Wednesday Failed the Addams Family, and It Didn’t Have To The Addamses were designed for comedy, but they can still be in a tense show. February 3, 2023February 2, 2023 by Chris Winkle in Analysis
Should Your Character Be Mysterious or Relatable? Only one of these character types should have a POV. November 25, 2022November 24, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Q&A: How Do I Reveal That My Movie Hero Is Really a Villain? Submitted by Sophia González, answered by Chris Winkle October 17, 2022October 13, 2022 in Storytelling
How to Make Your Character Novel Novelty isn't easy, but it's the quickest way to make an impression. June 24, 2022February 5, 2023 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
How to Make Your Character Selfless It requires more than showing your hero rescuing a cat from a tree. June 17, 2022February 5, 2023 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
How to Make Your Character Sympathetic A character with genuine hardships will get audiences emotionally invested in the story. June 10, 2022February 5, 2023 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Episode 376: Character Strengths What if a character was just nice and dependable? April 24, 2022April 25, 2022 by Oren Ashkenazi, Chris Winkle, Wes Matlock, and Emma Riley
The Best Characters Eat Their Spinach — and Their Candy This silly-sounding spectrum has a huge impact on how we respond to characters. April 15, 2022February 5, 2023 by Chris Winkle and Bunny in Social Justice, Storytelling
How to Create an Unhappy Ending In a truly tragic story, the hero fails because they made the wrong choice. March 4, 2022April 21, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
How to Keep Your Favorite Character From Ruining Your Story The first step to fixing a candied character is recognizing them. January 14, 2022February 5, 2023 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Episode 344: Jerkass Characters Oh boy do writers love to get this wrong. September 12, 2021July 25, 2022 by Oren Ashkenazi, Chris Winkle, Wes Matlock, and Juan Pistis
Q&A: How Do I Portray an Ambitious Character? Submitted by Thomas, answered by Oren Ashkenazi September 6, 2021September 5, 2021 in Storytelling
Q&A: Can Audiences Sympathize With My Honorable Character? Submitted by Dave L, answered by Oren Ashkenazi August 30, 2021August 28, 2021 in Storytelling
Do Characters Need to Be Likable? It's complicated, but yes. August 6, 2021February 5, 2023 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Five Ways to Make a Selfish Character Likable Creating a selfish main character is tricky but not impossible. February 12, 2021June 14, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
How to Get Readers to Feel Those Emotional Twists Every bit of triumph or heartache has to be built up by the storyteller. February 5, 2021June 14, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Nine Jerkass Traits That Aren’t Toxic or Abusive Characters can be grating without being abusive. January 29, 2021January 8, 2022 by Chris Winkle in Inspiration, Storytelling
Seven Ways Jokes Can Sabotage Your Story Many storytellers have sacrificed their stories on the altar of comedy. September 18, 2020June 16, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
Q&A: How Do I Portray a Woman Who Invests in Her Appearance? Answered by Chris Winkle September 7, 2020August 26, 2021 in Social Justice, Storytelling, Writing
Seven Common Reasons Protagonists Are Unlikable Audiences won't get far in your story if they can't stand your main character. July 10, 2020June 29, 2021 by Chris Winkle in Storytelling
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