Category: Characters (Writing)

Preptober Prompts Day 1 – 2018

Preptober Prompts Day 1 – 2018

Preptober Prompts is finally here! Before we start there are a few things I want to go over to make sure things go smoothly, but I’ll only go over these once so you’re not reading them every day, lol.

  • It’s totally okay to use Preptober Prompts all on your own. I know I’ll be emphasizing the social aspect of things, but if you don’t want to share, that’s fine. One of my goals with this is for writers to connect with and support one another, but the main goal is to get your creative juices flowing and get you prepped for NaNo, so if sharing isn’t your thing that’s totally fine.
  • If you share Preptober Prompts on your own blog or social media, please link back to the original post and add the link to your post at the bottom of this post.
  • If you’re using Twitter, you can tag me (@RysaArcher) instead of linking back, and don’t forget to use #PreptoberPrompts.
  • Subscribe to the other hosting blogs (Of Rainy Days and Stardust Veins, Ozark Mountain Cailins, and Wildflowers and Cosmic Tea) so you’ll be immediately notified when the prompts go up for weeks 2-4!
  • You can find all of the prompt images here.

Character Introduction

This week’s category is characters, so take a minute today to briefly introduce your character before diving into the prompt. Coraline Seralen is the king’s Paladin, which means she’s extremely powerful and carries an enormous responsibility to protect her king and country. It’s a burden she doesn’t really want. She’d rather be a healer, helping and protecting people through medicine, since it’s more physical and manageable. Continue reading “Preptober Prompts Day 1 – 2018”

Camp NaNo Prep: The Characters

Camp NaNo Prep: The Characters

“Characters are the lifeblood of any good book.” – Craig Hart

I whole-heartedly agree with this quote (no pun intended), as both a reader and a writer. As a reader, if the characters don’t engage me I’m not likely to enjoy the book. As a writer, if the characters aren’t working then the story doesn’t work. This means that characters are perhaps the most important aspect of a book, and as writers we need to put a lot of attention into them. As I mentioned in my previous prep post, I’m a firm believer in the value of developing almost every character in a book as deeply as possible, and the advice I share below is applicable to any character in your story, be they the protagonist, the antagonist, or a side character. Continue reading “Camp NaNo Prep: The Characters”

N: Names in Writing

N: Names in Writing

Names have many uses in fiction, both inside and outside of the book. (Pen names, anyone?) As such, this is going to be split into three sections.

​Character Names

This is probably the first thing you think of when you think of names in stories. After all, the characters are the most important part, right? Well I don’t think that’s entirely accurate, but character names can play a big role in your story. Continue reading “N: Names in Writing”

How to Write Healthy Romance (and Why We Need To)

How to Write Healthy Romance (and Why We Need To)

Romance is a large feature in the majority of books (at least above middle-grade level). It’s nearly impossible to find a book without at least one romance in it, and almost as hard to find a book with a good romance in it. The romances found in most books today are shallow, based almost entirely on physical attraction, and often have little basis in a prior platonic relationship. This is not a good kind of relationship to be praising and providing examples of. Real relationships require much more than physical attraction to survive, and relationships based only Continue reading “How to Write Healthy Romance (and Why We Need To)”

Roleplaying and Character Development

Roleplaying and Character Development

First, an explanation of roleplaying

Roleplaying, in short, is when usually when you and another author (or other authors) put your characters together in a situation and see what happens and how the characters react and interact. There are two main ways that roleplaying is done. One is more like you’re writing a story together; it’s written like a story and you simply take turns writing out scenes from your character’s POV (in third person, so it doesn’t get confusing). The other way, which I personally prefer because it’s looser, is to write it more like Continue reading “Roleplaying and Character Development”