Character is destiny

Some musings (and a writing exercise) on bringing your characters to life

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Hello everyone,

Before we get into this week’s article, I wanted to give you all a heads-up on a couple of new developments.

1. Guide To Creative Editing - Online Course in April
   This is an updated version of my After The Draft course for short fiction writers, which will show you ways to make editing a more playful and creative part of the writing process - and help turn your draft stories into publishable work. This is about countering ideas about editing as cold, purely analytical process and instead make it more about generating fresh ideas and developing your drafts in a more creative way.
   The course is asynchronous (no hard deadlines or online meeting times) in order to fit your schedule. There will be a mix of guidance articles, writing exercises, study story analysis, and useful feedback on your work. 
   Starting date - Monday April 1st, 2024.  
   Length – Five Weeks 

   Cost - Both my free and paid subscribers get a discount!
   - £175 (or equivalent in your local currency) for free subscribers
   - £150 (or equivalent in your local currency) for paid subscribers.

   If you want to register your interest in taking part, please message me using the button below:
   

2. Positive Procrastination Posts
   I do a lot of research when I am putting together Writing Talk articles, and often go down rabbit holes which may seem like no-holds-barred procrastination (ahem), but result in me finding some really interesting content, even if it doesn’t make it into the finished article. So, in the spirit of sharing and building this community, I’m going to start adding a semi-regular update, with all sorts of useful recommendations for books, for stories to read, for short videos to watch, or anything else that seems like it fits the idea of positive, rather than negative procrastination. Watch this space!

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Character Is Destiny

I’ve been thinking a lot about characters this week, and hopefully you will have seen the post I sent out to all my subscribers about The Magic That Happens When Turning Characters Into People.

It’s kind of strange dichotomy that, at least here in the UK, we often describe a person who is complex, perhaps difficult and annoying at times, a mix of grumpiness and good humour, as ‘a character’, or even ‘a right character’. And yet in fiction, we want characters to have that complexity in order that they move beyond simple characters and into the realm of feeling like actual living, breathing people.