going with the Agatha Christie theme: they all did, for different reasons - some working together, some not knowing another person had the same plan. The greedy husband pushing for fast inheritance is too obvious, and screams red herring. Also, working with the socialite out to protect her own image would be predictable too, unless there was a really creative backstory between her and the deceased. The stowaway might have sneaked on board to do the crime, seeking justice for a wrong the deceased did to someone they loved. The assistant might have been so obsessively ambitious they did it (or set it up) specifically so they could get the credit and prove once and for all they're smarter than their mentor - possibly working with the equally ambitious journalist to make sure he gets the inside scoop first. The secret lover may well have done it when they finally got tired of being the side piece and set down an ultimatum to either leave her loveless marriage or it was over with him. She disagreed. So, my suggestion is they all contributed, either knowingly or unknowingly, and the true test of the story isn't whether the detective can discover the truth, but whether what kind of morals and ethics he has - serve the code of law, or accept not everything is black and white. Or, surprise twist, it was the detective all along, and they were just looking for a scapegoat. :)
I should definetly rewatch the video and write down all the importen pieces but for now I will go with the journelist since he doesn't care about the murder isn't conected to the victom for anyone to suspect and he could be holding on to evidence to place them to the person he thinks would make the biggest story
The heartbroken lover is the murderer , (As mostly solved by the detectives apprentice) turns out the victim was going to break things up with him and work things out with the husband. The husband is desperate for the money to protect an orphanage. But the lover isn't smart enough to pull the crime alone . The true mastermind was the stowaway who was manipulating the situation so she could get her hands on the diamond being transported on the blimp. And she would have gotten away with it if not for the crafty detective.
Excellent advice. I also suggest the early writers begin with fewer characters so that relationships, motives, and voice can be internalized by the writer. Many can master this organization without charts (internalizing the characters) in a single novel. Developing one's technique is always growing. Rewriting as new skills are acquired lead to multiple rewrites and clunky stories (see Brandon Sanderson's thoughts on his first Dragonsteel Novel). I prefer to finish, review, and then begin another anew. Fall in love with the process, not the story. You will soon find that there are so many stories that you could never have enough time to bring all of them into the world.
Hey there, it's been 70 days I'm writing my novel constantly everyday... (I'm nearly finished) aaaaannnddd ive been watching your videos from the beginning ! Just wanted to thanks you a LOT, cuz you also motivated me a ton to continue 🙂↕️🔥
This was pretty good timing considering i'm writing a MASSIVE murder mystery right now. The fact that I already had most of the talking points you discussed in the video covered felt incredibly satisfying, but there were so many more small tips you gave that helped me to expand my characterization and plot.
These methods work very well for RPGs too. I've stumbled on to some of these in my time as a DM, and giving characters (NPCs) conflicting goals is particularly effective, the narrative almost writes itself if you choose the right combination of goals.
Fun fact: the enneagram is about stress! The first thing I do with any character now is figure out their Stress Type. Each type on the enneagram is part of a "triad," which I think of as the top of the stack. Everyone feels all of these things, but this is the knee-jerk reaction of your amygdala. Ready? Anger, Fear, Embarrassment. This is ground 0. Because in every chapter, we start at a place of comfort, go into stress, midpoint (something changes), go deeper into stress, and then return to comfort so that we can demonstrate the change. Dunno what to write next? Have a character, stress them out. They stub their toe. Their crush spills hot soup on them. Just stress 'em out. Try it! It's fun.
Jed, you are actually blowing my mind here. You make examples that not only help my ABUNDANTLY, but also sound like they could be a bestseller on themselves. !! You are truly an amazing writer!!!!!
Thanks! You gave me an inspiration to try to keep more characters "alive in the story" at more points in the plot, to keep their plotlines and interactions going even when they aren't present in each scene. I know that wasn't the main point of this video, but it had that effect.
