Category: Character Development

• January 12, 2024

  Side quests vs. Sublots

  Today I want to discuss the difference between what I call “side quests” versus subplots. What’s the distinction? A subplot connects with the main plot in (usually multiple) ways and affects the main plot. It’s one of the threads that compose the main plot, so to speak. A side quest does not connect so much…
• January 8, 2024

  Different ways a scene or conversation can advance the plot

  There are various way a scene or conversation in your novel can advance the plot–because every scene should advance the plot in some way (prologues maybe excepted, as they take place before the plot begins and set it up). No scene is going to, or needs to, do all of the things I’m going to…
• January 5, 2024

  Let your characters face the consequences of their actions (also, my book is on sale!)

  I posed a question to my beta reader for the second edition of book two last year, before I sent the manuscript off to my editor. I asked her if I should soften a particular bad decision one of my younger characters makes in the story. Her response was really gratifying to me. “She’s what,…
• January 3, 2024

  What is most important to you? Character, plot, style, theme?

  Every writer and every story is different. Honestly, I think every writer will hold the basic building blocks of written fiction in a different tension. A unique tension. These building blocks are character, plot, style, and theme. Personally, I think the best stories put character, and character development, first. We see the characters grow. We see…
• January 1, 2024

  The question to ask before you cut a scene or paragraph

  There are LOTS of times as a writer when you need to cut a paragraph or scene from your WIP. Before you do, there’s a question to ask yourself: DOES THIS PIECE OF WRITING CONTRIBUTE SOMETHING SPECIFIC THAT I NEED TO INCORPORATE ELSEWHERE? My editor recently suggested I cut a paragraph from book two of…
• December 20, 2023

  Creative Writing: Don’t force a theme

  Theme is so important. Along with character, if you write an impactful story, theme is one of the two main things readers will remember long after they forget most of the intricacies of your plot. The thing about theme, though: you can’t force it. Some major themes of The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope…
• December 1, 2023

  Combining two characters

  Now that book two is with the editor, I’m going through book three, and I’ve decided for the first time to more or less combine two characters. I’ve deleted a character before (sorry, Hal), and I thought at first that that was what I’d be doing here. Nope. I’ve ended up combining two characters instead,…
• November 21, 2023

  Tuesday Tunes: “You and Me” by Lifehouse, Vane and August, and “The Magic Council: The Fight for Home”

  For some reason, Kora and Lanokas (introduced in book one of my trilogy) have a lot of songs from Matchbox 20/Rob Thomas that remind me of them and their evolving relationship throughout the Herezoth trilogy. But Vane and August, introduced in book two, might just be my favorite of all my couples. (I love how…
• October 11, 2023

  How much world building is worth it?

  As a writer of fantasy, this is an important question to ask. The answer will vary from series to series and writer to writer. The answer, I think, largely depends upon what your focus is. Tolkien wanted to create a large, lasting mythology. As a result, his entire corpus is world building in a very…
• October 9, 2023

  “The Once and Future King” and Sir Gawain

  One thing you may not know about me is that Arthurian Legend is one of my borderline obsessions. (They are ALL British, though I’m American. But that’s another story.) T. H. White’s The Once and Future King is one of my favorite books of all time. It taught me how to introduce deep themes of…