No direction, just the written word.

A writer's fond appreciation of life, literature, and imagination. The chronicle of a writer's life, her trials and frustrations, and her words of advice. Winner of NaNoWrimo 2008, 2011, 2012, & 2013 Personal tumblr: captain-kreisspants Tagged Darius Bellatore: 30 days of Char Development

[sixpenceee]

Hello! You may have heard of my blog @sixpenceeeaesthetic by now. But I really, truly work hard on it to express a creative/artsy side of me that’s screaming to be heard. People have described it as calming and soothing and love every aspect.

https://sixpenceeeaesthetic.tumblr.com/

https://sixpenceeeaesthetic.tumblr.com/

[katjamisc]

I love these, too much.

[benjoyment]

48 Shades of Lightning  Taken from last night’s thunderstorm. (color hues are unretouched)

[elenamorelli]

[natureac]

Take The 52 Week Photo Challenge or Check Out DSLR cameras here

[parunipolis]

[newssciencedaily]

[nothingreallymakesmehappy]

[dsxsbx]

Lost Lake after Sunset // Jake Chamseddine

[scruples]

[wanderthewood]

Courtmacsherry woods, Cork, Ireland by Keith Kingston

[fictionwritingtips]

Taking Steps to Strengthen Your Plot

So, you’ve finished your first draft. Congrats! You’ve taken a huge step, but there’s still a lot of work to do. It can be easy to point out grammatical or spelling errors, but understanding what’s fundamentally wrong with your story can take some time. If you liked what you’ve written, but you feel like something’s missing, here are a few ways to figure out if you need to strengthen your story’s plot:

Revisit character motivations

If you want to work on strengthening the plot of your novel, think hard about your protagonist’s motivations. What they want and how they plan on getting it will often shape the plot and give you some direction. Make sure the stakes are high enough to really drive your main character into action.

What are the obstacles?

There must be something standing in your protagonist’s way. Otherwise, your story won’t have much variation. Why does the antagonist want to stop the protagonist? What obstacles prevent your protagonist from getting what they want? Figure these things out and implement them in your next draft.

Take a look at tension

Your story needs tension or else it will fall flat. Your novel will feel directionless and there will be very little motivation from a reader to continue on. If your story feels dull and there doesn’t seem to be much to the plot, try focusing on tension. Throw something in to slow down your protagonist. Convince the reader that your main character might fail.

Define the story arc

In order to really understand plot on a deeper level, you need to learn about story arcs. There needs to be rising and falling action, ups and downs, etc. A story should not be a straight line from beginning to end. If you have trouble grasping the concept of a story arc, try reading more about them or studying your favorite stories/movies.

-Kris Noel

[sixpenceeeblog]

The Black Forest in Germany has caused over 15,000 missing person cases in the past year.

[igrimaldi]

Edgar Allan Poe and the Owl. by Imma Grimaldi

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What’s Your Book Shelfie Style?

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[fictionwritingtips]

Making Your Characters Stronger

A lot of people confuse character strength with physical strength. It’s awesome if your female character can beat up 30 people in a room, but what does that actually tell us about her? There needs to be something more than just that.

So, how do you make your characters legitimately stronger? Here are a few tips to get your started:

Give them a goal

All characters should want something. It can be something small, like getting a good grade on a test, or it can be something big, like saving the world. Know your characters and what their goals are. This should help you shape the plot and prevent writer’s block.

Let them grow

Character growth is something that makes your story fascinating. Each character should make a change or grow, especially if you want your readers to root for them. This is usually the case with protagonists because common antagonist traits are that they are stubborn and they might not grow very much. Let us see your protagonist learn and become a stronger hero.

Define their character traits

You can make a character more relatable if you know what their traits are. Is your protagonist cautious? Are they afraid of failure? Are they lazy? Knowing specific details about your characters can help your story feel more real. You’ll actually get to know who your characters are and why they’d react a certain way.

Build relationships

Let your characters love or hate or have great friendships. Your character’s connection to other people in the story will help make them stronger. They’ll have more motivation to fight til the end and they’ll have something they care about. Don’t neglect these relationships.

Let them fail

A strong character doesn’t mean they do everything perfectly and lack struggle. Your characters need to fail. Most of us don’t get stronger by constantly succeeding. We fail, we pick ourselves back up, and we keep going. This will help keep your protagonist relatable and your readers will continue to root for their success.

-Kris Noel

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