I couldn't agree more, fantastic video. I've been building my main character's close cast of characters for a while now, including mutually exclusive goals, backstory, motivations and forced proximity - with the need to develop loyalty and connection for survival. And I've put all of the significant characters on the enneagram. I'm 145,000 words into my epic fantasy novel and the character relationships is one aspect of the story that working beautifully - it's so much fun :-)
Its kind of late to share but i rlly want to share a magic system that i created since grade 8 so basically in my fantasy there is a kind of creature name "Mana Spirit" that is left of the gods since they disapear from the god era (it kind of a part of the lore),they can transform into elements ,protein(which can use to make body part ) and also energy .In the early their lifespan is very short because they don't have enought nutrients for them to be alive and because of that they start go into living things such as tree, animals, monsters, humans,... to suck the nutrients for themselves. From that on all the species over world started to elvole a body system to stop the Mana Spirits but not only that, they also create a vein system that used the cell to push and give eletrical signals at an trade to use them while they suck nutrient out of the user body.The new vein system is call "Manale" and well because of the new vein system the heart have to change to keep it working. Causing the heart to adapt base on the number of the Mana Spirits the user used which is can happen even if they not even born yet and that is the reason the are gifted ppl to use magic while some rlly have to spend a lof time to being used to magic. The hearts of the experienced user can even lower the number of the nutrients been suck by the Mana Spirits ppl called it Mana Core.
Ah Jed, perfect timing! I was planning on working on my character sheets today for a novel I finally outlined but didn’t know where to start. Thank you very much!
I usually only listen to videos.. I completely missed the little pictures that popped up when you were mentioning characters.. I’m going to have to start over 😅
This helped me alot. I always had problems having support characters have any agency past their first interaction. A good example maybe in action movies . Henchman 1 wants revenge on main character . The main bad guy wants the events to run as planned . He wont let henchman 1 ruin his plans . Henchman 2 wants to impress henchman 1 and will ignore big bosses plan for his own goal , so he atack the hero but doing so gives away an important clue the hero needs to find the bad guy . So even though the bad guys work together their own motivations bring down the bad guys .
Regarding the character eniegram, my main protagonist in my gothic fantasy novel is an unhealthy type 2 character. I am currently working on outlining how this affects my protagonist's relationship with other characters, and causes conflict
my mother taught me to value honesty but that it wasn't always the right thing her father fought in the second wold war when many lives were lost because the parents told their kids it was wrong to lie and they told of the people they were hiding
A great way to structure conflict is between Kantian and Utilitarian ethics. Not that it's at all original, it's a staple but I don't hear it talked about much. Such conflicts can be between opponents, but can also easily be between allies.
The team of heroes of my novel contain My hero who can't use magic but can use an incredibly powerful magical sword and want to revive his dead love interest His best friend who seeks revenge His elder brother who everyone thought is a chosen one and trying to do something to be praised A strong knight of old ages but still in his youth who just want to protect the world from the main villian Is this a good team? ( They all have to defeat the villian to do this)
Maybe have their motivations be exploited. You have some good motivations, it's a matter of making sure those motivations count, or conflict, with each other. Maybe the villain or some unknown benefactor offers a way for the protagonist to resurrect their loved one, or perhaps manipulate the elder brother into betraying the party for the sake of "the prophecy". That doesn't mean they have to accept, but it puts them at a point where they either put their personal goals or the goal to defeat the villain forward.
#7 irritates publishers when writers evolve both the franchise characters and their relationships across novels. These novels, however, make for engrossing series.
Eeeh! Agatha Christie does not produce the ... straightest stories. Instead her stories are ridiculously convoluted, and pretty ... improbable. She writes in her own genre, in order to enjoy those who prefer that. I generally prefer straighter conflicts. But I get the message: make some characters with conflicting goals, and write a shifting event sequence that delivers surprises and an inner logic.
