Archetypes Without Stereotypes

This week Steve and I look at archetypes, how they can inform our story, and how to use them effectively without falling into stereotypical character and plot structures. To begin, we need to understand what an archetype is. Long story short, we can think of...

A Body of Information

On this week’s Firsts in Fiction, Steve and I discuss the physicality, the biology, of our characters, and how that adds to their depth and history. Imagining your character’s physicality means thinking about more than their physical appearance alone. Yes, the color...

Pinpointing Your Characters’ Motivation

This week on Firsts in Fiction, Steve and I delve deep into our fanboyisms as we explore the intricacies of character motivation. If you listened last week, you got some good tips on how to create characters, but your journey isn’t complete. In order to make sure your...

Characters from the Ground Up

In our third episode of Firsts in Fiction, Steve and I talk about how to construct characters from the ground up. Here’s a few ideas to help you pull your characters from the ether and rivet them together into unforgettable friends (or enemies). Special thanks to...

Starting Your Book

Our second podcast focuses on how to start your book. While there are several methods, these are the points Steve and I highlighted. THE SNOWFLAKE METHOD: Randy Ingermanson developed a method for writing a novel called the snowflake method. It’s a complex idea, but...