Tag: character development

Craft & Voice

The Woman in the Doorway Is a Lie

Backlit, cigarette going, trouble in a good dress — and no interior at all. Why the femme fatale is the genre's laziest furniture, and what to write instead.

Craft & Voice

Bad Guys Have Reasons: Writing Villains Who Aren't Cardboard

The worst thing you can do to a villain is make him evil. How to write bad guys with reasons — and why the real villain is the system.

Craft & Voice

How to Tell the Reader a Guy Is Dangerous Without Saying It

The sentence "he was dangerous" does nothing. Here's how to make a reader believe it — without ever using the word.