Hi Jed. I'm the blind girl who has written a comment a few days ago. I wanted to tell you that, in your last newsletter, there was an image. You had the text which had something wrong and you fixed it to show us, but you put the fixed one in an image, so the voice, the program on my computer, read in Italian "There's an image", because it can't read the text inside. Could you send the newsletter again, with the two texts and not the image, please? Could you please don't insert images in your newsletter? This would make things easier for me, newsletters easier for me to follow. I know that, as a person who is not blind, these details can sound insignificant to you or others, but for me they are super important! Thank you in advance. I also wanted to tell you I'm on chapter 25 of Across The Broken Stars. I adore Leon and his pessimism, I find myself in him because of it. I adore your magic system and your writing style, ythe descriptions, Leon's introspection, his thoughts, his past, I adore Elena and her energy and your writing style, your prose, you dialogue, the Show, Don't Tell, everything. The thing is, I have trouble to bond with a chracter when the chapters are short. But I got through this. It took me thirteen chapters to bond with Leon, but it worked. And this means you are a great writer, Jed! I can't wait to go on reading your book. I'm in burnout now, becuse of family issues, so I decided to stop writing for a while. I will read, listen to TV series, creative things like that. I hope your book will help me. Thank you for the amazing writer you are.
Great comment, thank you! Here is the text example: The alley reeked of rotting fish. Lyra’s boots splashed through a puddle as she plunged into the darkness. This is a mistake, she thought as her hand tightened on the pouch hidden under her cloak. “Got what I asked for, girl?” A hulking figure stepped out from a gloomy doorway, holding a flickering lantern in one hand. The light cast jagged shadows over his scarred face. Lyra gulped. “I have it. But I want answers first.” The man chuckled. “You don’t get to make demands, girl. Hand it over.” He drew a knife. The blade glinted in the lantern’s light. Lyra’s stomach churned, but she kept her voice steady. “I’m not leaving without what I came for.”
Raymond Feist is the highest selling author for both a single franchise and total books sold with 1.73 billion. And then you add his other records love ke 700 million e-book sales and online listings, well. Agatha Christie's numbers are from IP royalty revenues which the publisher counted whether the book was sold or donated, and include income from stage, big and small screen adaptations and like the Bible half the stats aren't sales but charitable donations by fifty something organisations and of her families trusts donations. Then the thirty years of free print runs they did for the education systems of ninety odd countries. I remember the rockspider Christians protesting at the B&N in Forrest Chase young fella. They were bleeting about the Magician special edition celebrating the achievement of surpassing the Bible's print runs, because they claimed it was sign of social decay. Numbers of books printed and units sold are the real metrics. JK Rowling is a minnow compared to the Riftwar sagas.
I think there's really only one good way to say this. I don't like AI art either, but it is EVERYWHERE. Why should I (or in this case, Jed), limit myself when tools now exist to make my video presentation easier and smoother. AI isn't going away, and the sooner we can just decide to differentiate between the two and not judge each other for using or not using it, the better off we'll be.
It's just for a video as one-time background illustrations. I don't see the issue here with that context If it helps increase the production value, I don't think it should be a problem
Who did the crime? 👀
Me
going with the Agatha Christie theme: they all did, for different reasons - some working together, some not knowing another person had the same plan.
The greedy husband pushing for fast inheritance is too obvious, and screams red herring. Also, working with the socialite out to protect her own image would be predictable too, unless there was a really creative backstory between her and the deceased. The stowaway might have sneaked on board to do the crime, seeking justice for a wrong the deceased did to someone they loved. The assistant might have been so obsessively ambitious they did it (or set it up) specifically so they could get the credit and prove once and for all they're smarter than their mentor - possibly working with the equally ambitious journalist to make sure he gets the inside scoop first. The secret lover may well have done it when they finally got tired of being the side piece and set down an ultimatum to either leave her loveless marriage or it was over with him. She disagreed.
So, my suggestion is they all contributed, either knowingly or unknowingly, and the true test of the story isn't whether the detective can discover the truth, but whether what kind of morals and ethics he has - serve the code of law, or accept not everything is black and white.
