In general, people are not drawn to perfection in others. People are drawn to shared interests, shared problems, and an individual’s life energy. Humans connect with humans. Hiding one’s humanity and trying to project an image of perfection makes a person vague, slippery, lifeless, and uninteresting. Robert Glover, No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Proven…

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Quick Tip #22

If you want to get a firm grip on the personality based conflicts among your characters to use for texture, jokes and escalations, consult an astrological compatibility page. There is so much character development already done for you there, and it’s all boiled down to conflicts you can transfer directly to the page.  Seriously, making…

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Dear Men Writers

more-legit-gr8er-writing-tips: thegrumpybisexualandthecampgay: marvel-lucy: cassiopeiassky: angryschnauzer: mistytang: ivegotthetriforce: deliciouspineapple: annerocious: Lesser known facts when writing women: High heeled shoes don’t become flats if you break the heels off. The posts of earrings aren’t sharp. Nail polish takes a long time to dry and smudges when wet. You can’t hold in a period like pee. Inserting a…

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Dear Men Writers

Lesser known facts when writing women: High heeled shoes don’t become flats if you break the heels off. The posts of earrings aren’t sharp. Nail polish takes a long time to dry and smudges when wet. You can’t hold in a period like pee. Inserting a tampon is not arousing or sexual in any way,…

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Respect and Your Protagonist

When you create your characters and sketch out your plot, you will notice the moments when the events of the plot challenge the values of your protagonist. It doesn’t really matter where on the alignment your character falls – – as long as in those moments, their decisions are consistent with who they are and…

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Baaaaad Protagonists

Protags work when, even if they are awful, they are RELATABLE. There must be something about them, despite the things they do of which WE CANNOT APPROVE, we UNDERSTAND (and this is the important part) because we have had THE SAME EMOTIONS.  It’s tricky, and you have to show it to sell it by demonstrating…

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HEART WITH A SIDE OF HEART

annerocious: Even if you’re the world’s most cynical misanthrope and your story expresses the ultimate futility and pettiness of the human race, you need a heart. You can’t make anyone care about characters who don’t really care. There is a cheap shorthand you should avoid, which is assigning motive. I’m killing him because he killed…

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