Making Villains Real

Making Villains Real

What makes a villain? Does someone like the mustache twirling character from cartoons come to mind? Or perhaps it’s Mr. Goldfinger (pictured here)? Is your villain a thoroughly evil character or just someone who wants to ensure your protagonist doesn’t get what they...
Do your characters have to grow?

Do your characters have to grow?

It’s an honest question. You might think that because I’m a romance writer and one who is always talking about goal, motivation, and conflict that I would be standing here screaming “Yes! Characters must always grow. They must always learn something and develop as a...
Archetypes

Archetypes

Archetypes. They’re not stereotypes! I’m delving into creating characters for my next Zodiac novel and fooling with archetypes. Definitions Stereotypes are an oversimplification of a type of person—the evil, mustache twirling villain who does bad things for the pure...
Writing to Trope

Writing to Trope

We all like to think that we write original stories that no one has ever written before. In a sense that’s true. On the other hand, it’s also highly likely that your story falls into a trope. According to Wikipedia, a trop is “a writer’s usage of commonly...
Do you really need to show that?

Do you really need to show that?

Is it possible to have too much “show” and not enough “tell” in your novel? First, a quick reminder of the terms: Showing is when you have an entire scene, complete with action, outer dialogue, and, most of the time, inner dialogue. We see what is happening in real...