#KMWeiland

[author-jenaya-malloren]

How I Study Stories- Pt 1: Characters

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to show you all how I study characters from various forms of media (books, television, movies, etc).

If you haven't, I would recommend reading K. M Weiland's: Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development.

Below is how I study various characters.

I have a Scrivener project called "Characters". Most of the characters in this project are characters I enjoy. Other times, the characters play an integral part of another's character's story, so I add them-which has sometimes given me an appreciation for other characters.

This is the template I use for all of the characters I study. I should note these are characters that play a major part in a story, so at the moment, I don't have anything for the minor side characters.

So we have the name of the character. The book/TV/Movie/Show (stage shows) they are from. If you are using characters from a movie or TV show, I would recommend splitting the character out by actor (I mean, we have 3 live action Spider-Man (okay technically 5 if we take the Japanese 80's Tohoku Spider-Man and the 70s (?) American live action television show) though they have similar back stories with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, they all have their own twist on the origin story and the story afterwards). We then have the role that the character plays in the story (Antagonist, Protagonist, love interest, anti-hero, etc). You can tell a lot about a character by their relationship with other characters (do they get along with everyone they meet, are they shy, are they dismissive of people who they would normally be friends with, etc). Then this is the part I really enjoy is writing the background and the story of the character. This is where you can explore anything that happens externally and internally to the character, but also any background information (such as the character is a really good fighter, it's because they were part of an elite group [Think MI-6, Navy SEALS, or CIA]).

Next, I also enjoy picking out the character's brain and figuring out what makes them tick. What internally is causing them to be the way they are? Most craft books will say this is the fear the character has and I agree to a point. But you can see because they believe something or feel a certain way, they react in kind.

Then finally we can look at the external conflict, so what on the outside is making them react. Is it a threat of a tsunami or some other natural disaster? We can see how the external world shapes the character as well.

There you have it. I have an example of my absolute favorite character of all time: Loki Laufeyson/Odinson played by the marvelous Tom Hiddleston. I will admit, Loki's information is not complete yet, but I am working on it. :) In the relations with other characters, if I have started working on another character, I will link that scrivening to the one with Loki (like Thor) and then link Loki to the other character's scrivening.

Now we have the background/story which I will not post on here... but I did divide it between the "Main" Loki that we've known from Thor 1 through Infinity War (The sun will shine on the brothers again). The Loki from the Loki series (which is very good, considering they had to stop production and change course because of the pandemic). Then the What-if variation of Loki as well.

Then I go through the internal and external conflict of Loki (such as he wants his father's approval, he wants his family's love, he wants to be king, he wants to be a worthy son, he feels eclipsed and betrayed by Thor, etc.

If anyone wants, I would be more than happy to send you an unedited version of this document so you can add whatever characters you want. Just DM me on here or hmu on Insta or Twitter. :)

I know this was brief, but I hope it helps!

[rhiannoneltonauthor]

Give your characters depth! cstu.io/7136fc

[authorlifeoutfitters]

Hey everyone! Hope you’re staying safe in these trying times! ❤️❤️

Today we’re looking into writing for an audience. Not always my cup of tea depending on the execution, but still important. There are many reasons to write for an audience, regardless, there are things to remember when doing so. This is my favorite way to view writing for an audience.

1. Look at yourself, tell you about yourself. THAT’S YOUR AUDIENCE!!!!!! 💃🏽💃🏽

A lot of people believe you need to know your audience from top to bottom. You don’t need to advocate to a certain age group or subgroup or whatever group. Writing for your audience of one (YOU, again), will make your writing transform into the best version of it. Write the sentences to create feeling in you because you are your first and best critic 👩🏽‍💻🧑🏼‍💻

2. Trust your readers as people.

Sometimes when writing, you want to over explain a situation or go into detail about an act. As humans, we assume and if you trust your readers, they don’t need a play by play on it. You as a reader don’t want to read about one action or element being explained for five pages, don’t do that to your readers either.

