Now Novel
Jordan Kantey is an editor, writer and writing workshop facilitator. He’s been helping authors develop their stories for ten years. He achieved his Honours in English Literature with distinction from the University of Cape Town. He has had poems published in several journals and an anthology. He blogs about writing craft and process at Now Novel and loves to help aspiring authors reach their goals.
Character growth or change is integral to great stories. Giving characters bad as well as good character traits makes your characterization deeper. It also helps to spark ideas for multiple elements of backstory, for how the character acquired these dominant qualities in the first place. Read 7 useful character attributes, with examples from books.
How do you show who’s speaking in dialogue? When do you use ‘she said’? When do you not? How else can you show a person’s emotions or state of mind in conversation? Read definitions clarifying the uses of dialogue tags vs action tags, and examples that illustrate effective dialogue attribution:
In learning how to write character development, it’s helpful to think about how each element of storytelling contributes. What are the basic facts about your character the reader should know, going in? What does dialogue do to develop your character further? Action? Narration? Description? Their desires and fears?
The dinkus – a symbol between story or essay sections – is a source of confusion to many writers. To use, or not to use? What is a dinkus actually for? Read a definition of the dinkus, plus 6 ideas on creative ways to use them
Biography – literally ‘life writing’ – poses a variety of challenges. Balancing historical narration and day-to-day incident, for example. Or choosing what to include and what to leave out. Read 7 ideas on how to write a biography, with examples from biographical writing:
Graphic novels offer engaging ways to marry text-based narrative and visual storytelling. Read 5 ways you can use elements such as illustrative style and strong symbols to enliven your story:
Dialogue in writing is tricky to master, but good dialogue carries the story. Dialogue may build pace and conflict, add tone and atmosphere, introduce and develop characters and more. Here are 5 tips to make your dialogue serve multiple useful purposes:
Suspense in books is essential if you want to keep reader’s rapt with anticipation, whatever your genre. How can you give readers that tightrope-walking feeling? Try these 6 suspense builders:
The development of characters is a topic blog readers and Now Novel members often ask us about. Creating an interesting, dynamic character arc is easy when you’re aware of the many ways people change. Here are 6 interesting ways people change, plus tips to craft a compelling, engaging character arc:
