Tag Archives: create

WHEN EVIL IS VALIANT

HOW TO CREATE A NOBLE VILLAIN

Free Digital Photos

A nobleman is a man of dignity and sophistication. He is a man who handles business with a professional approach. He is a man who is determined to succeed. Take this nobleman and give him the traits of a villain, and you have created the Valiant Villain.

A VV is the type of villain who has a strict moral code, and only under the rarest of circumstances does he break it. This is the kind of villain whose motives need to be explored. He deserves to be understood; he demands it even. Continue reading →

VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE

3 Replies

HOW TO CREATE A CIRCUMSTANTIAL VILLAIN

Free Digital Photos

Yesterday we talked about a Slippery Villain. Today we are going to look at the Circumstantial Villain. She’s the one who would not be a villain under most other situations, but it just so happens that the events that have taken place are the right conditions for her villainy to emerge.

This is the type of villain that we each embody in ourselves. Most of us are probably nice people who work hard to treat people as we want to be treated. But, under certain conditions, that niceness would go away, if only for a moment. Continue reading →

MY 100TH BLOG POST!

8 Replies

HOW TO INCLUDE WEATHER IN YOUR WRITING

Free Digital Photos

So this is my 100th blog post, and I’m pretty excited about it. There are not too many ways to celebrate through cyberspace, so I figured I’d just link back to my first blog: PLOT H LES.

That said, let’s get to it. One aspect of setting that’s often neglected is the weather. Though it is sufficient to write a one-word expression to describe the heat and then leave it alone, I prefer subtle reminders of how the weather is affecting the characters.

As writers, it’s important to remember that we are recreating or creating events. These events are impacted by the weather conditions that the character must endure or enjoy. Continue reading →

SEQUENTIAL ORDER

5 Replies

HOW TO FOLLOW A SCENE

Free Digital Photos

The page has turned. Pete, from yesterday’s post, is gripping the windowsill, watching in horror as his father drags away the lifeless corpse of a deceased man. Now what? What we just wrote was the scene in SCENE-IT.

Now we’re going to write what Swain refers to as the sequel. It’s the follow-up moment or scene. I disagree with swain in that this “sequel” must be a few lines. I have written “sequels” that have been several pages long. But what is a sequel? Continue reading →

CHARACTERIZATIONABILITY

1 Reply

JUST MADE THAT ONE UP

Or let’s look at this as the ability to create characters. The best characters ever created, in my opinion, were on one of the most disappointing shows…in my opinion. The characters from LOST. There was Kate, and Sawyer, and Jack, and John, Michael, and Hurley, and a bunch of others who were nothing less than real people with real stories.

Continue reading →