If you are a fantasy lover, you surely have encountered the explosive new subgenre coined romantasy. Barnes & Nobles has even added an aisle dedicated to romantasy titles that have gone viral. As with the insurgence of any new book trend, there is always mixed opinion surrounding what to do with the new genre. Criticism is good, healthy even; however, the criticism I see of romantasy stems from a larger problem, a low view of romance in fantasy as a valid literary concept.
If you’re reading this, chances are you have a story you want to write. The truth is, most people do. Everyone carries around an idea for a book they wish they could put on paper. The wonderful part? Anyone can learn to write a good story. It just takes time and practice.
At this year’s Professional Writing Conference, keynote speaker Zena Dell Lowe (at The Storyteller’s Mission) delivered a powerful challenge to every storyteller. The world doesn’t need more content—it needs heroes.
I want to set my students up for success. They may have a day job but maintain their dream of one day getting their book published. The Professional Writing classes teach them the basics, and then their continued learning can happen at writing conferences.
Great worldbuilding and an exciting plot can only take you so far—if your characters fall flat, readers won’t stick around. That might sound intimidating—creating characters is super important—but not impossible. As you read in this article, I hope you will see that creating characters your readers will love is not as daunting as you think. Allow me to walk you through the process of creating characters your readers will never forget.
Anyone who has aspired to create a piece of writing has asked themselves these questions. Writing can be a tedious and aggravating process, especially for beginners. What I, along with many writers, have experienced is that it’s easy to approach writing with an unrealistic mindset that can be discouraging and cause early writers to quickly give up on their works. Too often we expect perfection on the first pass. Or we worry too much about getting published.
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