Or, surprise twist, it was the detective all along, and they were just looking for a scapegoat. :)
I should definetly rewatch the video and write down all the importen pieces but for now I will go with the journelist since he doesn't care about the murder isn't conected to the victom for anyone to suspect and he could be holding on to evidence to place them to the person he thinks would make the biggest story
The heartbroken lover is the murderer ,
(As mostly solved by the detectives apprentice)
turns out the victim was going to break things up with him and work things out with the husband.
The husband is desperate for the money to protect an orphanage.
But the lover isn't smart enough to pull the crime alone .
The true mastermind was the stowaway who was manipulating the situation so she could get her hands on the diamond being transported on the blimp.
And she would have gotten away with it if not for the crafty detective.
The medic. Those goggles are for jumping off the ship unnoticed. Besides, who examined the body first?
Excellent advice. I also suggest the early writers begin with fewer characters so that relationships, motives, and voice can be internalized by the writer. Many can master this organization without charts (internalizing the characters) in a single novel. Developing one's technique is always growing. Rewriting as new skills are acquired lead to multiple rewrites and clunky stories (see Brandon Sanderson's thoughts on his first Dragonsteel Novel). I prefer to finish, review, and then begin another anew. Fall in love with the process, not the story. You will soon find that there are so many stories that you could never have enough time to bring all of them into the world.
Hey there, it's been 70 days I'm writing my novel constantly everyday... (I'm nearly finished) aaaaannnddd ive been watching your videos from the beginning ! Just wanted to thanks you a LOT, cuz you also motivated me a ton to continue 🙂↕️🔥
Great job!
@@Jed_Herne thanks ! 🙃
This was pretty good timing considering i'm writing a MASSIVE murder mystery right now. The fact that I already had most of the talking points you discussed in the video covered felt incredibly satisfying, but there were so many more small tips you gave that helped me to expand my characterization and plot.
well, at least it ain't a bodice buster, is what i have to say about murder mysteries, unless it's knives out. kid, you already knew who did it, sorta
These methods work very well for RPGs too.
I've stumbled on to some of these in my time as a DM, and giving characters (NPCs) conflicting goals is particularly effective, the narrative almost writes itself if you choose the right combination of goals.
Fun fact: the enneagram is about stress! The first thing I do with any character now is figure out their Stress Type.
Each type on the enneagram is part of a "triad," which I think of as the top of the stack. Everyone feels all of these things, but this is the knee-jerk reaction of your amygdala.
Ready?
Anger, Fear, Embarrassment.
This is ground 0. Because in every chapter, we start at a place of comfort, go into stress, midpoint (something changes), go deeper into stress, and then return to comfort so that we can demonstrate the change.
Dunno what to write next? Have a character, stress them out. They stub their toe. Their crush spills hot soup on them. Just stress 'em out.
Try it! It's fun.
Jed, you are actually blowing my mind here. You make examples that not only help my ABUNDANTLY, but also sound like they could be a bestseller on themselves. !! You are truly an amazing writer!!!!!
Thanks! You gave me an inspiration to try to keep more characters "alive in the story" at more points in the plot, to keep their plotlines and interactions going even when they aren't present in each scene. I know that wasn't the main point of this video, but it had that effect.
Oh I‘m so early 😯 Thank you for your great content! Wish me luck I will finish my novel! ❤
I couldn't agree more, fantastic video. I've been building my main character's close cast of characters for a while now, including mutually exclusive goals, backstory, motivations and forced proximity - with the need to develop loyalty and connection for survival. And I've put all of the significant characters on the enneagram. I'm 145,000 words into my epic fantasy novel and the character relationships is one aspect of the story that working beautifully - it's so much fun :-)
haha - I posted that literally two seconds before you mentioned the enneagram :-)
Posting this at 4am is crazy 💀 But here I am.
Pretty sure it was at a decent time in his country lol
Bro lives in the upside down, our 4 am is his 4 pm
It is always happy hour in some part of the world.
