Many times during my stressful day job, I find myself thinking about characters in books I’ve read or want to write. I think about how they handle stress and failure. Some of the most interesting characters may not face the biggest problems until their first attempts at solutions make them tougher. Right now, with theContinue reading “Real Life and Writing”
Tag Archives: Reading
Making Time to Write
With recent changes in my day job, I’ve struggled to find or make the same amount of writing time as I used to. I’m still writing but at a slower pace. I’ve had to reevaluate what I do with my time and cut out some of the things that waste it. In some ways, itContinue reading “Making Time to Write”
What do I Really Know?
As I wrote this week, I found myself thinking back to a saying of a person I used to work with. He loved to say “know what you know.” I’m sure he was quoting someone, even if he didn’t know it, but that saying has helped me with some of the interactions of my protagonistContinue reading “What do I Really Know?”
What’s Your Frame of Reference
Thinking about the obstacles in a story and how they affect the protagonist and other characters has been something I’ve done a bit of this week. In my current work in progress, my main character is jaded due to what he has already endured. That means that his thoughts are already skewed toward the negative.Continue reading “What’s Your Frame of Reference”
Missed Opportunities Drive a Story
While writing over the last week, I’ve been thinking a lot about missed opportunities. While writing my protagonists story in the current book I’m writing, the protagonist has missed several. Some of them, he intentionally missed, and some were thrust upon him, and he turned the other way. Those events needed to happen to showContinue reading “Missed Opportunities Drive a Story”
Just One Step Ahead
This week, I’ve been writing a couple chapters building to a conflict. The protagonist can tell things are getting worse, but if he does things well, it might not be as bad as he thinks. He just has to stay one step ahead. Looking at my life, with some new responsibilities I’ve taken on thisContinue reading “Just One Step Ahead”
It’s All in the Character’s Approach
In stories there are examples of all kinds of approaches taken by the protagonists and even supporting characters. Sometimes, the challenges or problems that confront the main characters seem too much for the characters. They may fall into a depression, or feel overwhelmed at first. We all do that sometimes in our lives. So, howContinue reading “It’s All in the Character’s Approach”
Consequences Make Our Life Story
Have you ever thought about all the choices made in a day, or even an hour? All the time, we make choices that build pieces of our life story. The choices and their consequences may not be as clear as they are in a novel, but good or bad, they’re always there. I’ve been thinkingContinue reading “Consequences Make Our Life Story”
Hope is a Good Thing
This last week I’ve worked hard to get my writing time back. Now, instead of only one to two hours each day, I’ve been consistently hitting three or more. I hope to find more success with my writing, but until then, I work to make each book better than the last, even if my currentContinue reading “Hope is a Good Thing”
Handling Characters’ Opposing Viewpoints
This week, as I continue to work on my next fantasy novel, I’ve been thinking a lot about my characters. My protagonist is haunted by a decision he made a few years earlier, and that decision set him up against a few of the other characters. While writing, I’ve enjoyed working through this character’s issuesContinue reading “Handling Characters’ Opposing Viewpoints”
DANIEL R. BURKHARD 