Tag Archives: scene

THE EVIL WITHIN

HOW TO CREATE AN EVIL VILLAIN

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The most well-known villain type is the “evil for evil’s sake” bad guy. This villain has no motives for his evil. He wants to rule the world, and he wants to enslave all its inhabitants.

This type of antag is comical if you take him to his logical end because the question always arises, “What are you going to do if you do enslave the world?” That said, it doesn’t matter what’s next. The important thing is what’s happening right now.

The evil villain is seen most in epic fantasies since everyone knows that evil is bad. Of course we know of the Sith Lord, Darth Sideous from Star Wars. There’s Darken Rahl from The Sword of Truth. The list goes on with these scumbags. Continue reading →

SLIPPERY WHEN WET

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HOW TO CREATE A SLIPPERY VILLAIN

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What type of villain are you creating? There are several types, and we are going to take a few days to explore these feats of villainy.

This post will be about the slippery villain. This villain is like a fish that you just can’t keep your hands on. He’s a villain by circumstance, and it only makes you hate him more. Continue reading →

FROZEN

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HOW TO GET RID OF WRITER’S FREEZE

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We have all heard of writer’s block, but what is writer’s freeze? Let me begin by expressing the difference between the two. WB is the inability (assumed or not) to write due to a lack of ideas.

Writer’s freeze is different. It’s a term that I stumbled upon in my own writing as I’ve been hacking and slashing my way through this trilogy. WF is the condition where there are plenty of ideas. But here I am, writing this third book, and I am nervous about which ideas to choose. Continue reading →

TRICKSTER

EVIL FEELINGS

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HOW TO GIVE EMOTIONS TO THE DEAD

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Empathy deserves justice. Recently we touched on the idea of building empathy for a character. This will, by far, be your most powerful tool for writing. You have to make sure that the reader can connect with the situations that you put your characters through, and the reader must somehow be coerced to pull for your characters within those situations.

Think about it. With empathy, we can make you pull for any character, no matter how sinister he is. The Professional is about guy who wants to protect a little girl, and he just happens to be demolition expert. Well, the writers actually get you to pull for him even though he’s a child molester. Continue reading →

WABBIT SEE-ZON

HELLO, MAIN CHARACTER, NICE TO MEET YOU

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HOW TO DEVELOP A CHARACTER WITH THE STORY RATHER THAN BEFORE

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I’m straying away from the week’s theme a bit, but who cares? As long as we cover some ground, that’s all that matters. I’ve been reading a lot about character development. How I find time to read anything is beyond me, but it happens. It happens when I’m on the bus or when I’m walking or when I’m on my lunch break. I’m either reading or I’m writing.

Get a life, right? Continue reading →

THE ALUMINUM CAN THEORY

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HOW TO TAKE TO ACCEPT SHAKY MOMENTS

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At 32,000 feet above sea level on an AirTran flight to Milwaukee, I am officially coining a term that I call the Aluminum Can. What does this mean? It’s the little slips in our stories that go unnoticed, or we notice them, but we need these moments in order for the story to progress.

These things aren’t plot holes, nor are they a sign of lazy writing necessarily, but sometimes we need an event to happen, that can only occur if we have an aluminum can. So what exactly is this “Aluminum Can” moment? Continue reading →

ZOOMING OUT

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HOW TO CONSTRUCT YOUR STORY

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Last week you may have been confused with the talk of scenes and sequels. Frankly, the idea originated from Swain, but still, he uses terms that we are familiar with, like scenes and sequels, and redefines them; thus, he makes it all too confusing.

Here’s a brief break down. Scenes have 3 elements: a goal, a conflict, and a disaster. Your character must experience these three things in a scene. In a sequel, the character must process what just happened. Sequels also have 3 elements: a reaction, a dilemma, and a decision.

Continue reading →

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?

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HOW TO KEEP YOUR MOMENTUM

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What do we do! What’s next? Where do we go from here? Pete has just decided to dial 911. The reader is relieved. At least help is on the way. I mean, we have no idea what Pete’s father is doing. The “sequel” has been written.

Now we write another scene. Remember the three elements that we need? We need the goal, the conflict, and the disaster. And the key here is the keep the tension mounting. There are a lot of avenues that we could take, but let’s go with one of the obvious ones.

Here’s the goal. Continue reading →