JW Newsletter: How to tame a reluctant protagonist
How to tame a reluctant protagonist
Keeping your main character on track
All good protagonists drive their plot… so what happens when yours drives into a brick wall? This newsletter looks at tricky characters and how to keep your arcs bending in the right direction.
EVENT: The Self-Publishing Day (10% discount for members)
Learn how to kick-start your indie career at the upcoming Self-Publishing Day. Warning – the Getting Published Day has now SOLD OUT, so get your tickets booked fast for this one!
The Self-Publishing Day (Regent’s College London – 14 March 2020)
NEW on Jericho Writers
MASTERCLASS: Taming your reluctant protagonist (FREE)
Join editor Rebecca Horsfall for this masterclass on characterisation, and how to get your protagonist moving in the right direction.
BLOG: The ultimate guide to using verbs
The road to hell might be paved with adverbs, but a strong verb can kick a sentence out of the mundane. This blog looks at how to use verbs the right way.
WEBINAR: Slushpile LIVE with The Soho Agency (FREE)
18 March 2020. Join three literary agents as they give feedback on query letters and opening pages live, in this webinar exclusively for members.
Content corner: How to fix unruly character mistakes
Some writers spend weeks, months or even years plotting the best route for their characters from beginning to end. But somehow, characters still seem to find themselves in unplanned situations. Here’s how to go about fixing them:
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Find the moment it all started going wrong. Perhaps it was a look another character gave them that caused them to kiss the antagonist, rather than kill them?
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Don’t be afraid to delete. If your scenes aren’t working, then they have no place being there – however long they took to write (*sob*). To make myself feel better in this situation, I copy/paste them into a separate document “to use later”. Or “never”, as the case often is.
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Try going with it. If you – like me – are writing character-driven fiction, then your plot should be coming from your character. If they’ve gone off plan, it could be that they have come to life and are driving the action to a conclusion that makes better sense for them.
How do you fix plot issues caused by your character? And have you ever experienced that feeling of a character coming to life on the page and writing their own story? Sign up to the Townhouse and share your thoughts here.
Sarah J
Plus, don’t miss:
Complete Novel Mentoring (Discounts available for members)
Work with an expert tutor as you write or edit your book. We have three world-leading authors at your disposal covering everything from children’s books to sci-fi.
Manuscript Assessment (Discounts available for members)
Our most popular editorial service matches you to your dream editor and gives you tailored feedback on your work. It doesn’t get better than that.
Community Writing book club (Open to all)
Join the Townhouse community for the first writing book club! We’ll all be reading ‘Into The Woods: How Stories Work and Why We Tell Them’ by John Yorke by the end of March.
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