Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

CHARACTER IS EVERYTHING

By: Theresa Snyder, @TheresaSnyder19

Sci-fi author Theresa Snyder analyses what makes a very good character and how to have one even in sci-fi stories.

Last weekend I saw yet another visually stunning science fiction film with lack luster characters. Science fiction seems to be the home of under developed characters with overblown settings both in books and film. Technology cannot take the place of artful character development.

Characters are the soul of any story. They need to be vivid, relatable.

Let’s look at some good examples:

In Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card the reader feels the isolation of Ender. They experience his loneliness as each successive person he learns to care about is ripped from his life.

In Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon the reader is compelled to relive Nykyrian’s difficult past along with him in order to accomplish his mission. The reader wants him to succeed. The reader longs for him to be redeemed.

Han Solo in the Star Wars saga stands out as a well developed motion picture character. He’s one you can sink your teeth into - the rogue who is redeemed in spite of his past.

Pick a novel, any novel, or a movie. If you loved it, that love was based on the author’s ability to wrap you up in the life of their characters. Vivid characters are the soul of a great story. What makes a character come alive? What gets an audience involved and compels them to keep reading or watch yet another sequel?

If you search the internet you will find lists of rules for character development. These are the ones that keep me reading or shelling out the big bucks for the blockbusters. As a writer these are the ones I try to make sure my characters abide by:

1. Physical Description. This doesn’t have to be regurgitated in a couple of sentences when the character is first introduced. It can be handed out in bits and pieces to link together and fill in the empty spots with your imagination. Game of Thrones’ author George R. R. Martin crafts great physical descriptions.

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. How Not to Write Yourself into a Corner (in your novel and in life) | Official Author Website of Melissa McPhail http://ow.ly/BapON
2. In The ‘Candlelight’ Of The Books Market: Paperbacks Are Selling eBooks | Thought Catalog http://ow.ly/BaqWG
3. Writing the Perfect Description for Your Book - Venture Galleries http://ow.ly/Barzy
4. Bang2Write | 6 Marketing Tactics You Should Be Doing by Luke Kondor http://ow.ly/BarAV
5. Book Publicist Wanted: But not just ANY book publicist | The Militant Writer http://ow.ly/BarFx
6. These romance writers ditched their publishers for ebooks — and made millions | The Passive Voice | http://ow.ly/BarK6
7. Essential Plugins and Widgets for Blogs and Blogged Books http://ow.ly/BarOU
8. Submitting Short Stories to Magazines | Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors http://ow.ly/BarR3
9. Easy Tips to Help You Save Money on That Necessary Edit | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/BarT9
10. Blogging, Twitter Tips and Resources for Indie Authors - Social Media Just for Writers http://ow.ly/BarUV
11. How Much Back Story is Too Much | The Editor's Blog http://ow.ly/BarZS
12. Anne R. Allen's Blog: 10 Obsolete Beliefs that Can Block Self-Publishing Success http://ow.ly/Bas1R
13. Writability: On Censoring and YA http://ow.ly/Bas4e
14. Fiction University: On Tonight's Episode: Fixing Episodic Chapters http://ow.ly/Bas6z
15. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest: Which Platforms Are Best Suited for Your Business? #infographic | http://ow.ly/Basgi
16. Cockeyed Caravan: The Ultimate Pilot Story Checklist v3! http://ow.ly/BasnS
17. From the Write Angle: Sudden Realizations and Other Misnomers http://ow.ly/Basrj
18. Flash Flood Fiction : The truth about emotion in fiction http://ow.ly/Basw2
19. The Write Type - Multi-Author Musings: Print Versus Digital Reading Experiences http://ow.ly/BaszB
20. Facebook Theme Week: Case Studies of Popular Pages (and What They’re Doing to Get Great Engagement) : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/BasBa
21. SlideShare App Enhances Discovery: This Week in Social Media | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/BasCT
22. The Key Element of 21st Century Persuasion - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/BasEd
23. Book Apps with Authorly by Jason Matthews — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/BasGq
24. Facebook Engagement Psychology: How To Increase Reach and Engagement http://ow.ly/BasKP
25. 31 Questions to Ask About Your Characters | Wise Ink's Blog for Indie Authors about Self-Publishing http://ow.ly/BasMZ
26. Time Traveling in Colonial Williamsburg | The Violet Femmes http://ow.ly/BasPY
27. Girls With Sole: Transcending the Pain of Sexual Abuse http://ow.ly/BasZ6
28. Anakina.blog: Character is everything http://ow.ly/BaRiy @TheresaSynder19

Happy writing and running, Kathy