The Strong Female Character: I Do Not Think That Means What Some People Think It Means

I recently started watching the new TV series Outlander, based on the popular books by Diana Gabaldon. I have never read the books. The series sounded like something I might enjoy, about a woman who time-travels to 18th Century Scotland.After watching two episodes, I'm already done with it.I see people raving about the show on …

8 Things You Need To Know About Character Arcs

No new post this week–I’m suffering from a muscle spasm in my back, so sitting at the computer is kind of difficult. So I dove into the archives and came up with this post. Hope you enjoy!

MOON IN GEMINI

1. Character arcs are not 100% necessary. I’m going to get this out of the way first thing.

This argument is made all the time, and there’s some truth to it. There are some very successful characters that never have a character arc. James Bond is the one most mentioned. While he was retooled somewhat when Daniel Craig took over the role in the movies, the character has never undergone a significant arc. Miss Marple never has an arc, or Hercule Poirot, or Stephanie Plum.

See a pattern here? They’re all characters in a long-running series of stand-alone books. While there are series characters that have arcs (I would argue Indiana Jones is an example) most don’t have them. Mainly because having the characters change would disrupt the series too much.

2. However, not giving your character one can simply be laziness on your part. Just because there are…

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Writers, Know Your Archetypes: The Trickster

archetype noun a perfect or typical specimen an original model or pattern; prototype (psychoanalysis) one of the inherited mental images postulated by Jung as the content of the collective unconscious a constantly recurring symbol or motif in literature, painting, etc ---from the English Collins Dictionary Writers are sometimes wary of archetypes, worried they will lead …

8 Things You Need To Know About Character Arcs

1. Character arcs are not 100% necessary. I’m going to get this out of the way first thing. This argument is made all the time, and there’s some truth to it. There are some very successful characters that never have a character arc. James Bond is the one most mentioned. While he was retooled somewhat …