by Kevin Tumlinson | Mar 8, 2021 | Author How-To & Mindset
In the earliest days of my writing career, before it could even be tagged as a “writing career,” I had a particular and persistent vision of what the writer’s life looked like. It was informed by television shows and movies, and by snatches of behind-the-scenes...
by Kevin Tumlinson | Mar 1, 2021 | Author How-To & Mindset
Throughout this series we’ve covered a variety of ways to build a better character using their actions, their dialogue, even their senses. We can add rich depth to our characters with these tools, elevating them from two-dimensional constructs to three-dimensional...
by Kevin Tumlinson | Feb 22, 2021 | Author How-To & Mindset
In the real world, we tend to only notice the input of our senses when something is wrong. Typically our sensory perception is passive. Our eyes, ears, nose, and skin are always feeding our brains some sort of signal, but that input isn’t always at our top level of...
by Kevin Tumlinson | Feb 15, 2021 | Author How-To & Mindset
When it comes to character action, the old advice is still the best advice: Show, don’t tell. If you haven’t heard that from a creative writing course, or every writing craft book ever, you’ve probably heard it as sage internet wisdom. Heed it well, dear writer,...
by Kevin Tumlinson | Feb 8, 2021 | Author How-To & Mindset
Characterization is one of those essential pieces of writer’s craft—the sort of thing that’s difficult but crucial to master. You can have a profound plot, but without good characters driving it, the thing goes nowhere. Likewise, if you happen to be a discovery...
by Kevin Tumlinson | Jul 27, 2020 | Author How-To & Mindset
“What’s the biggest obstacle to finishing your book?” When the question was posed recently on a Facebook forum, it got the usual answers: Not enough free time, too many family obligations, too many job responsibilities. And then there was the more...
