Where do your characters come from? What if you get stuck? How do you create a character when you don’t know what to write about? What about innovating characters? We discuss thinking about what your story needs, working backwards, and thinking who, what, and why in order to invent the best characters for your story.

Are you supporting characters always supportive? How can you use character conflicts and relationships to up the stakes and tension in your work? Don’t forget: no one exists in a vacuum! And characters are defined by how they interact with others!

How do we address character motivation? Do we struggle with it? When do we work it into our stories? How can you get to know your character better in order to develop that motivation? What are the three layers of motivation? And how do you plan for your characters motivation over a series? What happens when your character has competing motivations?

Why is killing characters important? How should we approach killing characters? And what are the reasons for doing it? How can it affect your story and your protagonist’s journey? What genres rely on killing characters? And how should you approach killing “extras” in your book? Even nameless characters can have a huge impact – so use your tools wisely!

What is a character arc? What are the three kinds of character arcs and four main components of a character arc? How can you use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to help with pre-writing? And how present does your characters wound need to be? Should you state it outright? Or should you weave it into the narrative? How many of your characters need wounds? And how can it affect your antagonist? Finally we discuss the details of finding your wound, and what it might do to your character.

Have you ever struggled with your antagonist or supporting characters motivation? Or wonder what kind of work you need to put in before you start writing? We even get into what we do for character sketches and how our journals will lead to posthumous fame!

What makes a female protagonist a strong female protagonist? And where does that strength come from? How aware of social and cultural norms should you be when developing a strong female protagonist? And is strength unique to genre?

On this week’s Story Works Round Table, we disscuss character traits that can make or break your character. Love them, hate them, need them?

Is it even possible to have an arcless protagonist? What is an arcless protagonist? After diving into some famous and beloved arcless protagonists, we dive into how to make it work. How can you use your secondary characters to create emotional resonance? And how can you keep that emotional buy in through a series? Do you need the same supporting characters around your arcless protagonist? And what are some of the drawbacks to using one? Just remember: an arcless protagonist is the exception, not the rule!

How should you introduce your characters? We each bring an example showing how to use action or narrative exposition to introduce your character to your reader. Remember just like everything in writing your description should do more than just describe your character.