T: Terrible

Are writers terrible people? Perhaps. You can’t be easy on your characters and create awesome stories.

A good story isn’t one about nice things that happen to nice people. It’s about taking a character and putting them in the worst possible scenario. If your character’s worst day doesn’t happen at some point in the book, then maybe you’ve written the wrong story for that character.

So after you put your character in hot water, then what?

Make it worse.

Remember when it comes to characters, writers are terrible people.

If you ever think that you’ll make it easier on the characters, don’t. Keep the tension by increasing the problems and not taking the easy way out.

So remember be terrible and be a great writer.

Ps. Another reason writers are terrible people:

Two am, you’re reading a book, feeling so exhausted that your eyes barely stay open. You’re certain you’ll be a zombie when you have to wake up the next day. You plan to put the book down when you finish the chapter. Then something big happens to the character, leaving you scrabbling for the next page. All the way to the end at four am.

Writers do this on purpose! Ghastly, I know.

Happy writing!

Conflict and Life's Woes

As I walked to chemistry, ten minutes late for the millionth time this semester, I came to a realization: Life would be a whole lot easier if I were on time. Likewise, wouldn’t life be easier if you always remember where you put your keys? What if dishes and homework never got stacked up and completed themselves?
Life would be easy.
Life would be boring.
I cannot imagine everyday with no conflict. What would that even be like?Like life, conflict is essential for healthy novels. Have you ever read a book about a happy little girl with a perfect life where nothing ever goes wrong?
No? If she’s happy and conflict free--there is no book.

Four important points to conflict:

1. The problems have to be real. It needs to be something the reader cares about. Adjust this for the readers. Five year olds care about lost kittens. Teenagers care about man-eating kittens.

2. The conflict should not be resolved immediately. Simple solutions are boring and don’t allow for much growth. Don’t make it easy for your characters.

3. Don’t go overboard. Too much drama is melodrama. If there is more death and tragic accidents in your novel than mosquitoes in Florida, then it might be a bit much. Too much drama is, in fact, a bad thing.

4. The stakes have to be high. The conflict must leave the readers at the edge of their seat--unable to satisfy the primal needs of hunger and sleep until the problem is resolved.

A novel without conflict is like a pencil without lead. What’s the point?
Enjoy life’s little catastrophes: the spilled ketchup and the lost socks. At least it’s not dull.
Happy writing!