, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” See the difference? Money isn’t the root of ALL evil acts, but the LOVE OF MONEY is the cause of many evil decisions.
So is money and industry inherently bad for nature? No. People need to survive and build homes and make heat. Cutting down some trees to do so is a part of nature existing just as much as planting new trees and growing new forests.
The point is you can build good industries into your world and evil industries. And they can both affect nature in good and unhealthy ways.
But corruption shows itself in nature every day in wilderness where man has yet to step.
Parasite.
Need I say more?
In nature fungus grows on trees and kills them. Parasites latch onto animals and feed on them while they’re still alive.
The very existence of these parasitic species is evidence of corruption in nature.
Now, does it seem like man ultimately caused that corruption in the first place? Yes. But that’s another story for another time.
The point is corruption in nature can be an explored theme in world-building without the evil industry making its way into the woods.
Death stalks the forest.
In this entire post, the theme is that violence, corruption, and death at this time all run rampant in the woods even on days when humans don’t get involved.
A Hunter may not shoot the rabbit with his bow but the bobcat might still pounce on it and break its neck.
A resounding theme in the wilderness is unending survival. Every creature seems to be struggling to survive.
And that is a great theme: survival.
So don’t always assume that if you are attempting to do some world-building and the woods are a major part that you MUST make the woods peaceful, tranquil, and pure (even though these themes can also be found there. I know this first hand.) You can also explore death, corruption, violence, and the struggle for survival in a natural setting.
Avoid These Common World Building Mistakes When Writing Nature.
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Avoid These Common World Building Mistakes When Writing Nature.
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Story settings are a big part of the overall feeling of our stories. Use these horrific setting ideas in this short post to help your reader get into the feeling of the story you want to create.
Mistreatment for gender
Mistreatment for whatever reason is horrific and should be condemned. Handle these settings with respect and care.
In this setting do they mistreat a specific gender?
How do they mistreat them?
Are only some mistreated and some are left alone?
Mistreatment of a person with a physical handicapped
Is your main character a person with a physical handicap in this scenario or is it a loved one?
Mistreatment of persons with mental disabilities
What does this society do to mistreat them?
Do they have to hide in secret?
If they are found out do they need to run?
Are they shunned?
Are they treated differently by peers?
Are they even mistreated by family members?
Mistreatment of animals
Is the setting of animals on a farm?
Does the reader know the thoughts and feelings of the animals?
Are they personified from the animal’s perspective?
Slavery
Are your main characters slaves?
Do they own slaves?
Are they sold into slavery?
Are they sold onto slavery by their family or friends? (In the story of Joseph in the Bible his brothers sold him into slavery.)
Are they sold into slavery by their enemies? (In history, warring tribes would sell their prisoners into slavery)
Does your main character know something they shouldn’t so that they are “getting rid of them” by selling them?
Are the children sold into slavery by their parents to provide for the rest of the family?
By putting your characters through unfavorable scenarios you will write interesting settings for your reader.
If nothing ever goes wrong for them, they don’t have very interesting lives.
Use settings like these to create natural problems they might run into in everyday life.
The more naturally it is, the more depth the fictional story will carry with it naturally.
We hope you are enjoying our series on settings that make interesting stories. Look around for more settings that could spark your next best seller!
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We hope you enjoyed: Horrific Story Settings for Your Fictional World!
If You’re a Woman Writing a Male Character Avoid these Bad Writing Tips
As a male reader and writer I have been seeing some really bad advice pop up regularly about writing characters in general and specifically about writing males.
I understand, writers don’t want to offend anyone with their writing, but that’s almost impossible these days.
If you create content and give it to the masses it’ll almost always offend someone or at least one person won’t like it for whatever reason.
I also understand that for men and women it can be hard to write the opposite gender and not stereotype them. We will address this as well.
But there has been some “cool” “hip” “woke” writing advice flying around out there that needs to be addressed so that writers can continue to do what they do best, write.
So if you are a woman and you want to write a man I hope this post frees you from some trepidation in trying to write a male. 🙂
So let’s dive in!
Avoid Stereotypes
This seems to be the trope of the hour. And in this writer’s opinion it is so absurd.
And remember this is coming from a male. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Ever heard of the movie “A Knight’s Tale?” Heath Ledger, great cast, love that movie.
You know what’s in it? A bunch of male stereotypes. (What? a male loves a movie filled with male stereotypes? Absurd!) Nope it’s true.
You have greedy men. Men that are arrogant and obsessed with their own voice. You have unemotional men that seem to only know how to express anger. You have the main character who is a bit of a macho man, but falls in love and goes after his one true love.
