Building a Character Wall

For any great novelist, defining your cast of intriguing characters is the key to the success of your story. So how do you maintain the image of your characters―both their physical attributes and their personality? It’s easy! Build a Character Wall?paper by paper.

A Character Wall is simply a character profile wall. It displays letter-sized pieces of paper featuring photos and key points on the cast of characters in your novel or story. It enables the writer to visualize his or her characters more fully, to give each cast member a face and to bring them to life. It ensures that the basic facts of each character’s existence are easily accessible. And it keeps the author consistent with those facts.

There is nothing worse than reading a novel and having the handsome hero’s hair color change from sandy brown to black, midway through the story. Or visualizing a ragged z-shaped scar running down the left side of his face in Chapter 2, only to see it miraculously change into a c-shaped scar running across his lower lip in Chapter 15. Of course, we hope that the editor catches these inconsistencies, but in essence, the author would be better off to have an easy and accurate reference. The Character Wall is exactly that!

Write What You Think Youre Writing

You’ve written this wonderful (no question about it) piece of work. It’s the greatest thing since tealeaves were invented. The more you read it the more you admire your own genius.

Then the little doubt starts.

Now is the time to step back from the work itself, to close the book, the page, the computer file and think. Not of the words or the actions or of the characters themselves, but deeper, back into yourself.

# What made you write this piece in the first place?

# What were you trying to say?

# What point did you want to illuminate for everybody else out there in the world?

That sounds terribly grand and pretentious, but it’s the truth. Every time you write, no matter how light-hearted the theme, you are giving away something of yourself, your values and your beliefs. And what you have to say is important.

# So what is the value of the piece?

# What is your theme?

Express your theme, the kernel of your thoughts, in one short sentence.

If You Want to Succeed As a Writer, Dont Just Think It, Do It

It never ceases to amaze me when a prospective writer confesses that he or she has never put anything down on paper. Obviously, that’s the first step. Just dreaming about it won’t make it happen. Anyone can write. But not everyone writes well.

Shaping a manuscript as most everyone knows can be compared to shaping a formless lump of matter into a work of art. But it has to be shaped and chiseled more than once; sometimes you might even have to start over, and, when it reaches its final stages, it still might need a trim here and there. Without the benefit of an objective reading, you might consider taping your manuscript. When you listen to it, it’s like hearing someone else’s work and you can edit out the hiccups. The best test, however, is reading one’s work in front of an audience, whether a roomful of people or one person; you can feel it when the listener loses interest or when the rhythm is off or when you’ve used the wrong word. It’s a good way to stand back and look at your work objectively.

Writing Styles for Fiction: Which Voice to Use

I recently set up a website to promote a new suspense novel. Once it started receiving hits I began getting questions about why I chose to write in third person. The truth is, I didn’t make a conscious decision to write that way. I just sort of happened and I went with it. As I got through the manuscript, I found that writing in the third person "flowed" better than any other voice since throughout the story I used a lot of dialogue between characters. It just fit. Other people wrote and asked what difference it makes which voice you write in and that’s what I’ll try to address here.

First of all, choosing which voice to use depends entirely on how you intend to tell your story and how you want your readers to interpret it. You have three choices of voice to choose from. Consider these very basic examples taken from my upcoming book:

First Voice:
"You’re welcome to live with your old dad Mathew. My door is always open," I yelled as I got into my car.

Second Voice:
"You’re welcome to live with your old dad Mathew. My door is always open," you yelled as you got into your car.

Apotheosis - the Seminal Insight of the Hero for Screenwriting

Every hero has a seminal insight - the apotheosis. Once you know what that insight will be, you can start building your story up to and beyond that point:

In Casablanca, Rick’s insight is that if you love someone, you sacrifice yourself for their happiness. That sacrifice can include selling your most prized material possessions (he sells his bar), allowing your love to find happiness in another’s arms (he ultimately allows Ilsa to be with Victor), physical suffering (it is likely that his ultimate actions will see him to a concentration camp), leaving dear friends (he will have to leave Sam behind) and forced exile from home and heart (he will have to leave Casablanca). He learns this insight from both Ilsa and Victor, who are prepared to do the same for each other.

In The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne’s apotheosis is that you either get busy living or you get busy dying. He reaches that insight in the scene by the prison wall with Red (Morgan Freeman), but it is preceeded by the earlier insight that he will never get out of prison (Warden Norton will never let him go). The apotheosis is preceded by the physical processes of submersion (being locked in the hole for two months; the Belly of the Whale of the Ordeal) and rebirth through death (symbolised by the death of Tommy). The apotheosis is preceded by the crossing of the First Threshold and the Ordeal in general.

Why Arent You Writing Ezine Articles?

I’m amazed!

Everywhere I go on the Web, people are desperately searching for ways to get more traffic to their websites. Some will even pay hundreds of dollars for an Express Listing in Yahoo.

And yet one of the most powerful ways of driving traffic to your website is completely free and anyone can do it.

