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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Page 33

Writing Craft

Influencers

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 29, 2018
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This blog is part six of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction.

After reading through this series, I realize I had written quite a bit about my husband’s opinions. The examples and thoughts expressed reminded me of how immense his influence is on me. I don’t mind that he chooses most of my clothes and likes red lipstick. He’s paying attention!

My family bears significant influence on me. For instance, I promised my youngest daughter I wouldn’t buy Michael Kors brand apparel for myself because she owns several pieces. I never felt comfortable wearing Chanel #5 perfume because Daddy bought it for Momma. I love Beautiful cologne; but, again, Momma wears that and to me, the fragrance belongs to her.

I’ve been influenced in far more substantial ways by women who guided my spiritual and emotional development. The men in my life, past and present, remind me how honorable men at their best can be.

I wish for everyone to be as blessed as I have been by people who are worthy influencers.

 

Your turn:

Who influences your character? Is this influence positive or negative?

What secondary characters have you set up for your protagonist to interact with? Friends? Family? Both? Why?

What is the most distinctive feature of your favorite secondary character, whether from your work or someone else’s?

What is the biggest challenge you face in creating effective secondary characters?

 

Character Development Series:

  • Part One
  • Part Two
  • Part Three
  • Part Four
  • Part Five
  • Part Six
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Category: Writing Craft

Keep Your Post-Draft Tasks Distinct

By Bob Hostetleron November 28, 2018
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Writers are not all the same. I realize that may come as a shock to you, but it’s true. Trust me. Job One (or something very close to it) for every writer is to find the rhythms and routines that work for you. That may be quite different from what works for other writers. And that’s okay. Say it with me: “That’s okay.”   Still, whatever suits you as a writer, there’s a good chance that keeping …

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Category: Craft, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Popular Story Tropes in Current Fiction

By Steve Laubeon November 19, 2018
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When we think of fiction, we put books in genres based on the story line. Then within each genre, they are separated by subgenres. The Book Industry Study Group has defined over 100 different classifications of fiction. These BISAC codes are what you find on the back of the book. And yet, despite the variety of genres, there are certain tropes (defined as overused plot devices) that appear …

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Category: Book Proposals, Creativity, Genre, Trends

That Look

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 15, 2018
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This blog is part five of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. I once tried to leave the house with bare lips. This did not go over well with my husband. “Where is your lipstick?” he asked. I applied some immediately. In red. Yes, the lipstick has to be red. I can get away with a reddish burgundy shade if it matches my clothing, but only then. …

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Category: Writing Craft

Read Old Books, Write New Books

By Bob Hostetleron November 14, 2018
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C. S. Lewis (maybe you’ve heard of him) famously commended the reading of old books: Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books…. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall …

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Category: Craft, Reading, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Vegan?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 8, 2018
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This blog is part four of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. Pity the poor body under dietary restrictions. And haven’t we all been there at one time or another, for one reason or another? At home, we can manage. Never mind that the grocery store demands steep prices for specialty food. Because they can. Dining in public? An adventure but not …

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Category: Writing Craft

Busybodies and Redheads

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 1, 2018
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This blog is part three of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. One of my elementary school teachers, a blonde, gave birth to twin boys with bright red hair. Her husband was dark-haired. Perhaps in this day and age of sensitivity and multiracial adoptions, no one would flicker a proverbial eyelid at this development. Or at least they would blink …

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Category: Writing Craft

Character Quirks

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 25, 2018
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This blog is part two of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. When on its own and free to be itself, my hair curves into waves that the Atlantic Ocean would envy. Prodigious effort must be made to tame it. That prodigious effort originates in the form of a professional blowout. When trying to preserve a blowout, I have found that the perfect room …

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Category: Writing Craft

Lessons Learned As a Literary Agent

By Dan Balowon October 23, 2018
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Dan is leaving the agency at the end of this month to focus his attention on the work of Gilead Publishing, the company he started in 2016. Here are some parting thoughts. _____ I’ve been a literary agent for about 2,000 of the 13,000 total days spent working with and for book publishers over the last thirty-five years. It’s been a great experience, for sure; but as I look back at the thousands of …

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Category: Agents, Book Business, Branding, Career, Conferences, Craft, Creativity, Encouragement, Inspiration, Marketing, Personal, Pitch, Platform, Self-Publishing, Social Media, The Publishing Life, The Writing Life, Writing Craft

Prized Possessions

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 18, 2018
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This blog is part one of six in a series designed to hone character development of protagonists in your fiction. I own a few possessions that I prize though they aren’t worth much moneywise. These possessions represent the love someone has for me. That love is far more valuable to me than the few dollars I could earn from selling my memories on eBay. Take the small trinket box my grandmother …

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Category: Writing Craft
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