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How to build a fictional world - Kate Messner

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this video is a good reminder of what to check for to make sure your conventions are up to par!

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Conventions Rockin' the Six Traits of Writing

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Fun Brainpop video showing when to use "I" or "me."

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Some great tips on how to create characters that jump off the pages!

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Understanding how your character defines themselves in life can help you better understand how they interact with and present themselves to the world. When defining your character's identity, consider elements such as their gender identity, race, sexuality, religion, ancestry, and interests.

22. Find their perspective.

Perspective is the lens through which we see the world. Explore your character's upbringing, religious and political beliefs, education, social influences, and relationships to better understand their personal perspective.

Who does your character gravitate toward when seeking friendships, romance, or guidance? Consider whether such relationships are truly healthy and fulfilling, as well as why your character gravitates toward such people in the first place.

Give your character a voice. Take the time to define their unique speech patterns, vocabulary, and accent by considering how, when, and where they were raised, as well their personality, experiences, and level of education.

Is your character optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic? Defining your character's everyday attitude can help you better understand how they see the world, as well as how the conflicts they face throughout their journey will affect them.

26. Find their happy place.

Where is your character happiest? When do they feel most loved and accepted? Showcasing your character at their best can make their worst moments all the more impactful.

Help your character weather your story's conflicts by giving them relationships with loved ones or mentors. Allow these characters to guide, encourage, and challenge them throughout their journey.

Your character's gut feelings can say a lot about who they are, while also add nail-biting tension to your story that foreshadows dangers to come. Take advantage!

Everyone has their breaking point. Showing readers what it takes to push your character to this point will make your character's journey all the more momentous.

When all seems lost, a safe haven can keep hope alive for your character. Allow your character to find this refuge when they most need it, so they can receive the respite they need to recharge for your story's climax.

31. Find their redemption.

Your character will screw up. They will make decisions that harm themselves or others. They will fail. It's how they make things right that will define who they are at heart.

Your character's journey will shape the person they become. If they've changed for the better, allow readers to see how their development was worth the fight.

Completing the first 32 activities in today's article should help you create strong, complex characters for your stories. But at the end of the day, characters can't be summed up by 32 individual statements. What you truly need to make your character shine is their story.

Who are they when your story begins? What shaped them into that person, and what launches them into the journey that will forever change their world? What mistakes will they make in their journey? What trials will they face, and how will these trials affect who they are?

What is their fight? What do they strive for? Who helps them out along the way, and how will they overcome? And, most importantly, who do they become because of it all?

That, writer, is your character's story. That is your character. Not 32 individual statements, but one incredible story of was and is and will become. That is what makes your character strong.

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Are you ready to breath life into your story? Creating characters that are as real, tangible, and complex as the people around us is certainly easier said than done, but it's also necessary. If we fill our stories with caricatures and cardboard cutouts, they're sure to fall flat, right? F

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Speech marks with "What Does the Fox Say?"

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Punctuating Dialogue- "What does the fox say?"

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Not sure when or how to use speech marks?  Want to move your writing along to the next step?  Watch this video. Pause the video as you need to.

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Why does your character do what they do?  How to create "character motivation." 

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Why does your character do what they do?  How to create "character motivation." 

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"Why" your character acts a certain way in your story is as important as what they do.  The "why" is called character motivation.  Browse this article to find simple ways to create "character motivation."

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(Note: Keep in mind that these levels aren't self-contained. They can interact and overlap at times.)

Any number of character motivations can be filed into one of the five levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but to apply those needs on a more literary level, let's take a look at the two main types of motivations found in stories: external and internal.

External motivations are physical. They prey on the bodily needs and/or the security of the main character or those they love. As a result, your character may be motivated by the need to:

Find food, water, warmth, or shelter.

Establish financial security.

Escape an abusive relationship.

Protect others from harm.

Act in self-defense.

Save the world from an evil power.

Survive a natural disaster.

Or any other number of physical needs.

Internal motivations, on the other hand, occur within a character, typically preying upon their beliefs, mindset, or emotions. This type of motivation manifests itself in a much wider array of areas, including:

1. Personal Fulfillment. Examples:

To achieve one's life passion.

To find love or friendship.

To experience spiritual enlightenment or satisfaction.

To avenge one's self or a loved one.

2. Fear or Peer-Pressure. Examples:

To live up to family or societal expectations.

To fit in with others.

To not die alone.

3. Guilt or Insecurity. Examples:

To atone for a past misdeed.

To overcome bad habits.

To gain confidence.

To invent something new.

To solve an issue.

To explore new territory.

To learn something new.

Don't see the motivation you have in mind for your character listed above? No worries! So long as your character's motivation pushes your plot forward and inspires a connection with your readers (and perhaps fulfills one or two of the other elements we discussed above), you're in business.

But how do you decide which motivations will best serve your story?

Crafting well-developed motivations for your characters goes beyond a simple, "What do my characters want and why do they want it?" Let's take a look, instead, at some of the questions that can help us create complex motivations that will rivet our readers:

1. How is my character dissatisfied in life? Which element of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs has gone unfulfilled? If they are missing out on multiple levels of the hierarchy, which level is most immediate?

2. What events led my character to become dissatisfied in this way(s)? Was it their upbringing? A bad life choice? The result of a specific relationship?

3. What has kept my character from taking action to overcome this dissatisfaction? Was it money, time, fear, expectation, or something else entirely?

4. What will finally push my character to take action? In what situation would the risks of inaction outweigh the risks of action?

Walking through these first four questions is how you ensure your character's motivation is as strong as it can be. But we're not done yet! Let's flesh out characters' motivations out a bit more by addressing the following questions:

5. What does my character's motivation reveal about who they are? Does it say anything about their personality, backstory, fears, desires, world views, or so on?

6. Have other characters' in my story experienced the same source of motivation? If so, what actions have they taken? Do their actions differentiate from those of my main character and if so, what does that reveal?

(Asking yourself this series of questions is a great way to define the importance of a key event in your characters' lives and to acknowledge each of the characters involved as separate, complex beings.)

7. How might my character's motivation change throughout the story? What will my character learn as they strive to achieve their goal? Will they grow as people or fall victim to a doubt or fear? How will this change alter their actions in my story?

Crafting complex motivations that rivet your readers takes time, but it's well worth the effort to make use of the strength and power a strong character motivation can add to your story. So, what do you say? Are you ready to create a few character motivations of your own? Let's get crackin'!

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Writers, it's time to talk about Why-Power! Specifically, the why behind your characters' story goals. Strong goals drive plot, of course, but it's your characters reasons for wanting to achieve those goals that lend your story context and power. How so? In today's article, we're go

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Some helpful words to transition your ideas from one to the next.  Improve the "flow" of your writing by using transition words and phrases.

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This can be a great tool to help you see the different reasons why your character might be acting or saying the things they are. Give your reader a bit of a deeper understanding of your characters.