Matt Kendrick as usual goes way beyond the usual craft essay. There is more depth, more smarts, and more style here than just about anywhere. I was especially struck by the focus on motives of characters. We speculate and mull on the motives of actual people all the time (spouses, kids, celebrity-strangers). Surely it is just as natural to uncover the motives of our fictional people… because, after all, we want them to see him real.
Thanks for this lovely comment, Joshua. Yes, character motivations are such a useful thing to ponder. For me, giving your character something that they want and then putting barriers in their way to achieve what they want is at the core of storytelling whether we're plot-leaning writers or character-leaning writers. It is at the heart of tension / stakes / build / journey and pretty much everything else.
Hi. Only signed up recently but finding your newsletters informative, interesting and entertaining. Very grateful for the downloads you offer on your site and also the questions to ask yourself in order to create depth. I will try to promote you through the Bournemouth Writing Festival website.
This is wonderful to hear, Sally. So glad it's informative, and glad the resource downloads are useful - a couple more coming sometime soon. Good luck with finding the depth in your stories. And thank you so much for promoting me at the Bournemouth Writing Festival - I wish I was well enough to attend as it looks like such a wonderful event!!!
Just to say I ran a workshop on Flash Fiction at the Bournemouth writing festival and put a link to your site on there, detailing your brilliant resources. Hope it generates some coffees for you x
I have a post pending on the BWF website with a link to yours. The festival is next April. I hope that whatever ails you might be lessened by then and maybe you could come down. All the best, Sally x
That's really kind of you, Sally. Unfortunately, my illness is a long term thing and I'm not able to travel because of it, but I'll be there in spirit!
Thanks Matt. Brilliant and insightful as always and as I’m just starting a new novel I’ll use lots of this. A way I always add depth to a character is to uncover a secret they’re keeping. I do a writing exercise in their first person voice from the sentence starter: I’ve never told anyone this before...
I love that idea of thinking about secrets. We all have things we don't share with everyone else and they can tell us so much about a person. One thing I always suggest to novel writers which is on similar lines is to write the diary for your main character, adding a new short entry each day before you sit down to write, recreating your character's day in all its banalities, quirks, thoughts, secrets, hopes, frustrations and lies.
Thanks. I enjoyed and learned from that. Currently editing my second novel, I am encouraged that the trivial details I add to ‘layer’ my characters don’t all need to be removed. Not yet, at least. A proper editor may think differently.
Great to hear from you, Nick. Editing a novel is an exciting stage, having the whole story down on the page and fine-tuning it so it reaches its full potential! Good luck with that. And yes, I think the trivial details are often what bring life and soul to a story, making a character fully human. If you ever want an editing eye on your manuscript, do get in touch.
Matt Kendrick as usual goes way beyond the usual craft essay. There is more depth, more smarts, and more style here than just about anywhere. I was especially struck by the focus on motives of characters. We speculate and mull on the motives of actual people all the time (spouses, kids, celebrity-strangers). Surely it is just as natural to uncover the motives of our fictional people… because, after all, we want them to see him real.
Thanks for this lovely comment, Joshua. Yes, character motivations are such a useful thing to ponder. For me, giving your character something that they want and then putting barriers in their way to achieve what they want is at the core of storytelling whether we're plot-leaning writers or character-leaning writers. It is at the heart of tension / stakes / build / journey and pretty much everything else.
Hi. Only signed up recently but finding your newsletters informative, interesting and entertaining. Very grateful for the downloads you offer on your site and also the questions to ask yourself in order to create depth. I will try to promote you through the Bournemouth Writing Festival website.
This is wonderful to hear, Sally. So glad it's informative, and glad the resource downloads are useful - a couple more coming sometime soon. Good luck with finding the depth in your stories. And thank you so much for promoting me at the Bournemouth Writing Festival - I wish I was well enough to attend as it looks like such a wonderful event!!!
Hi Matt
Just to say I ran a workshop on Flash Fiction at the Bournemouth writing festival and put a link to your site on there, detailing your brilliant resources. Hope it generates some coffees for you x
That's so kind of you, Sarah. Thank you so much.
Thanks Mike :) ;)
I have a post pending on the BWF website with a link to yours. The festival is next April. I hope that whatever ails you might be lessened by then and maybe you could come down. All the best, Sally x
That's really kind of you, Sally. Unfortunately, my illness is a long term thing and I'm not able to travel because of it, but I'll be there in spirit!
Thanks Matt. Excellent advice for creating depth in a story. I have some short stories I’d like to go back to and examine with this in mind. Ali
Wonderful to hear, Ali. Good luck! I've been using these questions on my own stories and it certainly makes you think.
Thanks Matt. Brilliant and insightful as always and as I’m just starting a new novel I’ll use lots of this. A way I always add depth to a character is to uncover a secret they’re keeping. I do a writing exercise in their first person voice from the sentence starter: I’ve never told anyone this before...
I love that idea of thinking about secrets. We all have things we don't share with everyone else and they can tell us so much about a person. One thing I always suggest to novel writers which is on similar lines is to write the diary for your main character, adding a new short entry each day before you sit down to write, recreating your character's day in all its banalities, quirks, thoughts, secrets, hopes, frustrations and lies.
Thanks. I enjoyed and learned from that. Currently editing my second novel, I am encouraged that the trivial details I add to ‘layer’ my characters don’t all need to be removed. Not yet, at least. A proper editor may think differently.
Nick
Great to hear from you, Nick. Editing a novel is an exciting stage, having the whole story down on the page and fine-tuning it so it reaches its full potential! Good luck with that. And yes, I think the trivial details are often what bring life and soul to a story, making a character fully human. If you ever want an editing eye on your manuscript, do get in touch.