3. Trusting the readers

We all read at different levels. That is a given in this world of differing minds and abilities, trust your readers to take that into account when choosing your book. Write with all the INTELLIGENCE AND BEAUTY 😭 that you have inside you. If you’re really worried about how the book will translate, beta readers are incredible beings. Readers like books that like them.

4. You win some and lose some.

You’re going to lose readers. I’m not saying this to frighten you or to hurt you, it’s just natural as they read the story. Like I said before, with certain genre’s, writing to an audience is important. Remember at this point you’re writing for you and you have to create the stunning world you believe in without discounting anything. You can’t halt yourself because you think someone reading won’t get it. Trust your readers, trust the culture you’re creating and ultimately, TRUST YOU 👏🏽

Shout out to K.M Weiland who gave me these tips and more years ago. Writing for an audience is hard, especially when we’ve been conditioned to put them first in our writing ✍️ Platforms that make it seem like a race to get the most reads will make it hard, but remember who’s most important to your final piece 💁🏽‍♀️❤️

[candyglynnwilder]

Day 20 post for @sachablackauthor 's AuthorLife Challenge: Best craft books. I haven't had much luck with outlines. Whenever I'd list the particulars of a chapter, one of two things would happen: I couldn't come up with anything, or what I did come up with wouldn't work. I had partial outlines for each chapter in the second half of Mark of The Champion, but never a unifying outline that encompassed an entire book. I had enough inspiration for the first half, then a loose chapter-by-chapter plan for the second. I'm very pleased with the way my novel turned out. But I will never write another book that way again. While searching for a method that would incorporate my exploration into an outline structure, I learned about @authorkmweiland 's book, "Outlining your Novel," on the WriteNow! podcast. One method for idea generation was to write a list of "What Ifs," for as many scenarios as I could think of. I tried it for my rewrites and it worked like a charm. I bought the book and found a whole collection of methods that worked perfectly with my spur-of-the-moment method of thought. I'm looking forward to making a workable outline for the second book in my series. Since all the cool kids are doing it: Preorder 8 Steps to Side Characters by Sacha Black at https://books2read.com/sidecharacters #fantasywriter #indiewriter #writersofinstagram #authorlifechallenge #writing #outlining #pantsing #outliningyournovel #kmweiland #writenowpodcast #candyglynnwilder #writingcommunity #markofthechampion #motc https://www.instagram.com/p/CRkbUxnL0IH/?utm_medium=tumblr

[oliver-sapien]

[sebastiano-merlino]

Yeah... I know I've been guilty of this one! - via Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 63: Purple Prose - Helping Writers Become Authors

[smaeralit-blog]

#kmweiland ✨✍️ • • • • • • • #smaeralit #story #writer #write #writerslife #writerswrite #writersnetwork #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #screenwriting #poetry #creativewriting #storyteller #storytelling #shortstory #quote #instaquote #characters #newwriter #newwriting #reader #read #filmmaking #writersblock #blogger #writerscorner #curiosity #expect

[hazelmcnellis]

👉 #Leseupdate! 👈😁 . Ich habe vor etwa 4 Wochen ein ganz ähnliches Bild mit euch geteilt. 😎😂 Da war ich noch krank und erzählte etwas von einer sommerlichen #Leseflaute. 😱😅 Ich glaube aber, dass ich sie überwunden habe. 😎😃 Gerade erst habe ich nämlich den #Ratgeber "Structuring your novel" von K. M. Weiland beendet und mir hat er sehr gut gefallen! 📚☝️🤓 . Auf #Goodreads habe ich deshalb auch eine 5-Sterne-#Rezension dazu verfasst. 😎👍 Ich mochte ihren Stil sehr gerne und wie ausführlich sie auf die einzelnen Strukturelemente eines Romans eingegangen ist. 👌😊 . Als nächstes steht bei mir dann "Trust again" von Mona Kasten auf dem Plan - mit dem tollen #Lesezeichen von #Ravenclaw, das ich vorletzte Woche zu meinem Geburtstag bekam. #potterhead #ravenclawhouse 😍😄 . An die LeserInnen unter euch: Woran lest ihr denn aktuell? 🤓📚 An die AutorInnen: Kennt ihr den Ratgeber von #KMWeiland? Was hat euch gut daran gefallen? Was eher nicht? 🤓☺️ . #autorenleben #buch #buecher #book #bookish #writing #schreiben #schreiballtag #lesen #reading #instabooks #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #schreibratgeber #instawriters #ichliebelesen #ichliebeschreiben #harrypotterfan

