Questions to Answer When Building a Character

I attended a writing conference last weekend sponsored by the Tri-Valley Writers Club, a branch of the California Writers Club. One of the sessions I attended was a very interesting class taught by brilliant Bay Area author and teacher David Corbett. The session focused on building complex characters to drive your plot development. Here is one thing I took away from his presentation that I will be keeping in mind as I move forward with my own work.

Questions to answer when building a character

1) What is her moment of greatest pride? Did anyone witness it?
2) What is her moment of greatest shame?
3) What is her moment of greatest courage?
4) What is her moment of greatest fear?
5) What is her moment of greatest sorrow?
6) What is her moment of greatest joy?
7) What is the moment of greatest harm caused to another human being?

Will the answers to all of these things be explicitly revealed in the book? Probably not. But will they drive how your character behaves? Most definitely. For more information about David's thoughts on character, check out his book, The Art of Character.

Hexborn Takes Silver In the 2018 Wishing Shelf Book Awards

I was so pleased to find out today that Hexborn has received a silver medal in the Books for Teenagers category of the Wishing Shelf Book Awards out of the United Kingdom. I was a finalist a few years ago for She Dies at the End, but this is the first time I've won, so I'm terribly excited.

I'm especially pleased because the judging of this competition is done by panels of actual students in U.K. schools (for the children's and YA categories), and the organizer provides feedback from the reading groups for all the folks who enter. It's one of the few above-board contests, not a cash-grab preying on desperate indie authors. I can't wait to receive my feedback in a few weeks so I can share it with you.

The indie author thing is a rough gig, and it is nice to get a little validation from strangers. :-)

If you haven't yet had the chance to read Hexborn, it's currently free on Kindle Unlimited!