Fr
Here's me like: That's just the afternoon here in Aus
The only Chanel I have ever watched at .75 speed because I couldn't keep up
Its kind of late to share but i rlly want to share a magic system that i created since grade 8 so basically in my fantasy there is a kind of creature name "Mana Spirit" that is left of the gods since they disapear from the god era (it kind of a part of the lore),they can transform into elements ,protein(which can use to make body part ) and also energy .In the early their lifespan is very short because they don't have enought nutrients for them to be alive and because of that they start go into living things such as tree, animals, monsters, humans,... to suck the nutrients for themselves.
From that on all the species over world started to elvole a body system to stop the Mana Spirits but not only that, they also create a vein system that used the cell to push and give eletrical signals at an trade to use them while they suck nutrient out of the user body.The new vein system is call "Manale" and well because of the new vein system the heart have to change to keep it working. Causing the heart to adapt base on the number of the Mana Spirits the user used which is can happen even if they not even born yet and that is the reason the are gifted ppl to use magic while some rlly have to spend a lof time to being used to magic. The hearts of the experienced user can even lower the number of the nutrients been suck by the Mana Spirits ppl called it Mana Core.
Ah Jed, perfect timing! I was planning on working on my character sheets today for a novel I finally outlined but didn’t know where to start. Thank you very much!
I usually only listen to videos.. I completely missed the little pictures that popped up when you were mentioning characters..
I’m going to have to start over 😅
I think you made this one for me - the timing is too crazy
Same
This helped me alot. I always had problems having support characters have any agency past their first interaction.
A good example maybe in action movies .
Henchman 1 wants revenge on main character .
The main bad guy wants the events to run as planned . He wont let henchman 1 ruin his plans .
Henchman 2 wants to impress henchman 1 and will ignore big bosses plan for his own goal
, so he atack the hero but doing so gives away an important clue the hero needs to find the bad guy .
So even though the bad guys work together their own motivations bring down the bad guys .
Regarding the character eniegram, my main protagonist in my gothic fantasy novel is an unhealthy type 2 character. I am currently working on outlining how this affects my protagonist's relationship with other characters, and causes conflict
Curies on what kinda goals and motives can be given to characters when the story takes place in a mostly detached from the rest off the world's school
my mother taught me to value honesty but that it wasn't always the right thing her father fought in the second wold war when many lives were lost because the parents told their kids it was wrong to lie and they told of the people they were hiding
Fantastic video. Thank you very much
A great way to structure conflict is between Kantian and Utilitarian ethics. Not that it's at all original, it's a staple but I don't hear it talked about much. Such conflicts can be between opponents, but can also easily be between allies.
Banger🔥
We out here!
Very useful video... and now I want to read that steampunk murder novel.
The team of heroes of my novel contain
My hero who can't use magic but can use an incredibly powerful magical sword and want to revive his dead love interest
His best friend who seeks revenge
His elder brother who everyone thought is a chosen one and trying to do something to be praised
A strong knight of old ages but still in his youth who just want to protect the world from the main villian
Is this a good team?
( They all have to defeat the villian to do this)
Make one of them go crazy
Maybe have their motivations be exploited.
You have some good motivations, it's a matter of making sure those motivations count, or conflict, with each other.
Maybe the villain or some unknown benefactor offers a way for the protagonist to resurrect their loved one, or perhaps manipulate the elder brother into betraying the party for the sake of "the prophecy". That doesn't mean they have to accept, but it puts them at a point where they either put their personal goals or the goal to defeat the villain forward.
When Jed’s make-believe, 21 minute UA-cam video creates more interesting and dynamic characters than your entire novel… lol
It’s scary how I was just thinking about how to make a good character dynamic last night
I like this
2:43 jed: 'what can you notice there?'
me:they're all hot
lmao
"Imagine you're writing a steampunk murder mystery"
HOW DID YOU KNOW?