These are all gross stereotypes and as a male watching this movie, I personally love it.
Let’s bring up “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
Again this show is packed with male stereotypes. Lou Grant the unemotional father figure who’s kind of a drunk, he’s hilarious. Ted Baxtor is a massive stereotype of a typical narcissistic male who is extremely in love with himself and his own voice. As a male I love these stereotypical characters even to this day.
One more, “The Office.”
Need I even draw out the stereotypes in this?
Jim, the cool guy. Darrel, the unemotional hides his feelings mostly. Michael, idiot boss, how did he become a manager? Dwight, typical power hungry competitive narcissist.
Need I go on? In fact, Toby, Oscar, Ryan, Stanley, and Kevin are all seemingly stereotypical characters as well.
Males LOVE The Office. Females LOVE The Office. And it is very much based around the humor associated with stereotypes. Creed might be the only non stereotype I can think of. Unless they were going for office creep? 😂
Should you really avoid stereotypes? Are you going to offend people by writing characters that are actually like people you’ve seen, met, and interacted with?
The point is, it seems to me like major audiences actually like stereotypeswhen they are done well.
And they transcend genre, it seems to be the overhyped “writers guild” that is bored of stereotypes, but the problem with listening to just their advice is, they don’t make up the MAJORITY of people that you’ll be entertaining with your story.
Keep this in mind, we are NEVER going to be and to please everyone, but we can serve a lot of people by writing well and making interesting characters.
I think one could say, you aren’t going to offend most males if you decide to make some stereotypical male characters appear in your story.
Can I say, “duh” here? Well, of course, unless there is an emotionless robot character that fans have proven to love. Wait!
That happened. Star Trek anyone? Data?
If you haven’t seen it it’s okay, but if you want to write an emotionless robot that audiences loved you could spend a moment studying the character arc of Data.
So let it be known! A successful male emotionless robot has been written and people loved it!
But seriously, we all have met the quiet, seemingly emotionless type of male before. They seem to not care about anything. They don’t say what they’re thinking or feeling… ever.
So don’t think you can’t write a character that’s like this. There are REAL people walking around today that function mostly in this way.
Now, are they REALLY emotionless? No. They’re probably a little shy. And they probably don’t have much to say, but if you married one, I bet it wouldn’t take long to see them emote sometimes.
But that’s the amazing part of reading a character someone else creates, whether they are male or female.
If you decide to make the “emotionless” father. At some point you might write a scene where we see him crying alone in his room. Our heart starts to break. This strong male figure is crying. He was supposed to be the pillar, but now he’s losing it.
You want to create moments like this. Emotional moments for your reader to latch onto and feel something.
Writing a strong male character that we get to see break is not going to offend most males.
The BIGGEST thing is, stay true to the character you’ve created. Don’t let outside opinions sway you in the wrong direction. (Even mine.) If this opinion causes you to betray the character you are creating, don’t use it on that character.
Don’t make the major mistake of changing the character completely somewhere towards the middle or end of the story. Don’t make them betray everything you’ve made us believe about them at a last second decision.
When you create a character and give them certain habits and traits, naturally we expect it to be hard for them to break away from those habits.
It would make sense if they change some over our journey with them, but not overnight.
So if you write the “secretive,” “doesn’t show much emotion” male, it doesn’t mean we can’t ever see them emote. It just means that they’ll continue to predominantly be that way the entire story. And don’t worry about shying away from making a male character that way.
It’s not offensive. Again, the reason they are written is because writers know people like this or look up to them or even look down on them.
Bonus thought, you can even share some background why they are that way. Maybe you can come up with something interesting to make sense of it in the reader’s mind.
Don’t waste time talking about their physical features.
I can kind of agree with this. I think it depends more on your genre and target audience.
Personally, I think enough description to get the reader’s imagination going is enough.
“She saw him from across the hallway. They hadn’t made eye contact yet. She immediately noticed how tall he was. She tried not to stare but he was definitely handsome. At least, her type of handsome. Strong cheekbones, fair skin, and as he approached her she could see the green in his eyes. She hoped she wasn’t blushing as he spoke to her.”
Not perfect, but on the fly you can see through our main characters thoughts an outline of what this male looks like and we’re still moving the story forward. We don’t really stop the plot and say, “this is what he looks like.” And after some tweaking and adding a few more physical description points (hair color, maybe clothing style, freckles, etc) while still pushing the plot forward the reader’s imagination will fill in the blanks.
This is general writing advice for this specific point though because obviously the amount of physical that you want to give can change dramatically with genre and target audience.
