Writer's Digest March/April 2024 Digital Edition
Whether fiction or narrative nonfiction, characters are a critical part of every story. But that doesn’t mean everyone agrees on how to create those characters or what a character needs to be in order to draw readers in. Do they need to be likable or is compelling enough? Should writers know their characters inside out, or just what’s going to be necessary for the story? In this issue of Writer’s Digest, writers will learn techniques for creating characters for novels, a series, memoir, and more.
Features Include:
+ The WD Interview: Tommy Orange: The Pulitzer Prize finalist and award-winning author of There There on the power and limits of fiction and the breakthrough moment for his second novel, Wandering Stars. By Amy Jones
+ Anchoring Characters in a Series: The award-winning author of the Nina Knight series (Her Name Is Knight) shares seven techniques for writing a series-sustainable character. By Yasmin Angoe
+ Turning Real People into Characters is an Act of Translation: Memoirist and writing instructor Lilly Dancyger on balancing truth and subjectivity when writing about the self and others in memoir. By Lilly Dancyger
+ Bringing Characters to Life on the Page: How to effectively reveal characters through showing and telling. By Tiffany Yates Martin
+ Love to Hate Them: Four types of unlikable characters and how to make them work in your writing. By Sarah J. Sover
+ Finding Your Character’s Voice: Get inside your character’s head with 15 exercises. By Aigner Loren Wilson
+ Letting Curiosity Lead: Claire Fraise, author of They Stay and grand-prize winner of the 31st Annual WD Self-Published Book Awards, shares how she utilizes curiosity in every aspect of publication. By Moriah Richard
This issue also includes articles about how to choose the right name for your characters, giving yourself permission to write characters that are outside of your norm, and how to boost character motivations during the revision process. Additionally, this issue includes the first in WD’s column of advice from literary agents: how to decipher literary agent responses to queries. Plus, all of your favorite columns like, IndieLab, Writers on Writing, On Nonfiction, Breaking In, Meet the Agent, and many more!
