I am sensing a theme in choosing these writing articles. My sub-conscious is telling me to focus on what my characters want!
“I’m here to tell you that nothing—I mean nothing—makes a novel harder to follow, much less care about, than not knowing what it is the characters want.”
“Can writing advice be distilled down to one game-changing essential nugget? I’d say yes: What does this character want? Well, that’s obvious, you think, as obvious as smiling at your kids. But just like that nugget of parenting wisdom, there’s more to it than that. Because what your character wants may conflict with the wants of a host of other characters, for starters. What your character wants may put them at odds with themselves. What your character wants may be not one thing but two things, and those two things may be at odds. And if you can stay focused on all those wants, you will end up with one hell of a story.”
“Four qualities are spot-on in this speech. These are common to all great Villain Speeches and they always work.”
https://stevenpressfield.com/2019/02/harvey-keitels-villain-speech-in-cop-land/
Book Rec:
I’m working on an outline for my novel, since I’m stuck and need the help. I’ve had this book for ages (again! I really need to read all the books I already own) and have found it great for getting my creative side working again. I have more of her books which I need to read next.
Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success by K. M. Weiland.
“What a character wants is bound inextricably to the arc he will follow over the course of the book. The changes that transform him from who he was at the beginning of the book to who he is at the end will be the direct result of how he goes about getting what he wants, or perhaps how the course of the story changes what he wants.”
Rose Sparrowking 