Have wisdom to share? Need help in a specific area? Come one, come all!Character TipI recently had a break-through as to why my projects have been stalled out (other than "too many demands on my time"). My original characters were incomplete! This hit me like a ton of bricks thanks to a coding project; thinking about everything formulaicly drew my attention to the blank spots in my OC's. If anyone else needs help getting characters moving, here's the short and sweet template that doesn't require a long questionaire:
Character Template
A (Trait) but (Flaw)ed (Base) (With A Past), (Wanting A Goal).
A Lois-based Example:
"A clever but impulsive reporter from a disfunctional family, wanting to get a Pulitzer."
Already, the plot starts writing itself before any villains or macguffins have appeared on set: she's going to be looking for a killer story, she'll think of something brilliant in order to get it, and her own leap-before-looking tendencies will impede her. She may grumble about her parents along the way. Since we all know Lois has more to her than just those things, we can swap elements out for a whole new focus:
"A passionate but stubborn reporter from a major city, wanting to get into Superman's tights."
Same character, new focus, new plot.
Anyway, this is just something that's been very helpful to me, so I wanted to share in case someone here needs the same revelation.
Do you have any tips that have changed your writing game? Do you need some? The metaphorical floor is yours.