Exercise: Take some time and study how famous author give enough description and then let readers fill in the blanks with their imagination.
The BIG secret.
In all honesty, if you’re a woman trying to write a man more often than not it is hard to tell that a woman is writing a male character. Men writing women can be a bit more obvious.
J.K. Rowling created some fantastic male characters that were loved by men and women alike.
The only thing women should be concerned about in writing males is if they “hate all males.”
And this goes both ways.
You can tell when an author is sexist, and maybe not for the reasons you might think.
One might assume that if a stereotypical male shows up that the author hates males, but what about the other males? Are there ANY good males? Is the continual running joke always and only directed towards males? Is EVERY male character an idiot? Do they ever poke fun at women too? Is every female character perfect and faultless?
This is how you avoid offending a large majority of the opposite gender. If you’re a female writer that hates all males it’ll be obvious, you’ll make every man have tons of faults and only ever make jokes than belittle men.
If you’re a male writer that hates females you’ll make every female dumb, and only ever make female references that belittles ALL the females in the story.
How do you avoid this?
Make good characters out of both genders. Make bad characters out of both genders. Make jokes about both genders. Be fair.
Here’s a BIG lesson in writing psychology; make your writing fair towards both genders.
If you want to write something that’s just for women then you can poke fun at men all day and vice versa, but if you want to make sure that both men and women enjoy you just have to treat both genders fairly in the story.
Again this doesn’t mean that everyone is perfect. In fact, it means the opposite. Both genders are imperfect and jokes can easily be made about both.
Again think of the office. Both genders are fallible and no one is safe from a jabbing joke. This makes both men and women able to enjoy a show or story.
Don’t bother avoiding stereotypes. As long as you use them to your advantage people will still love the characters or hate them if you want them to.
You can use stereotypes to make people laugh, cry, hate, you can use them to catch the reader’s attention and help them feel whatever way you want them to towards that character.
Don’t worry about making an “emotionless” male character. It has been done well before and can be done well again. After all, as readers, we know they aren’t completely emotionless and we’re waiting for you to show us that.
The amount you focus on physical description is very much contingent on your genre and target audience.
If you want men and women to like your characters, make both sexes have good points and bad points, or poke fun at both of their stereotypical fallacies.
If you choose just one or the other the opposite gender will not enjoy your story as much.
This is just my opinion, you’re entitled to yours. 🙂
If you agree or disagree with anything in this post please feel free to let us know in the comments below!
If You’re a Woman Writing a Male Character Avoid these Bad Writing Tips
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If You’re a Woman Writing a Male Character Avoid these Bad Writing Tips
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How to Write a Diverse Character in the Midst of a Cancel Culture
It can be tough in today’s culture to know when and if to write any character given that just about any one of the 7 billion people on the planet could accuse you of being racist, homophobic, genophobic, or any other number of titles that suddenly make you a bad person for trying to be creative and trying to write something you were hoping the world would enjoy and love.
Most writers that I can think of don’t spend their days thinking, “how can I create a character that is so offensive that mass amounts of people will trash me and my writing on social media?”
I can’t think of any, (except maybe Ben Settle, but his marketing is edgy. It’s his thing) But seriously most writers are trying to create entertaining and interesting reads for their audience.
And just so you know, I’m not saying this because it recently happened to me, I just see it happening in general. It even happened to J.K. Rowling recently of all people.
I’m sure she was sitting in her hidden cavern by candle light, plucking away at a typewriter laughing maniacally as she wrote the character she knew would really make people mad.
So in the midst of a culture where any number of 7 billion people can get access to your work, and any amount of them can find reason to be offended about it, how do we write characters AT ALL?
Let’s figure it out together!
You don’t have to be everything in order to write anything.
Some of cancel culture mentality is that you have to be the type of character you are writing about. If you want to write about a white person you have to be a white person. If you want to write about an American Indian, you have to be AMerican Indian. If you want to write about another being from planet mars you have to be from mars…oh wait…no they haven’t said that one yet…hmmmmm…well I’m sure it’s coming soon.
I think you can see my point. If we think like this, we’re saying you can’t write about a spy unless you are or have been a spy. Did you spend 10 years in the military? Did you dodge death at least 20 times? Have you grabbed a grenade out of the air while jumping from a helicopter into a pond teeming with man eating crocodiles and throw the grenade through a fiery hoop and blow up the bad guy?
No? Well sorry then you can’t write about it. Save it for us that have the experience okay buddy?
Of course, I’m being a BIT ridiculous here, but hopefully we can see the point. If we keep saying you can’t write about it unless you are it or have experienced it that really limits the amount of anything any one writer can write about without being attacked.
