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If the audience can’t stand your main character, then they probably won’t get very far in the story. We call this critical factor a character’s “likability.” We’ve previously described how you can make your character likable by giving them sympathetic, selfless, and interesting traits. But … read more »
Character death is a contentious issue, and there are many stories out there that killed characters when they shouldn’t have. Today, we’re narrowing our focus to stories where a character death was called for but the author chose the wrong character. Which character dies can … read more »
A character’s motivation is one of their most important aspects, right up there with agency and likability. Motivation is why a character does what they do. It’s what drives them to take difficult and costly actions. If a motivation is too weak, character behavior will … read more »
Years of daydreaming and obsessing over ideas can leave us with so much background information that it becomes difficult to tell a concise story. If you include too much history, your story will be an overburdened mess. Even so, your story will probably be better … read more »
Hmm, who was that one character again? You know, the one that did the thing in that place? Ugh, if only they were easier to remember! That’s what we’re talking about today: making characters more memorable. We talk about sneaky tricks authors can use, like … read more »
Some books, such as The Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, and the Philip Marlowe series, become so iconic that they spawn entire subgenres. But they also include powerful tropes that are often lost. By underplaying these surprising elements, the new works run the … read more »
Dear Mythcreants, After getting frustrated by media stereotyping and belittling of female anger, I’m currently creating a female protagonist with anger as a deep motivating factor. Her arc centers on learning to harness her anger positively. The emphasis is very much on the management part … read more »
When designing a romance, the first choice you’ll need to make is who the love interest is. That choice will heavily influence what makes the romance appealing, the type of chemistry between the love interest and protagonist, and what obstacles the romance might have to … read more »
I’ve noticed in fiction that shy characters tend to be written badly and much differently from how they are in real life. Many shy characters are passive in plots because they lack the enthusiasm and drive that extroverted characters have. They tend to be slow … read more »
A few weeks ago, I discussed some helpful tips on successfully portraying an autistic character. In that article, I mentioned characters like Sheldon Cooper, who aren’t stated to be autistic but who are coded as such. Since there were some comments about this, in this … read more »