SWRT 098 | Capturing Your Character’s Shadow Side
March 21, 2019

This week, Alida and Robert discuss capturing your character’s shadow side. We all have aspects of ourselves that a little bit dark. When your character’s dark side surfaces, how do you keep it real without disengaging your reader? What is the role of the shadow in story? How do we discover our character’s shadow side and play it out in story, when the character’s not aware of it him or herself?

 

 

VIDEO

 

 

AUDIO

 

 

SHOW NOTES

What is the shadow side? And how should we use it in our stories? How do we develop a shadow side? And how does it humanize our characters? Remember that you must get into your characters head, show their motivations, and make a change throughout your story! So use that shadow side to help you craft a character readers want to live vicariously through.

What we talked about:

What is the shadow side? (0:20)

When do we develop this part of our characters? (0:58)

How does a characters shadow side drive the reader? (3:18)

Definition of “shadow”. (6:00)

As writers, we have to be conscious of the characters shadow side. How do we develop that? (8:00)

How do you show the shadow side on the page? (13:40)

Humanizing your characters. (16:35)

How to get into the head of your characters, no matter who they are! (19:38)

Showing your characters shadow side and unlikable characters are two different things! (21:40)

Literal versus Essential action, and where your shadow side plays out. (22:05)

How to work backwards into your characters shadow side. (23:25)

How to make a true change in your character. (24:30)

 

 

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