The character’s color/type/gender/culture doesn’t have to be the focal point of their existence.
Did you go to the store today?
Yes.
Oh my goodness! I didn’t know your type of people do that! That’s fascinating! Why did you go?
Uh…to get food?
Food! Oh my! What kind of food do your kind of people like?
I mean, I like cereal…
OH my! Cereal! This is gold! I’m writing this down! Hang on! I’ll be right back!
For some reason it seems like when we jump on the cnacel culture bandwagon there is this weird need to say that based on a character’s preferences it means they won’t act a certain way or do certain things because of those preferences. And of course this is true, but it’s also not true.
We have to stay away from thinking about people in a herd mentality and think of characters on more of an individual basis.
Let’s talk me for example. All of my family plays tennis. I was expected to also play tennis. It’s in my culture, but when I was little I wanted nothing to do with tennis, because in my little circle, EVERYONE played tennis and I for some reason always wanted to be “different” so I didn’t want to play.
Now if that were some random character a person although meaning well, might say, “that character definitely wouldn’t have chosen not to play tennis. It’s their culture, their heritage. They would have played and been very good, not the other way around.”
Who are we to say what a character that another person is writing would or wouldn’t do?
Real people make INDIVIDUAL decisions all the time. There is literally no limit to the possibilities of a brand new character being added to the universe.
Personally, to put SO many labels on people is a bit counterproductive in my mind. I mean why can’t people just be people that make choices everyday?
Why do they have to be a straight, white, American Indian, that likes to play soccer?
Why can’t they be steve? Why can’t Steve like to play soccer and drink tea with his grandma on saturday mornings? Why can’t Steve like to help his neighbor with their groceries when he sees them pulling into their driveway? Why can’t Steve secretly long to be an alien?
The point is, unless it completely is the focal point of your character on purpose or it is the main points of your plot you don’t have to be as dramatically focused on their gender, color, sexual identity stuff as much as the cancel culture is.
Just write the character you want to and have them make choices about their life based on their specific circumstances, just like a normal person would.
Don’t bother trying to please the “woke police;” try to not write poorly.
I love this advice. No matter what you set out to do, someone will come along and try to put the “hate” on you. These days, you could call these people the “woke police.” Maybe they are a “troll.”
Whoever they are they have too much free time and not enough of it are they using to try to help those nearest to them. They seem angry and like they score the interchannels of social media looking for the next fight to pick. Don’t be these people.
Be someone that creates, not destroys. If we don’t like something, that’s fine, we don’t have to like it. We don’t even have to read it or watch it. It’s okay to be reading something, not like something in it and put it down and go do something else.
We don’t have to be someone that is constantly out for blood.
We don’t have to be afraid of these people that are offended by almost anything and everything. We have to continue to write and think and create. It’s in our DNA.
So don’t set out to please the haters. Set out to write something really entertaining or inspirational. Something you enjoy writing. Do good research and make sure to study your character well and write them in a way that makes others interested in them and the way they make decisions in their specific life and world.
Make sure your characters are convincing. Interact with people from the backgrounds you want to write about. Don’t just google stuff, talk to people too. You never know where your own journey in writing a story about a beloved character might take you.
Write whatever you want and treat people with respect.
When you are writing a character treat them with the honest respect you would anyone. Just because they make morally bad decisions in their journey doesn’t mean you disrespected them. It just means they made some bad choices along the way.
What consequences do they discover? Do they decide to change? Do they continue down a road of continual self-destruction?
These are all interesting questions and if we were constantly worried about what other people think we might never even try to find the answers for these characters. Don’t let the “woke police” stifle your creativity.
People are always going to have opinions and that is NEVER going to change, but here is the funny thing. THEIR OPINIONS CAN AND DO CHANGE.
100 years ago what is offensive now isn’t offensive then. What isn’t offensive now was offensive then. 100 years from now these people will be offended by other things.
We just can’t please everyone’s opinion. It’s ACTUALLY LITERALLY impossible.
So instead of trying to please people, focus on writing amazing characters in amazing stories, with amazing writing.
Final Thoughts
Writing characters is less about specific “groups” of people and more about individuals making their own individual choices for their specific circumstance.
For example, just because someone comes from the south doesn’t mean they’ll always love sweet tea and country music. They also might love those things. That’s okay. They’re an individual that makes individual choices just like everyone else.
That’s the fun of creating a character. You get to decide what they like and what they don’t like. You get to create where they’re from and how they think and why.
In real life, granny may be an assassin. The pastor may be a hypocrite. Junior might be a serial killing machine.
