Definitely relate to the “filling out templates” thing for characters, though I’ve been trying to figure out my characters in more effective ways as of late, especially now that I’m multiple drafts into my current wip.
To be honest, I believe sometimes it's quite unnatural when all the characters have arcs, sure the main 2-10 ( relative to the scale ) should go through some kind of arc, but I don't mind if the secondaries just stay the same, especially if they're a middle aged person going through their life. ( Their personality should be inheritably interesting).
Agreed! I think there should definitely be a healthy range when it comes to how much focus individual characters get within the narrative. Flat character arcs are often very serviceable!
Personally, I suffered from 2nd act sag for different reasons. It wasn't that I hadn't enough going on, it was the exact opposite. I had so much going on, it can be really overwhelming for a first time author, precisely because you still don't have experience juggling all that is happening. In that situation, I'd recommend you to just take a step back and treat things one at a time. On on draft you can focus on one main plot line, the second on a different plot line, etc, and then combine, instead of doing that at the same time. Just some things I'm learning the hard way 🥰
i feel called out by the overdeveloped one lol, i've been focusing on really making sure the story is wrapped around the characters instead of forcing the characters into what they need to be for the plot
Totally agree with your points! I've found there are times that repetition can be very effective when you're trying to call back or echo something that happened earlier in a book, but I've found that it has to be done purposefully and masterfully and tie in with the character's arc/theme of the book. I also really love your last point about injecting something of yourself and your own experiences into your writing to make your story meaningful! I think a lot of books these days feel very flat because the characters feel so far divorced from real people that you just feel disconnected from them. In a lot of books, characters are either objectively good or objectively evil and that's just not how people are in real life, so it really takes me out of whatever I'm reading.
Thank you for this! I was intrigued by your “nothing is original,” because I have three specific sources of “my originality” fueling the narrative, which are, at the very least, personally satisfying to inject into the story-MAKING BOOKS WEIRDER 🙌🏼
Thank you for this video ❤️🥰Im planning to write my first ever book on Wattpad love you ❤️😚you are so pretty wishing you all the success in your writing career ❤️❤️🥰
"choosing point A and point C for the character's arc, and letting the plot tell you what B is" nuggets like this save lives. ❤
"The meat of the cupcake is the frosting and the cake itself."
-Lynn D. Jung
Always love the improvised metaphors!
LOL I totally forgot I said that until this moment. Thank you!
I'm not a newbie anymore, but revising the basics is necessary from time to time 🤧
Definitely relate to the “filling out templates” thing for characters, though I’ve been trying to figure out my characters in more effective ways as of late, especially now that I’m multiple drafts into my current wip.
To be honest, I believe sometimes it's quite unnatural when all the characters have arcs, sure the main 2-10 ( relative to the scale ) should go through some kind of arc, but I don't mind if the secondaries just stay the same, especially if they're a middle aged person going through their life. ( Their personality should be inheritably interesting).
Agreed! I think there should definitely be a healthy range when it comes to how much focus individual characters get within the narrative. Flat character arcs are often very serviceable!
Personally, I suffered from 2nd act sag for different reasons. It wasn't that I hadn't enough going on, it was the exact opposite. I had so much going on, it can be really overwhelming for a first time author, precisely because you still don't have experience juggling all that is happening. In that situation, I'd recommend you to just take a step back and treat things one at a time. On on draft you can focus on one main plot line, the second on a different plot line, etc, and then combine, instead of doing that at the same time.
Just some things I'm learning the hard way 🥰
That's really interesting! Thank you for sharing your experiences, I'm sure this will be super helpful to someone facing similar troubles!
i feel called out by the overdeveloped one lol, i've been focusing on really making sure the story is wrapped around the characters instead of forcing the characters into what they need to be for the plot
Totally agree with your points! I've found there are times that repetition can be very effective when you're trying to call back or echo something that happened earlier in a book, but I've found that it has to be done purposefully and masterfully and tie in with the character's arc/theme of the book. I also really love your last point about injecting something of yourself and your own experiences into your writing to make your story meaningful! I think a lot of books these days feel very flat because the characters feel so far divorced from real people that you just feel disconnected from them. In a lot of books, characters are either objectively good or objectively evil and that's just not how people are in real life, so it really takes me out of whatever I'm reading.
Yes! this is brilliant. And #8, giving prescriptive critique.
Thank you for this! I was intrigued by your “nothing is original,” because I have three specific sources of “my originality” fueling the narrative, which are, at the very least, personally satisfying to inject into the story-MAKING BOOKS WEIRDER 🙌🏼
thank you for watching! and YES I will always advocate for making books weirder
Thank you for this video ❤️🥰Im planning to write my first ever book on Wattpad love you ❤️😚you are so pretty wishing you all the success in your writing career ❤️❤️🥰
Thank you and you're welcome, good luck with your writing career as well!
Thank you so much Lynn ❤️😭
Great advice! I’m sooo lazy with writing…seriously need to motivate myself more 😅
it's tough to stay motivated! i hope you're able to find a story that keeps you hooked 💙
so helpful 💗