Taking a Character from Good to GREAT

FACT: Characters are the heart of a story. The stronger one is, the more powerful your novel will be.

In today’s competitive fiction market, there’s no room for okay-ish characters. This is why most writing courses, books, workshops, retreats, etc. often focus on character development. Mastering the art of building a character is something we strive for so they will be compelling enough to capture the hearts and minds of our readers.

Those of you following the thesaurus work Becca and I do know we take character-building pretty seriously. Each of our books, regardless of the topic, help with characters. All of the thesauruses we’ve created (16 now!) are either directly on character development or tied to story elements that create a spotlight on the character and their journey.

A few short months ago we launched the Character Builder, a super-tool that turns any writer into a character-building expert.

Because this tool draws from our thesauruses, it has a massive database of character information to help writers create fully-developed characters with rich backstories and motivations.

The Character Builder will also map out a custom Character Arc Blueprint for each character based on the exact information the writer selects. This tool is a game-changer, there’s no two ways about it.

But being able to build a well-layered character is only half the battle. We also need to understand why those layers are important.

The gateway to powerful writing happens when we marry expert knowledge with great tools. So, we’ve reached out to some of the best writing coaches in our industry: the team at Author Accelerator.

Author Accelerator is an incredibly talented group of one-on-one writing coaches that make it their mission to guide, mentor, and support a writer’s journey through a book.

Each coach is hand-picked, and provides on-the-ground advice and feedback as a novel is written. (Sounds like a dream come true, right? No wonder they’ve had so many successful clients pass through their doors.)

One Stop for Writers and Author Accelerator would like to invite YOU to their Character Clinic on October 8th!

This live webinar will show you how to take a character from good to GREAT. Plus it’s an opportunity to…

• Get an intimate look into what happens between a writing coach and their client during the character development process

• Gain insight into the details about a character that REALLY MATTER so you know exactly what to brainstorm

• See how One Stop’s hyper-intelligent Character Builder will help you craft a fascinating and meaningful story cast

This is going to be amazing, so I urge you to sign up! Becca and I will be there with Julie Artz, one of the expert coaches at Author Accelerator.

The webinar will be August 8th, 11 am PST. If you can’t make it live, no worries! Sign up and we’ll forward you the recording!

OPPORTUNITY ALERT: A Free Character Assessment

For us to run a Character Clinic, we need a character to work with, and that could be YOUR PROTAGONIST. How would you like to have your character assessed & strengthened LIVE by Julie during the webinar?

Characters do not have to be perfect, or even complete! We’re looking for a writer who would like to brainstorm with us in a friendly webinar setting.

This is an incredible opportunity for expert advice on your character’s development (and right before NaNoWriMo, too!). So, if you’re interested…

1. Create a character (any age or genre) using One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder
2. Use the Character Builder’s SUMMARY function to create an interactive PDF
3. Send it as an attachment care of Becca or Angela at [email protected] for consideration. (Submit by September 23rd.)

Not a member at One Stop for Writers? No problem!

Activate our free trial. No credit card is necessary. Not only will you have full access to the site, you’ll be able to create one Character Profile using the Character Builder!

Then if you decide you want to submit your character, upgrade to a subscription so you can send us the interactive Character Summary PDF (a subscription feature) we’ll need for the clinic. Don’t worry, our plans are amazingly affordable. To see an example of a Character Profile created using the Character Builder, go here.

Becca, Julie, and I can’t wait to see you at the Character Clinic!

October 8th, 11 am PST (Recording available)

The post Taking a Character from Good to GREAT appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

The Bookshelf Muse is a hub for writers, educators and anyone with a love for the written word. Featuring Thesaurus Collections that encourage stronger descriptive skills, this award-winning blog will help writers hone their craft and take their writing to the next level.