Photo Credit: EmotionallyVague.com Parent. Love interest. Best friend. Rival. You main character will react differently to anger depending on the nature of the relationship she is in – and the nature of the other person. Luckily for the writer, within the relationship these reactions are consistent across time (until one character decides to change). Anger […]
Photo Credit: Pinterest I am going to introduce the Viper and the Ostrich. These are my (impromptu) names for two opposing anger management styles. It might help you, as you develop your characters, to consider them at two ends of a spectrum of dysfunctional styles. Both feel anger and react to it but […]
(Photo Credit: Pinterest Verbal fight scenes can be enhanced by the view-point character’s anger (short-term, of course, but often also long-term anger), her anger management style, and the anger patterns in that relationship. Anger is an emotional reaction to a problem. In earlier posts, we looked at many situations and issues that can trigger anger. […]
Photo Credit: burge If you want, your character can become a catalyst of change for other characters. When your protagonist acts to change, the characters closest to her will react (if they react like real people, that is). Since your character is in many types of relationships, you might want to show your readers […]
Photo Credit: Doranda We’ve established that anger is an emotion that sends the message to the writer that “something is wrong” in the life of the character. When that “something” stunts our character’s competence, self-expression, or personal growth then we have the makings of a character arc. Here is one example of an arc […]
Photo Credit: Jim McDermott Character anger can tell you a great deal about her relationship with her world – particularly the traditions and values of the group she is presently immersed in. When anger is used to deepen world development, it is important to remember that your character probably won’t feel that there is threat/ […]
Photo Credit: AndytheLemon Understanding character anger can help you develop your character. Now, I’m not suggesting that you should make an angry character (or that you shouldn’t). But what makes your character angry can give you insight into that character’s present situation, backstory, current wound/flaw/weakness, and other character traits. (Developing relationships and character arcs are […]
Photo Credit: Mirror of Good and Evi lby AntonellaB For our purposes this month, anger is a signal that something is wrong in the character’s life. That “something is wrong” means something needs to change. Discover what needs to change and you find internal conflict, external conflict, and maybe even your story goal. Ideally, there […]
How do you think of anger? Society tends to depict it as something to be avoided but can any emotion really be avoided? We can suppress it, channel it, express it, learn from it… This month focuses on learning from character anger. We’ll look at how to exploit long-term issues in the next two […]
