“Trevor’s only wanted to raise her girls and fight for her community nursing program. She didn’t have time to be distracted by the hot fireman she burned years ago by refusing his marriage proposal. If she could just remind herself of her desires each day, it wouldn’t be so hard working closely with him to help his father recover from a stroke.” Take Harte a novel by Carol Malone.
Welcome back to monthly columnist, Wyatt Bessing. A writing coach and teacher, author, Wyatt Bessing shares his fun take on games, play, and how they help our writing. This month Wyatt makes a game out of character...
Creativity Tools and Tips / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published September 19, 2013 · Last modified September 4, 2013
Let’s welcome back Kay Keppler for another month with Writer’s Fun Zone! In today’s article, Kay discusses the importance of giving your characters tough goals to achieve, and the impact tough goals have on...
Imagine the power of objects: we covet them, store them, save them from generation to generation, and allow them to fill our living spaces with emotion and memory.
Who hasn’t had a delicate question that burned to be asked? Who hasn’t been ashamed to do so? For many years, Dear Abby was at the center of American consciousness and she fielded all sorts of questions—from etiquette to morality to good taste—that baffled us in this modern American world that was constantly changing, morphing, evolving.
When authors work with me, some of their challenges surround how to help the sagging middle of their novel. That sagging middle is often due to not knowing their characters well enough. All good...
Do people truly change? Other than lightbulbs, I mean. People constantly change their superficial appearances—hair color, weight, corrective lenses, clothing styles—but do they, can they, change their fundamental behavior? This is your job as a writer to explore.
This post on craft is the first of several monthly posts by new monthly guest columnist, Kay Keppler, that we’ll be publishing here on the Writer’s Fun Zone. Today she’ll share with us how to build characters with action and motivation.
Welcome to Indie Author Mondays, where I feature articles and interviews about the exciting field of independent author publishing. This week I feature an author interview with Cheryl Shireman; she’s spunky, she’s independent and she’s full of vim and vigor. I’m inspired just interviewing her. Enjoy!
When you feel that your characters aren’t jumping off the page, apply this nifty NLP tool to enrich the scene, make your characters come alive and create a compelling and memorable story. NLP is...
The character we love to hate. I write fantasy and paranormal, so yeah, the villain, is kind of important. I did some fancy footwork to not have a huge villain in the first book...
Welcome to Q & A Wednesdays by Book Mentor, Ezra Barany. This week Ezra plays with the bus metaphor for character development. Good news this week’s winner of a 30-minute complimentary consultation of your novel with...
by Beth Barany · Published August 18, 2011 · Last modified August 17, 2011
I wrote about how I developed my character, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, in my previous post here. Today I thought I’d reflect on one of the biggest challenges I see in the manuscripts I...
My characters come to me in a flash, like my heroine, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer (Book 1), acting out her tales of heroism, by reciting her tale while tumbling and jabbing with an imaginary...
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Beth Barany helps authors get their books completed and out into the world, into the hands of their readers.
Creativity Coach for Writers, NLP Master Practitioner, and Master Teacher, Beth Barany has been there and knows how hard it can be to take your idea and turn it into a real book, that people will actually be interested, and even yearning, to read.
She walks the talk, as her clients like to say. She is the author of the 2012 award-winning young adult fantasy novel Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, as well as the author of the bestselling nonfiction books for authors and aspiring authors.
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