[studyburd]

Let's play two truths and a lie bookish edition.😍📖 Guess my lie and post your own below! 📚1. Sarah J Maas is my favourite author. 📚2. I own more paperbacks than hardbacks. 📚3. I have no problem dog-earing my books. . . 🐟Let's see if you can fish out the lie 🐟 . . . ✒It's time I participated in #writingbookwednesday 😂 Somehow everytime I plan to post a writing book post it's never wednesday. I really liked Outlining your novel by KM Weiland, but Structuring your novel fell kinda flat for me. I much prefered Save the cat novel writing edition for that purpose! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #writing #writersofinstagram #writersofig #writer #author #worldbuilding #bookstagram #bookstawhapp #lovebooks #booklover #readersofinstagram #bibliophile #writingtips #writingcommunity #writerlife #writerscorner #authorgram #igauthors #writergram #outliningyournovel #structuringyournovel #kmweiland #writingbooks #writingbook . https://www.instagram.com/bookb.rd/p/BqLMkBMnGJs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1bzd5ukkr4p5m

[donnadarling]

Here’s a link to the twitter game I was playing: https://twitter.com/KMWeiland/status/1034868331822624768

[rhiannoneltonauthor]

cstu.io/e60805 Give your voice more character with these 5 tips for adding complexity.

[sylviahubbard]

#MotownWriters Article: How to Overcome Fear as a Writer and Embrace Your Profound Courage

#MotownWriters Article: How to Overcome Fear as a Writer and Embrace Your Profound Courage

300+Helping Writers Become Authorsby K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland / download (size: 0 MB )

Long ago, someone gave me a birthday card that said “Fearless.” For many years, I tacked it on my bulletin board above my desk. Even now, it’s one of the few cards I’ve ever saved. I kept it because while a part of me resonated with the idea that I might be fearless, the rest of me just yearned to…

[dfroza]

life feels like this every day...

@WaywardWordsLLC: Happy Friday #WritingCommunity! Let's help each other out with some must-follow writing resources. Here are some of ours:

@findindiebooks1

@Aisling_MacKay

@KMWeiland

@thecreativepenn

@everywriter

@Dictionarycom

Who do you recommend?

#amwriting #amediting

5.22.20 • 10:51am • Twitter

[sebastiano-merlino]

Why just having a "female protagonist" is not enough and how Marvel might have gotten it right with Jessica Jones - via Why We Need More Thematically-Pertinent Female Protagonists - Helping Writers Become Authors

[smaeralit-blog]

#kmweiland ✨✍️ • • • #smaeralit #character #characterdesign #writing #writersofinstagram #writersnetwork #writerslife #characterdevelopment #unexpectedjourney #curiosity #reader #read #writerscommunity #amwriting #instawrite #shortstory #story #bookstagram #screenwriting #poetry #journey #imagination #inspiration #instawriter #creativewriting #creativeminds #quote #instaquote #writingquotes

[sherriemiranda]

4 Ways Writing Improves Your Relationship With Yourself by K.M. Weiland

I wanted to share something for writers & more importantly, for those who need a gentle push to start writing. This is perfect.    ❤ Sherrie

APRIL 20, 2020 by K.M. WEILAND | @KMWEILAND

4 Ways Writing Improves Your Relationship With Yourself

Writing—especially the writing of stories—is ultimately a relationship with oneself. It is true that we write to communicate with others. Perhaps that is…