Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A CHARACTER TO BE “ONE-DIMENSIONAL” OR “TWO-DIMENSIONAL”

By: The Writer’s Helpers

I love this question because I used to wonder the same thing. My brother in law would complain when I watched Sex and the City because he said all the male characters were “One Dimensional”. I knew they lacked something as well, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. He was half right as it turns out, I would say they were more two dimensional. I’ll get to why with a quick summary of the types:

One Dimensional Characters:

These are usually labelled as such because they are lacking quite a bit of depth. If they were in a play or movie, they would have a few lines: In Seinfeld (wow I’m really sounding old with my references but I loved this show for exploring character and plot), In Seinfeld, when Kramer is rehearsing his role “These pretzels are making me thirsty” he was rehearsing for a 1D character. Another way to identify 1D characters is to rent some classic horror flicks and watch the first few characters that get offed. They are always the one dimensional ones. 

Two Dimensional Characters:

More often than not, 2D characters are lacking the ability to change or grow throughout the story. This is why it is not the norm for the main character in your story to be 2D, as the story–the challenges, the journey, and the tensions they face–inevitably lead the character to change and grow in a way that they can never go back to who they were at the beginning. 

An inability to grow–a 2D character…

To read the rest of the post, click here:

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

• Attaining Success as an Indie Author with BookBub - Social Media Just for Writers http://ow.ly/WjKrd
• Is social media effective for selling books? - Chip MacGregor http://ow.ly/WjKsl
• Catherine Ryan Hyde on Rejection: Does Your Rejected Work Need a Rewrite? - Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris http://ow.ly/WjLnO
• This year's publishing trend—the remarkably lengthy novel » MobyLives http://ow.ly/WjLpp
• Writing Mechanics: Avoiding the “I” Trap and Other Irritants | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/WjLrZ
• 37 Ways To Write About Anger - Writers Write http://ow.ly/WjLvi’
• How to Decide How Many POV Characters Our Book Needs - WRITERS HELPING WRITERS™ http://ow.ly/WjLxp
• The Writers Helpers http://ow.ly/WjLyi "What does it mean for a character to be "one-dimensional" or two-dimensional..."
• The Complete Guide To Creating Backstory In Speculative Fiction - Writer's Edit http://ow.ly/WjLzY
• E. M. Denning - Five Reasons Why Writers Need Friends Who Write http://ow.ly/WjLAW
• Creative Work is Performance. Assess Your Creative Health Now. http://ow.ly/WjLEN
• The Pros And Cons Of Writing In First Person - Writers Write http://ow.ly/WkZZy  
• Blots & Plots:Why You Should Read Your Novel Out Loud - Blots & Plots http://ow.ly/Wl01e  
• StoryPort | Brianna da Silva http://ow.ly/Wl05B 2 Tricks for Portraying Relatable Heroes #amwriting 
• The Power of Narrative Writing | Writing Forward http://ow.ly/Wl08g  
• 10 Top Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Book Publicist http://ow.ly/Wl0aM  
• The Skinny On Blurbs http://ow.ly/Wl0cE #amwriting
• Don’t Follow the Crowd – 3 Ways To Build Your Own Genre - Writers Write http://ow.ly/Wl0ev  
• 7 Steps to Overcome Writing Procrastination - http://ow.ly/Wl0gG
• 10 Ways To Kick Start Your Writing : Women Writers, Women's Books http://ow.ly/Wl0HG  
• A Weird Way to Beat Writer’s Block http://ow.ly/Wl0K1  
• How to Find Your Writing Voice — She's Novel http://ow.ly/Wl1ki
• Searching for the Poetry in Story | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/Wl1q J
• Coincidences in Fiction: What You’re Doing Wrong - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/Wl1vU
• Does Our Story Have Everything It Needs? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/Wl1y9
• Print On Demand: Maximize Book Sales | BookBaby Blog http://ow.ly/Wl1AT
• Amazon Review Policy | Self-Publishing Author Advice from The Alliance of Independent Authors http://ow.ly/Wl1DI
• Want to Succeed in Self-Publishing? Don’t Do Everything Yourself: Tips from an Indie Author http://ow.ly/Wl1Jh

Happy writing and running, Kathy