A few savvy webmasters have been using this technique for years to drive high-volume traffic to their websites. And they’ve made a fortune!

I’m talking about Ezine Articles.

There’s a huge demand for Ezine Articles right now but only a handful of people are using this technique. That’s why you keep seeing the same articles being published in dozens of different Ezines.

Why are Ezine Articles such a powerful promotion technique?

When you get your Article published in an Ezine,you’re basically getting an enormous Ezine Ad for free. But your Article is much more powerful than an Ezine Ad.

Why?

A normal Ad is there simply because someone paid to have it placed there. But your Article is there because the Publisher thinks you have valuable information that will benefit his or her readers. In other words, you are an expert.

Copywriting: Secrets of a Freelancer

Lately, I’ve been getting emails from other copywriters who ask me questions like “What’s your secret?” and “How did you do it?” and “Can I be your apprentice?”

Aw, heck, are you serious? People are talking to me like I’m some kind of demi-goddess… when really, I’m just a humble girl from Jersey who’s having a fun time running a freelance copywriting business.

I take that back. Freelancing isn’t fun. It’s AMAZING. Brilliant marketing, like beautiful music, makes my arm hairs stand up. Meeting people who share my passion for writing and dreaming up clever advertising strategies exhilarates me. Connecting with entrepreneurial geniuses who can teach me things I didn’t know before is such an incredible privilege. Having the option to walk away from people I don’t respect… well, that feels mighty fine too!

To all who want to know what it takes to be successful:

It takes will and determination. That’s pretty much it. Here’s a crazy analogy for you. Suppose you haven’t eaten in days. You’re starving beyond belief, and there’s a thick, juicy steak just out of your reaching distance. You reach out your arm but you can’t get it. You’re sooo hungry. If you just stretch your arm a little further, maybe then you can grab that steak. It might mean you’ll dislocate your arm. Do you stretch beyond your limit? Of course you do. You would sacrifice the temporary use of your arm for that meal you need so badly.

Consultants - Writing Articles for the Internet Blankets the World with Your Expertise and Style

A Consultant could be an expert about absolutely anything.

Calling yourself a "consultant" demands further clarification. A consultant who? What specific problems do you handle? And who needs what you know? Everyone? (Never true) Businesses selling to seniors? (A precisely defined niche) Success depends on how clearly you can define yourself and what you offer. How easily can potential clients understand it?

You provide clients more than your expert knowledge and problem-solving skills. Your delivery style (tricks) are every bit as valuable as your knowledge base. We all relate to some businesses (personally and professionally) more effectively than to others. Great match-ups require something akin to a mating call to help a consultant find and connect with ideal clients.

Every consultant is unique in important ways. Your challenge is to express those significant intangibles - so they set you apart from others using the same job title. Do clients understand what you can do for them? How you’re different from the competition? Why they’d prefer you?

Article Marketing is Your Ideal Stage

Whether you’re selling a service, speaking or training, nothing persuades like offering a sample. Writing articles that highlight your style and expertise does that for you. A meaty, 600 to 800 word article is long enough to deliver a tangible taste.

Creating a Writing Space

It’s important to have a space set aside in your home for writing. It can be a big cushion in a corner of your closet with a notebook and pen, if that’s all you have room for, or perhaps the back seat of your car because that’s the only place you can get some peace and quiet, but it should be all yours, waiting for you whenever it’s time to write.

If, instead, you go with the more traditional desk (and I’m not knocking the cushion because, really, it’s portable, and you can take it to a park or a friend’s house or a garden or something and have a change of scenery, which is always good), what does this space look like? Is it covered with books or bills or plants or receipts or clothes or dishes from lunch yesterday?

Have a little respect! Move that stuff somewhere else. Get a good lamp, put a picture or quote over your desk, something you won’t mind staring at a lot (there’ll be a lot of staring, trust me), tape some quotes on your monitor to inspire you (but keep an eye on these. When they seem tired because you’ve looked at them so often, put up some new ones.) Keep the area current with things that inspire you, change things up, perhaps on a monthly basis. Here are some ideas:

Top 10 Common English Goofs by Web Authors

In reviewing and browsing web sites over the years, I have compiled a list of the most common misuses of English by web authors. Here they are in Letterman (reverse) order.

10. Who, which or that?

“Who” (or “whom”) refers to persons. “Which” refers to animals or things, never to persons. “That” can refer to either persons or things.

Examples:

The girl who was hungry. The dog that wagged its tail. The software which I wrote.

9. Anyone vs any one

“Anyone” means “any person,” not necessarily any specific person. It could refer to multiple people simultaneously.

As two words, “any one” refers to a single person.

Examples:

Anyone can download my software. But the software can only be used by any one user at a time.

8. Commonly misspelled words

All right
Dependable
Independent
Recommend
Responsible
Separate

7. Don’t put punctuation at the end of a URL

While not technically an English grammatical error, don’t put a period or anything immediately after a URL reference. Doing so will usually invalidate the URL. You might call this an internet grammatical rule.

Example:

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