Episode 47 - Get 'em off the couch! Goals motivation and passion as the driving forces for your characters

The Creative Writer's Toolbelt

Oct 15 2015 | 00:13:00

00:00 / 00:13:00

Show Notes

Jeanne Cavelos, the Director of the Odyssey Writing Workshop says that the number one piece of advice she gives to writers is this: give your character a goal. It's so easy for us to create pet characters who just sit on the couch, docile and useless in our story. We may love these creations but they slow the narrative, and bore the reader. So how do we get our characters engaged, and working with our story not against it? Simple, we follow Jeanne's advice and give them a goal (or goals), as well as some strong motivation, and a driving passion as part of who they are.

Other Episodes

Episode

April 07, 2016 • 00:13:08

Episode 61 - Are you sitting comfortably? Why your setting must be Credible and Immersive

This podcast starts a new series on the subject of setting, and we begin by exploring why there are only two essential qualities needed...

Episode

January 07, 2016 • 00:16:30

Episode 53 - Perfecting the devil. How to create a deliciously wicked antagonist

This episode is all about the protagonist's nemesis, the antagonist. Traditionally seen as 'the bad guy' the antagonist's real function in a story is...

Episode

July 03, 2016 • 00:19:31

Episode 70 - Three stories - three genres -three settings

Over the past ten episodes of the podcast we've looked at a range of strategies and techniques to make story setting as compelling and...