characters

Naming Characters

November 18, 2010

(Occasionally, I repost entries that newer readers might have missed. Today’s post is originally from December 22, 2008) 1. Choose names for members of a culture that follow a cultural thread. Names don’t have to be so similar that they’re indistinct, or rhyme, or all have the same vowel-consonant patterns. But in most successful science fiction [...]

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Character Motivation

September 9, 2010

How important is it for a writer to communicate a character’s motivation? Character motivation is critical to writing, but it should not be expressed directly to the reader. It’s the perfect case for the old phrase, “Don’t tell it, show it.” It helps me to think of motivation as an acting word more than a [...]

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Stereotype as Filler

December 21, 2009

The easiest way to make a support character feel like a gratuitous plot-enabler is to make them a stereotype, to fill the same sort of niche we always see them fill. “A rude waitress has to spill the coffee on her so that she has to go home and change clothes and that’s how she [...]

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Reality Check

December 7, 2009

Incorporating real live people or historical figures (real dead people) in your fiction is a decision that should be approached with thought and care. I wouldn’t say I’m not in favor of it, but I’m wary of it. It’s one of those things that’s very difficult to do well, and often it doesn’t need to [...]

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