Tag: craft

Want More Conflict in Your Novel? Go DM & Balance the Party

We as writers are tasked with creating characters that can easily be mistaken for living breathing people. In order to do this, we have to develop “people” who act in ways consistent with their backgrounds, experiences and beliefs. In other words, we must assign “alignment.”

The Key Ingredient for Dramatic Tension–Understanding the Antagonist

Today I wanted to take some time to talk about the antagonist. Why? Well, not only is the antagonist THE most important character, but he is the most misunderstood as well. In fact, that is part of the reason I am teaching a class about understanding the antagonist at the DFW Writers Workshop Conference this …

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Voice–The Key to Literary Magic Part 1

  One of my new favorite movies is the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris, and I feel all writers should watch this movie. Gil Pender (the protagonist) is a Hollywood hack who longs to live in Paris and become a real writer. He yearns to leave his rich and accepted life as a screenwriter …

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Don't Eat the Butt #4–Real Writers Never Struggle

A few weeks ago, I started a series that I called Don’t Eat the Butt. Why? Because typing “butt” makes me giggle. No, I think there are some important lessons here, so let me explain. I have always found the puffer fish fascinating. For those who choose to eat the puffer fish, there is only ONE TINY PART …

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Writers in a Gilded Cage–Only Art Can Set Us Free

  There are a lot of blogs out there that I love and respect for the best information. Any of you who have been following this blog for any amount of time know I am a huge fan of NYTBSA Bob Mayer. He really does go out of his way to help writers, and I …

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