Author Toolbox: Character Creation-Crystallizing Your Characters

One of the quintessential steps for my concept creation came from a fill-in character sheet for Dungeons & Dragons. Stuffed in a corner underneath a large section letting you describe your character’s appearance, there was a small box labeled “Personality” and beneath it in fine text were instructions that read “List 6 words to [...]

By |2018-03-02T22:54:18-05:00February 19th, 2018|Writing|22 Comments

Author Toolbox: Character Creation – From Meeple to People

I have never loved the perfect hero. The old-school heroes like Superman felt too good to be true. I blame my brothers, of course, for my issues with the pure protagonist.  My first RPG character set me on the path for creating a flawed hero, and I have never looked back. During my first [...]

By |2018-01-17T15:55:28-05:00January 15th, 2018|Writing|31 Comments

IWSG- Shooting for the Moon- Goal setting in 2018

Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the IWSG's purpose is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! To join, simply sign up by clicking [...]

By |2018-01-03T20:34:02-05:00January 3rd, 2018|Life, Writing|13 Comments

Author Toolbox: Character Creation- Building from Clichés

Over years of playing role-playing games, I have interacted with a gamut of players and their characters. It let me see vastly different personalities acted out and character backgrounds I would have never conceived on my own. I also saw repeated characters and trope-ridden backgrounds. At one game another player even had the same [...]

By |2018-05-03T13:49:08-05:00September 18th, 2017|Writing|26 Comments

Author Toolbox Blog Hop: Not Breaking Because You Need a Break

Due to personal stresses, it has been difficult to find the time, the enthusiasm, or the energy to write the past couple months. Part of me dreads putting this post up, but struggling is part of the process and maybe sharing my personal challenges lately might help someone through theirs. If you are like [...]

By |2018-03-02T22:39:32-05:00August 14th, 2017|Writing|16 Comments

Author Toolbox: Character Creation- Beginning with Personality

In tournament role-playing games, the vast majority of my experiences were playing with strangers. However, I loved the opportunity to play with friends or family. Collaboratively creating characters with intertwined stories is one of the things I think I miss the most when writing. When writing your own story, you miss out on the [...]

By |2018-03-02T22:29:15-05:00June 19th, 2017|Writing|13 Comments

Author Toolbox: Character Creation- Starting from Backstory

My experience with developing rich, complex backgrounds is due in large part to my brother’s influence. Frank always insisted on developing how your character got to the start of the game. Why are they a warrior or a mage? Who taught them? What else did they learn? Even with my first character, after the [...]

By |2018-03-02T22:38:08-05:00May 15th, 2017|Writing|38 Comments

Author Toolbox: Character Creation- From RPGs to Writing

Unlike many writers, I was not a natural reader. Honestly, I only read for school assignments. Perhaps, it was jealousy over the thrall books seemed to have over my brothers, whose attention was supposed to be focused on me. (Yes, I was the youngest and only girl.) I even managed to misplace five copies [...]

By |2018-03-02T22:27:05-05:00April 17th, 2017|Writing|31 Comments