Author Heather McCorkle

What truly motivates your character? I'm not looking for the easy answer here. I want you to dig down deep into their psyche and figure out what is really motivating them. Take my new main character for example. It's easy to say she wants to avenge the death of her brother. But that is what she wants, it isn't what motivates her. What motivates her is the tremendous hole eating it's way through her soul because he died fighting on the battlefield and she wasn't there to help him. What motivates her is that he was the only one in her family that saw her for who she was and supported her dreams. To figure out what their motivators are look to their past. Is there something about the way they were raised that may affect their motivations? Is there a relationship that may be a driving force for them? Family, loved ones, or lack thereof all affect your character. What are their beliefs, culture, customs, occupation? All of those factors affect motivation and the way a ...

A close writer friend of mine recently told me she had no idea how I manage to write so fast and keep my motivation up so consistently. Last year I wrote and thoroughly edited three books and this year my goal is to do the same. My friend's question got me to thinking about motivation and keeping the fire burning. It isn't always easy, and it comes more easily to some. Why is that and how can you get a few coals of that motivation to put on your fire? I don't know a magic spell or drink that will do it but I'll tell you my secrets and hopefully they will give you some ideas. First my biggest secret, I let myself write a rough draft ~a complete rough draft. I don't stop part way through and second guess myself or start editing and making small changes here and there. That disrupts the momentum and ruins the flow of the story from mind to computer. Once that flow is disrupted sometimes it never starts again. Don't disrupt it! Resist the urge to edit until you...

Remaining in the vein of last week's post, we're talking about how to strengthen your character's arc and why it's important. The character arc is the changes your character goes through from the beginning to the end of the novel, how they grow and learn, or change. Take a good look at your manuscript or outline. Is your character arc strong enough to help carry the novel? It should be just as strong as the plot, if not stronger, depending upon your genre. Not every genre will have such a powerful character arc and that's okay, they aren't all supposed to. But if you write character driven fiction like I do, that character better be strong. Think of a novel you read recently that had a really good character arc. How did that character change? What about them did you like in the beginning of the novel and in the end? Readers celebrate with our characters, be it an achievement, revelation, or growth. Without those elements in our characters the reader doesn'...

A new novel is beginning to demand my attention which means I have to do something I dread almost as much as writing a synopsis. What could be that bad you wonder? Outlining. To say I'm not a fan of it would be a gross exaggeration. I hate outlining, it sucks. Why do it then? Why not just let my muse guide me and write? Because my instructor at a writer's retreat I attended forced me to write an outline for a book I'd already finished and it made me see the error of my ways. An outline will point out all inconsistencies, plot holes, and blatant mistakes. I realized that if I write one before I write my novel, it reduces my revision process dramatically. So, though I hate it, I write the outline and my novel is far better for it. A blogging writer friend of mine, Jamie Harrington wrote an adorable post on outlines that changed the way I feel about them. She made outlining fun and~dare I say~easy. Her agent asked her if she outlines her novels. Check out her entertaining a...

While working on character development I came up with this questionnaire of vital things I must know about my characters. Its geared toward young adult a bit but it would still work for adult genres as well. I've lumped together questions that are related to one another. I fill this out for every one of my characters. You may find it handy. Answer them from your character's point of view: 1) What is your full name? What name do you go by and why? 2) What do you look like? What are your best and worst features? 3) What is your birth date? Do you celebrate or avoid it and why? 4) How do you prefer to dress? Do you wear any jewelry? 5) What are your parents and siblings names? How old are your     siblings? Do you get along? 6) What type of people do you fit in best with? 7) Who are your friends? Enemies? 8) Who is your role model or idol? 9) Do you have any hobbies? Sports? Interests? 10) What do/did you want to be when you grow up? 11) What kind...

Once you've create a believable character (see my past entry on creating characters) with depth what comes next? As I go over my first two young adult novels I find myself thinking this over. Aside from just riding through the plot there are some very important things your characters must do through the course of the story. When people experience things it often changes them, they learn and grow, or become bitter and introverted. Life changes people. Your characters should reflect this. Think of the horror novel where the woman always runs from the killer. It's annoying. The truth of the matter is she'll eventually learn to either stand and fight, hide, find a way out of the situation, or she will die. Just like readers, agents and editors want to see character progression by the end of the novel and on an even greater scale by the end of a series. For example; in my young adult book my protagonist goes from being the shallow, popular girl to realizing the value of real fri...