Tag: storycraft

7 Big Mistakes Made by New Authors

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If you are new to the craft of writing (books specifically), avoid these common mistakes; if you are experienced, you probably made some of these, as I have. Focusing on ideas rather than execution. This is very common with fantasy writers, who like to spend time imagining an alternate world, complete with maps, magic systems, and economies. The problem is, none of those things are stories, they are background to stories. Likewise, political ideology is not a story, whatever success Ayn Rand has had. A great yarn is focused on the character drama and the action, and you should focus…

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10 Ways to Make Your Protagonist Likable

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I’ve cautioned in the past regarding making a protagonist in a story a “Mary Sue” type of character. In short, you don’t want to make a character that lives out your own power fantasies and to whom the plot offers little resistance to the character’s overwhelming power. It’s good to avoid characters like this, but sometimes writers tend to go too far in the opposite direction, creating wimpy, base, or unlikeable characters that the audience doesn’t really care about. In order to avoid having a character feel too super-powered, they instead make them weak or detestable. This is not wise;…

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Storycraft: The Bad Boy, the Best Friend, and the Goody Two-Shoes

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Time for more character archetypes, this time focusing on secondary characters. I go over three classics, including their growth arcs, traits, and typical relationship to other characters. They are: Bad Boy – a character that goes from a nihilistic or chaotic approach to life and authority to a purpose-driven life. Frequently, this is a focus for a romance story, as a Bad Boy represents a popular fantasy: a strong, confident male that can be transformed into being stable while maintaining masculine traits. Best Friend – mostly a foil for the main character, a best friend has different, often opposite, strengths…

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