#7 irritates publishers when writers evolve both the franchise characters and their relationships across novels. These novels, however, make for engrossing series.
think moses beats christie or shakespeare thanks to the gideons
Eeeh! Agatha Christie does not produce the ... straightest stories. Instead her stories are ridiculously convoluted, and pretty ... improbable. She writes in her own genre, in order to enjoy those who prefer that. I generally prefer straighter conflicts. But I get the message: make some characters with conflicting goals, and write a shifting event sequence that delivers surprises and an inner logic.
Hi Jed. I'm the blind girl who has written a comment a few days ago. I wanted to tell you that, in your last newsletter, there was an image. You had the text which had something wrong and you fixed it to show us, but you put the fixed one in an image, so the voice, the program on my computer, read in Italian "There's an image", because it can't read the text inside. Could you send the newsletter again, with the two texts and not the image, please? Could you please don't insert images in your newsletter? This would make things easier for me, newsletters easier for me to follow. I know that, as a person who is not blind, these details can sound insignificant to you or others, but for me they are super important! Thank you in advance. I also wanted to tell you I'm on chapter 25 of Across The Broken Stars. I adore Leon and his pessimism, I find myself in him because of it. I adore your magic system and your writing style, ythe descriptions, Leon's introspection, his thoughts, his past, I adore Elena and her energy and your writing style, your prose, you dialogue, the Show, Don't Tell, everything. The thing is, I have trouble to bond with a chracter when the chapters are short. But I got through this. It took me thirteen chapters to bond with Leon, but it worked. And this means you are a great writer, Jed! I can't wait to go on reading your book. I'm in burnout now, becuse of family issues, so I decided to stop writing for a while. I will read, listen to TV series, creative things like that. I hope your book will help me. Thank you for the amazing writer you are.
Great comment, thank you!
Here is the text example:
The alley reeked of rotting fish. Lyra’s boots splashed through a puddle as she plunged into the darkness.
This is a mistake, she thought as her hand tightened on the pouch hidden under her cloak.
“Got what I asked for, girl?”
A hulking figure stepped out from a gloomy doorway, holding a flickering lantern in one hand. The light cast jagged shadows over his scarred face.
Lyra gulped. “I have it. But I want answers first.”
The man chuckled. “You don’t get to make demands, girl. Hand it over.”
He drew a knife. The blade glinted in the lantern’s light.
Lyra’s stomach churned, but she kept her voice steady. “I’m not leaving without what I came for.”
👍🏻
Raymond Feist is the highest selling author for both a single franchise and total books sold with 1.73 billion. And then you add his other records love ke 700 million e-book sales and online listings, well.
Agatha Christie's numbers are from IP royalty revenues which the publisher counted whether the book was sold or donated, and include income from stage, big and small screen adaptations and like the Bible half the stats aren't sales but charitable donations by fifty something organisations and of her families trusts donations.
Then the thirty years of free print runs they did for the education systems of ninety odd countries.
I remember the rockspider Christians protesting at the B&N in Forrest Chase young fella. They were bleeting about the Magician special edition celebrating the achievement of surpassing the Bible's print runs, because they claimed it was sign of social decay.
Numbers of books printed and units sold are the real metrics.
JK Rowling is a minnow compared to the Riftwar sagas.
eugh, AI art. You'd think a writer of all people would see the issue with using it even for some offhand image references
Omg another stone age commenter.
I think there's really only one good way to say this. I don't like AI art either, but it is EVERYWHERE. Why should I (or in this case, Jed), limit myself when tools now exist to make my video presentation easier and smoother. AI isn't going away, and the sooner we can just decide to differentiate between the two and not judge each other for using or not using it, the better off we'll be.
It's just for a video as one-time background illustrations. I don't see the issue here with that context
If it helps increase the production value, I don't think it should be a problem
You people and your fake "disgust" are a fucking plague. Go back to your luddite echochamber and leave the rest of us normal creatives alone.
Please don't use AI and hire professional artists for your illustrations.
No one is entitled to work that someone could easily do themselves with modern tools.