In real life, people of all colors, all types, all preferences, all backgrounds make individual choices.
Do I follow the mob? Do I stay home? Do I watch tv? Do I go out with my friends? Do I date this person or this person?
If our characters were REAL people, the “woke cancel culture” that keeps attacking the next target they find that offends THEM wouldn’t go after them saying, “You can’t make these decisions because you’re defined by your sexuality/color/culture Or whatever.” Now, might they disagree with their personal preferences and choices? Yes. But we should be entitled to our personal opinions and freedoms. (That’s just my opinion.)
Stereotypes in writing aren’t inherently bad. They are real. If you do your research well, YOU WILL FIND STEREOTYPES. That’s why they exist in the first place.
For instance, my family is a stereotypical family. We watch movies WE LIKE. We don’t watch movies and tv we don’t like. My father in law loves bluegrass. That’s stereotypical where he’s from, but THAT’S OKAY. He’s allowed to like bluegrass and if someone got inspiration to write a character after him, if they wrote about his love for bluegrass is that wrong?
The problem is people are constantly searching for ways to be offended. The problem is NOT creative writers that want to write diverse characters. The problem is not writers that are curious about lifestyles and cultures they weren’t raised in.
Characters used to be fun and a blank slate and you could study anyone and find really amazing stuff to write about.
Now writers feel trepid and avoid writing certain things because they don’t want to be attacked by the mob that “who knows what they’ll be offended by next week?”
In a truly free creative space, NOTHING is off limits.
One of the key things is, don’t become one of these “cancel everything that offends you” people.
And if someone writes something you don’t like or agree with, YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIKE IT OR AGREE WITH IT. IT’S OKAY. 🤣
But we can agree to disagree and still get along peacefully without trying to attack people for trying to be creative and write.
Instead work on honing your skill as a writer. Be so good that people can’t ignore you.
But that’s just my opinion and you’re welcome to disagree with it if you like 🤙
Please feel free to leave a comment on what you agree and disagree with in this post.
How are you going to write your next interesting character in the midst of a cancel culture?
How to Write a Diverse Character in the Midst of a Cancel Culture
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How to Write a Diverse Character in the Midst of a Cancel Culture
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5 Powerful Words that feel Sacred + Writing Prompts
When it comes to writing copy and stories word choices matter. Choosing certain words help bring certain feeling, tone, and voice.
See if these powerful words will help you give the feel of “sacred” to your sentences.
Unveiled
After centuries of the mask being hidden behind the walls of the tomb, its secret was unveiled.
Hidden
The benefits of this superfood have been hidden in the wilds of the unreachable amazon jungle until now.
Confidential
“This briefing is strictly confidential. Any information leaked out of this room could be catastrophic for this firm and your jobs.”
Locked
That door is kept locked forever for a reason. No one has ever attempted to unlock it and it will remain that way for all eternity.
Concealed
“Her whereabouts have been concealed from the general public to hopefully save her life at this time.”
Powerful Words that give the feeling of Sacred
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Powerful Words that give the feeling of Sacred
Write powerful words to help your reader feel a certain way towards characters, situations, and events.
Use the powerful word in a natural way that comes across organic and smoothly. Do not force it. Just let it flow in the best way possible.
Power words are good for pivotal dialogue moments. They are good to consider for fiction as well as non-fiction. You can use them, but choose the right moments for them.
Use power words to take your reader’s attention.
Draw their eyes and attention to where you want it the most.
Wake the reader up from zoning out while they are reading your piece.
Use power words strategically to get them from idea to idea.
Use “sacred” power words that are easy to understand but pack a punch compared to other boring words that don’t give the reader much feeling.
Write powerful words to keep your sentences interesting to your reader.
Don’t lose them by not drawing their attention back from losing focus.
When doing freelance writing projects use power words to write better-converting headlines and subject lines.
In blogging, use power words in the titles and subheadings.
In emails, use them in headlines and subject lines.
Don’t overdo it. Don’t try to force too many into any one sentence unless it calls for it.
Hopefully, this fast short post helps you think through some of your own writing and where you can incorporate simple power words in a meaningful, natural, and effective way.
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It is the Amazon you love, for work. Make workplace procurement easier with convenient delivery options, simplified purchasing workflows, multiple payment options, and a competitive marketplace with business-only pricing and quantity discounts. Anyone who makes purchases for work (eg. procurement specialists, office administration, IT departments, etc.) can create a FREE account for their business. Customer must be from a verified business in order to successfully create their Amazon Business account.
We hope you enjoyed: Powerful Words that give the feeling of Sacred!
