Tag Archives: Writers Resources

Antagonist, Author, Character Development, Villain, Writing, Writing class

The Villain- Part 2

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Aspects- The writer should make the hero with character vulnerability and we should feel empathy/sympathy for them.  We need to connect on an emotional level so when the villain shows up we feel for the hero.  This draws interest to the protagonist.

By giving the protagonist danger and situations it helps us relate to them. Give them barriers, detours, step backs- just don’t make it easy for them.  The story does not have to have a happy resolution but it needs to be solved.

Do the following exercise for the villain you have in your story.

Writing Exercises for Part Two: Building Villains

1-Create a character who is an Antagonist, and explain why he or she fulfills that function.

2-Create a character who is an Influence Character, and explain why he or she fulfills that function.

3-Create a character and describe how you would make him or her the Second Most Central Character.

4-Create a character who is a Bad Guy and describe why.

5-Create a classic Villain type, and describe ow he or she is possesses of all four essential qualities of a Villain.

6-Turn this Villain character you have created into a non-villainous person, while maintaining his dramatic function as a Villain.

How to Create a Credible Villain in Fiction

Make your villain three-dimensional. Give the villain a back story or tell a part of the storm from his POV. You want the readers to get a clear picture of the villain and his evil nature.
Consider his motive. Fiction readers are not going to believe a villain who has no clear motive for his actions.  His motive can be something from his past or a conflict that arose between him and the hero.
Write the villain around his possible psychological profile. For example, if you want to make him a sociopath, give him characteristics that fit in with this depiction.

By doing this, your villain should be able to help your hero move the story along.

Publishing, Writers, Writers Conference, Writing

Writing Conference

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This past Saturday I attended my first writers conference. It was free and not to far away.

“Getting Published: What Do Publishers Want?” was the first seminar I attended. While the information obtain was not earth shattering new I still enjoyed being in the presence of actual publishers. Copious notes were taken for me to share with fellow writers who had not attended the conference.

I got two things out of this . The first was that small independent presses are willing to work with the author up front without a literary agent. In fact most prefer you don’t have one. Second, I was introduced to five more firms I can send my query letter to. For me these two things were worth my attendance.

The next seminar that caught my eye was “How To Write for Children”. One of the presenters was a 12-year-old boy who has three books in print. Most of the information was not new to be but I did learn again two thing. What I gained from this was two more publishing house names that I had not come across through the Writer’s Market book.

The last seminar I attended was “Traditional Publishing vs Self Publishing”. This section reaffirms what I have been doing since last March which is creating an online presence through social media outlets.

One of the panelist stated that people who go the traditional route are taken more serious. Also, more doors are open to them through the contacts they meet apart from the publishing house they are with.

If you are an aggressive individual and can promote yourself well self- publishing would work for you. If that is not your style and you need the help of a publisher it was recommended to try to get your book in print.

At the moment I am trying to go the traditional route. My books deserve the chance to shine in this avenue. For the past three weeks I have steadily been submitting query letters, chapters, synopsis and cover letters to various publishing houses. The list I am working from is only half way crossed off. A deadline in my head has been given and when that time frame comes then will be looking at self publishing.

Whether I am aggressive enough to promote myself remains to be seen. At least in this day and age I’m fortunate to have the option of ebooks where years ago that was not the case.

Character Development, Characters, Class, Writing

Bringing Good Things To Life

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Week 3: Bringing Characters to Life

The notes from my Character Development class.

The chart below was passed out. This is one way of testing your character from your storyline. The four sections are for action, how it is revealed, feelings and appearance.

character_trait_chart

Your story should have all of these. The action that occur and how is it revealed. How does the character feel about this occurring and lastly what do they look like physically.

If the function of our characters are not convincing or can act out or function in a believable and right proportion then the reader will get bored.

When you start revising from the first draft onward, your character should stay consistent. If you need to change their actions or thought patterns from A to B, it needs to make sense to the readers and the story.

We need to grab the audience within the first few pages about the main person or else you will lose readers.

One more thing, the naming of one’s character is not something to be taken lightly. You have a small window at the beginning of the book to grab your audience. Giving them a memorable yet interesting name will help.

There were little notes taken during this class since we discussed and asked questions throughout.