There Is No Magic Formula for
Filling Out Your Characters
Your character is a dull apparition on the page. Stale, dry, never breathing life. Your story goes nowhere, the plot’s motionless, and the setting dull and unimaginative. All because your character refuses to reveal himself to you, and let you into his life.
We’ve all been there at one time or another. Perhaps, you are there now.
When this happens your story will rot away, unless you do something about it. Your passion for the story will die, the pages will go into a drawer to be forgotten for years, and perhaps forever. You will deny yourself the dream of being a published author.
That doesn’t have to happen.
You have the ability to bring your character out, to flesh him out and make your story pop. All you need is a little direction.
Meet Holly Lisle, well loved author of over 32 fiction books and numerous books, clinics, and workshops for writers. She’s been where you are now and shares her techniques for getting past these hurdles.
Never Surrender.
That’s Holly’s motto and she’s always telling her fellow writers and students to “Never Surrender.” And don’t you surrender either. If you want to write that novel and bring that character out into the world, it can happen.
All it takes is knowing what questions to ask. In Holly Lisle’s Create a Character Clinic, you’ll find these questions and so much more than you expect.
I knew the story topic I wanted to write the novel for, and I thought I knew a few things about my main character. Through Holly Lisle’s Create a Character Clinic and the methods she taught me, my character changed gender and motivations to become a lot stronger character than I thought possible. As my character developed, so did the storyline. Secondary characters came to life… ones I never would have dreamed of otherwise. In the end, I had a richer, fuller story than I expected. By the time I finished using Holly’s teachings to flesh out my character, I knew how the story unfolded from the first page to the last. All in a fraction of the time it would have taken me otherwise!
Diana Cacy Hawkins, http://www.dianacacyhawkins.com
In Holly Lisle’s Create a Character Clinic you’ll learn simple and fast techniques to writing your characters. Your characters will leap out of the page and bring you into t heir world. They will show you so much that you’ll develop the story that every reader won’t be able to put down. They’ll lose sleep over your book.
The Character Clinic shows you:
- What makes a character.
- How do you find out who your characters are.
- How to use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to target what drives your character and compel your reader.
- How to use your character’s past, present, and future to flesh him out.
- How to use your character’s friends, family, enemies, and lovers to discover suprising possibilities for your character.
Holly uses simple terms, easy to follow exercises, and charts to illustrate her techniques. Your character will come to life almost effortlessly right before your eyes. You’ll find excitement in creating your story that you believed you had lost forever.
You’ll find a treasure trove of information in the first two sections of Create A Character Clinic.
- Section One: Ask Them Anything – Learn what questions to ask your characters, along with ten easy to use charts that will make your character tell you everything you need to know.
- Section Two: Bring Them To Life – Holly shows you how to develop your character after you have your questions answered. You even get to interview your character here to get more great tidbits to hook your reader into your character’s story. You also get to learn how to show your character through Exposition, Dialogue, and Action.
(order button here)
But Holly Lisle is one of those individuals who gives her readers and students more than she promised, and Create a Character Clinic is no exception.
The Third Section, called The Sins of Characterization (And How to Commit Them Right) is a sweet addition to this clinic, with useful information you never knew existed:
The sins of exposition, dialogue, and action are presented in an informative, easy to follow format. These sins are sure to give you great ideas to work into your novel to make that story engage your reader and impress that editor.
Just a few examples…
- Mirror, mirror on the wall. – Scenes with your character studying his own reflection don’t work as a rule. Learn how to break this rule to learn more about your character. And learn when such a scene might work in your novel.
- What is it? Should you use it? You’ll find out.
- Headless Horseman. – This is something every writer should know about. Holly explains this no-no to you, shows what your reader misses when it is used, and then let’s you know when you might be able to use it.
- Coffee and A Bagel. – Done wrong, a coffee and a bagel scene will bore your reader to death. Done right, and your reader will be at the edge of the seat. Holly shows you how it can work right and how to use it to your benefit.
- The Ben Franklin. – This method will cause you to lose your reader’s interest. BUT Holly will show you how this technique can work to hook your reader when the need arises.
- Naked Chick at the Opera. – Surprise your reader with the naked chick at the opera. Use it to keep your reader so absorbed in your novel that nothing else matters.
- And nine more incredible sins are revealed.
“Lisle’s writing and instructional style is clear and easy to follow. She is able to draw the reader in and make them feel a part of the process — a collaborator rather than a student. Create a Character Clinic takes pride of place on my desk as an essential, practical guide through one of the most difficult parts of writing, for me, at least. I strongly recommend Create a Character Clinic as a necessary part of a writer’s library.”
Carter Nipper, CarterNipper.com
(Johnson Box with order information here … )
Stop wasting time fighting with your characters and get the information you need today to make them talk to you. Every day you don’t buy Holly Lisle’s Create A Character Clinic is another day your character could have been talking to you.
Written for an affiliate site I ran that sold books for upcoming writers.