Fiction Writing

This is a guest article by K.T. Mehra. If you want to submit a guest article of your own, be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

Character profiles let you craft your character’s personality, history, and everything about them without needing to write a line of your actual story. Character profiles are a list of facts, questions and answers, and other details about your character that you write before-hand just for yourself. These details let you subtly allude to characteristics while not blatantly stating them in your writing. They let you have a firm identity of your character that you can unconscious reference for each and every line your character speaks.

How to create a character profile

If you want a character that your readers identify with, you should create a character profile. Creating a character profile is simple and can be done on a piece of paper or a blank word document. Begin describing what you already know about your character, imagining they’re a real person you have a relationship with..

This is a guest article by Erin Scott. If you are interested in submitting a guest article of your own, be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

Conflicts are vital—they bring the thrilling tide in stories. They bring pressure and tension that make your story worth reading—the so-called engine that keeps your novel running in your reader’s senses.

Without conflict, your story fails.

How do you craft a conflict of a story that not only triggers emotions but also creates an impact? Here are simple tips:

[Read more…] about Tell a gripping tale, create exhilaration: Writing the conflict of a story

This is a guest article by Erin Scott. If you are interested in submitting a guest article of your own, be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

It may sound strange to say, but a writer has dark clouds hovering overhead while looking at a blank sheet of paper or the blinking cursor in a blank Word document.

Although it may appear easy, fiction is formed only after the writer has shed tears and blood (hopefully metaphorical)—poring over pages and pages of research, constructing ideas and wrecking them to pieces because they’re not good enough.

This is a routine most writers are all too familiar with.

But despite all the research and revisions, there are still fiction writing mistakes that make a story trite and unappealing. If you are struggling with creating a unique, captivating story, perhaps this list of the top three common writing mistakes can serve as guideline for your next work of fiction.

[Read more…] about Nine fiction writing mistakes writers need to stop doing

This is a guest article by James Thompson. If you want to submit a guest article of your own be sure to read the guest article guidelines.

Believe it or not, but the profession of your novel characters play a major role in making your novel a big hit. Using clichéd professions such as doctor, lawyer, detective, or an actor won’t suffice — unless it’s the only relevant choice. The profession of the characters, especially the main character, is what sets the scene for your book. Readers prefer reading something “fresh”.

How often do you read about a wizarding profession? (I’m sure we all clearly remember the famous books with those characters). All right, these aren’t all technically “professions”, but they set the scene and add more flavor to the character. They make a character more memorable.

A character’s profession affects the entire novel. It pinpoints to a personality type.

For example, what kind of a personality would you expect a detective to have? Clever, unsocial, and offensive at times? How about a rich guy? Bold, clever, and slightly arrogant? The profession also affects the plot. Since the profession forms the personality and “role” of a character, it’s bound to alter the plot and the way the character acts and reacts in it.

I have stressed enough about the importance of the characters’ profession. Now, let’s move on to how to pick out a suitable career for them. Relax, they are only characters! They won’t complain about freedom of choice.

[Read more…] about How to pick out a character for your novel