Posts Tagged ‘ideas’


Posted on September 4, 2012 - by

Use the Power of Introspection for Better Writing

If you aren’t an introvert by nature or a fan of philosophy I suggest you start. Asking yourself why your characters do the things they do is a great way to deeper understand them and leap frog through a Writer’s Block. Pretend you’re telling a child or an inquisitive-almost- to- the- point-of- annoying adult about your story and for every answer you give they ask why again.

(You) In my novel the main character is heart broken.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because she loved this man very much.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because he effected her so deeply?

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Honestly, because the sex was so amazing. (Wait, would you be be honest enough to tell a kid that? Probably not, bear with me now.)

(Kid/Adult)-Is that it? Is it just sex that determines who your character falls in love with?

(You)Well, it is very important to her.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because she prides herself on being a sexual person with no hang-ups.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because her mother was? I don’t know. That’s just who she is. She’s used to being the giver not the receiver.

Now from that we can discern this character likes the sex a lot. She’s accustomed to being the pleaser, but when its the opposite she doesn’t know how to handle it. Actually I (I mean you) knew this already, but a good question is does the reader know this? I’ll read over what I have so far and clean up the passages that need it so it makes more sense. Or, maybe you won’t need to do so much cleaning up and you’ll feel like your passages are sufficient enough to convey what you mean. Congratulations! You can give yourself a pat on the back. You did good. Now how does that feel? Good.

Now write about another aspect of your character that’s poorly developed ‘cause surely now that you’ve found some weaknesses. You didn’t touch them then ‘cause that is not what you was doing at the time.

But now you are.

Let’s talk about your character’s hate for ignorance for instance. Write a funny dialogue where your character’s boring the hell out of of someone on said topic. Make that person squirm with boredom and make your readers laugh and sympathize with the situation.

Let’s go ahead and FINISH THAT NOVEL ALREADY!

Originally posted 2010-02-23 04:24:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter


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