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Writing Secondary Characters

by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 3, 2022 | Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, writing craft, Writing middle grade, Writing schedule, Writing YA

While secondary characters might seem less important than your protagonist, they actually serve a very important purpose. They drive the story forward and give the protagonist context, relationships, roadblocks, relief, and more. In this episode, we look at the role...

How to Write Believable Characters

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Apr 19, 2022 | Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, Uncategorized

How do we create primary characters that are nuanced and complex without being stereotypical, flat, or strange caricatures of themselves? The key is to know them. Like, really know them. And it’s more than knowing things like their favorite sandwich or where they grew...

Your Character’s Motivation

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Dec 14, 2021 | Character Development, First Draft, Planning your book, Revision, writing craft

Why do your protagonist and other characters make the decisions that they do in your story? How do you keep those decisions from running away with your plot? Whether we’re talking the big decisions, those actions that change the course of the story, and the...

Describing Human Characters Well

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Oct 26, 2021 | First Draft, Revision, writing craft, writing life

Let’s talk about describing human characters well. That’s right, humans. Not fantastical flying creatures or beings from other worlds. Plain old, everyday humans. Which means that we don’t have the luxury of quite as much space on the page to describe them, or...

Building Tension in Your Novel

by Stephanie Dethlefs | Sep 7, 2021 | First Draft, Planning your book, Revision, writing craft

When I think of tension in a story, my first thought is of suspense. We are waiting for something to jump out of a dark corner or for the final confrontation between hero and villain. Our bodies are tense, preparing for what my 13-year-old son calls “the jump-scare.”...
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