Tag: writing advice

  • 25 hobbies to humanize your characters

    People are complex creatures, even when they are in the midst of trying to save the world or going through personal traumas. An easy way to help humanize a character and make them a more well-rounded person that feels real is to give them hobbies that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the plot.

    1. Folding paper stars
    2. Knitting or crochet
    3. Writing fanfiction
    4. Candle or soap making
    5. Bullet journalling
    6. Dungeons and Dragons
    7. Tarot
    8. Palmistry
    9. Astrology
    10. Baking
    11. Gardening
    12. Woodworking
    13. Painting
    14. Figures
    15. Jewelry making
    16. Comics
    17. Gaming
    18. Photography
    19. Photoshopping memes
    20. Chainmaille weaving
    21. Collecting something obscure (Water from every ocean they’ve visited, stones from different parks, etc.)
    22. Nail art or make up
    23. Zine making
    24. Resin casting
    25. Cosplay

    Let me know what kind of hobbies that you have!

    Write Your Story: Unlock Your Creative Potential

    Are you ready to embark on a journey into the world of storytelling? Look no further! Introducing Write Your Story, a comprehensive resource designed to fuel your imagination, enhance your storytelling skills, and bring your characters to life. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, a seasoned author, or simply someone who loves crafting stories, this workbook is your ultimate companion.

    This Workbook Contains:

    • Story planning spreads
    • Setting and location spreads
    • Character spreads
    • Writing session tracker
  • Try Everything

    Earlier this month at LitFest, there were quite a few people who wanted to know if there was any advice I could give to new authors. It came up during an interview I did with CSFJ as well. And while there’s always a lot of advice, I tend to go right back to what my old standby is.

    Try everything. Keep trying things until you find what works for you.

    There’s reams of writing advice out there, and that advice will run from writing a thousand words a day to finish the novel in a month to revise as you go. You should plot everything, plot nothing, plot only a couple things and leave the rest up in the air. You should know everything about your characters before you start or you should get to know them as you write. The advice is wildly contradictory between sources, and not even every author can agree on what the best way is to do things.

    That’s because the best way doesn’t exist. There’s only the best way for you. And figuring out what that best way for you is to try out a bunch of methods and not getting too upset if something isn’t right. Write every day and see if that’s working for you. Try powering through a first draft and see if the need to go back and revise while you write is too great. Try NaNoWriMo once to see if your brain likes it.

    It’s important to understand that there is no one right way to get your story out in the world. That’s going to mean trying a bunch of things until you get your weird routine for writing down and figure out what works for you, your life, your brain. It doesn’t matter how other people do it. You have to figure out how you do it and know that your way is the right way for you.