Tagged: Article

Articles

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Building Characters Using Direct Characterization

Building Characters Using Direct Characterization

by Holley Cornetto

To many readers, one of the most important aspects of a story is the characters. Characters, after all, are the window through which the reader experiences a story. As readers, we may not always like a character, but a character needs to be interesting enough to captivate our attention and make us want to read on. 

There are two major ways that writers reveal information about character to the reader. These are known as direct characterization and indirect characterization. In this post, I’m going to discuss direct methods of characterization, what these methods convey to readers, and how.

The four direct methods of characterization are dialogue, description, action, and thought. All of these elements demonstrate something about the character to the reader. 

Dialogue
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Articles / Guest Post

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A Love Of Reading

A Love of Reading

By Lauri Schoenfeld 

At a young age, I wondered if my mom was possessed. Her sudden burst of rage and anger directed toward me didn’t make sense. Sheer hatred lurked in her eyes, and I didn’t understand, but I wanted to. I believed that there was something good fighting within her. The only thing that made sense to me was that something took her, but she’d be back—one day.

Like the movies, I wanted to find some special water, “holy water,” to get whatever was inside her out, and it would be all better. She’d be fine. I’d have my mom back, even though I never really had her at all. She haunted herself and couldn’t see past the image of what she used to be. 
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Articles / Guest Post

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If You’re a Horror Writer, You Should Know How Not to Lose Your Reader in 10 Pages

If You’re a Horror Writer, You Should Know How Not to Lose Your Reader in 10 Pages

Description: Discover how not to lose a reader when writing horror stories. The art of storytelling is easy if you follow its simple rules, but we often forget the principles that make up a good story, including a horror one. Learn more in our article!

(Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash)
The interest span of individuals has gone down drastically in recent years. There is a high requirement for instant gratification in almost any walk of life. For example, online slots have to grip users with the design and bonus features right from the start. The same goes with movies, books, and pretty much everything online. It leads to a conundrum for horror story writers, who are heavily dependent on two factors—choice of words and the imagination of readers—to keep anyone hooked to the story.

The creator of a horror movie has various tools like music cues, editing, visual effects, and more. Yet, the choices are minimal for someone who has to put everything into words.
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