Writers' Community!
Home Page Two Columnists Q&A Submit an Article FAQs Contact Author Login
Article Submission
We Need YOUR Articles!
We'll Promote Them for FREE!

Author Login

New Authors
Register Here


Now Serving 8,201 Authors
71,984 Quality Articles
& 7,214 Current Users Online!
Featured Authors
Joel Hirschhorn (2,847)
Ira Coffin (13,580)
Yangki Christine Akiteng (131,850)
Connor Davidson (5,541)
Mark Parsec (16,631)
Julian Price (12,254)
Michael Ramzy (821)
Edward Rhymes (9,204)
Dianne Lehmann (5,838)
Fran Larson (20,012)
Gregory Lewis (1,456)
Joel Hendon (18,567)
Sandra E. Graham (9,984)
Shari Vaudo (1,123)

View All Featured Authors
Most Recent
The Seduction

CHAPTER 4 WHY? Excerpt From Homegrown Terrorist

How To Really Connect To Your Readers

The Amulet- part XIV

The Amulet- part XIII

Minutes of the Two Headed Man's Farewell Press Conference

The Reality of Dream

Angels, Demons, UFOs in a spiritual action adventure is a CLASH OF THE KINGDOMS!

Gunfight On A Dirty Street, (Western Fiction, Part 1)

Help, My Late Husband's Brother Is After Me!

Home » Categories » Writing » Fiction » Good Writers Change Things, Habits Become Chains, Paint Portrait With Words, More Muscular Plots » Printer Friendly

Marty RicKard

Good Writers Change Things, Habits Become Chains, Paint Portrait With Words, More Muscular Plots

Rated 3.5 out of 5
No Reader Ratings Available ?
Rate It  /  View Comments  /  View All Articles submitted by Marty RicKard
Submitted Sunday, October 21, 2007
Marty RicKard (2,684)
Marty RicKard


Log in to become a member of Marty RicKard's Fan Club!


Good writers understand that tomorrow every person on earth will change. Great and tiny things happen to all of us which spark change. This continues until death.

Since change happens to everyone on this earth, it should happen in your stories.

No person can live without change, though we try to resist it.

Emerson said that habits come as cobwebs, and then develop into chains. These are wise words. Yet, though our habits turn to steel, we can’t avoid change.

Our characters must be habitually consistent in order to be believable, but still must change, sometimes drastically, to build interest. It’s a lot like life.

Our actions, words, thoughts, health, body and mind all force life-changes we never anticipate. A good writer’s characters change in order to add muscle to the plot.

Here are two extreme examples of unanticipated change (both of which are true): 1. A typically mild-mannered Interstate driver grows angry and gestures obscenely. Two minutes later, he is shot to death as a result. 2. A person says hello to a stranger in a big-city elevator. Five years later, both are millionaires as a consequence of this chance meeting.

The fact that you are reading this will change you in some way. We are all stones in the great rock-polishing machine of life, and as we spin we are abraded.

Rocks composed of tough material emerge from a polishing machine looking like jewels. As will some of your characters. By contrast, soft rocks in the polisher are eventually ground to dust. As are some characters.

As in real life, depending on our composition, the daily grind makes us shine or grinds us to dust.

A writer’s duty is to move his characters and his readers to thought or emotion, to cause them to change—to make them feel something. The writer who does this succeeds.

Words are the brushes we use to paint our portraits, spark change and create emotion: His face was the color and texture of his saddle. Rivers of sweat washed dust into his grizzled beard. He dismounted, but before his feet hit sand, the heavy colt was in his hand. His granite-gray eyes locked onto mine. His lips twitched into a smile.

If you visualized nothing, or felt nothing from the preceding 45 words, I have wasted my time and yours. If I succeeded, you should imagine even more about this character than I revealed. You should feel a little fear and you should want to read more.

Good writers always look for believable ways to spark change in their characters. If nothing changes, how can you have a story? For that matter, if nothing changes, how can life exist?

Writing is a lot like life, except that usually it’s a little more severe, but not always. How’s that for ambiguous precision?

MARTY RICKARD BIO

Marty RicKard holds a BS degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi . He also has a Masters Degree in photography. Marty was a technical writer for White Motor Company, and page one editor for four Iowa daily papers. He owned New Sharon Star, where he was twice named Iowa Master Columnist. For ten years, Marty’s regular column appeared in the Professional Photographer magazine. In addition to his writing credits, Marty has won numerous photography awards and has lectured in 48 states. He is a regular columnist for Lens Magazine, and a full-time writer of fiction and poetry. He has published three books. He is an amusing and inspirational speaker.



tweet this!



Reprint Rights

Log in to become a member of Marty RicKard's Fan Club!

Comments on this article: (2 total)


» left by A writer in paradise from FL (1 year 364 days ago.)
Reader Rating: 5 out of 5
Well written piece. Good advice.
Respond to this comment
» left by Marty RicKard (2,688)
Marty RicKard
(1 year 333 days ago.)

Whomever you are, thanks. Marty RicKard
Respond to this comment

Was this article helpful to you? Leave a Public Comment or Question:

This Article has been viewed 235 times.
Article added to SearchWarp.com on 10/21/2007 6:27:09 PM.
View other articles written by Marty RicKard (2,684)
Marty RicKard


If you found this article interesting, you may want to check out:

Disclaimer:  All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional or organization.


Today's Most Popular
Crime Writing - Ten Cliches to Avoid

Good Writers Change Things, Habits Become Chains, Paint Portrait With Words, More Muscular Plots

The Super Writer's Four I's of Great Storytelling

How To Develop Characters When Writing a Fiction Novel

Our Wedding Anniversary, How to Improvise When Things Go Wrong.

Top Five Fiction Writing Tips

Holy Ghosts of the Blessed Sacrament

Creative Fiction Writing Workshop: Starting Your Story

Horror Writing - Ten Cliches to Avoid

Creative Fiction Writing Workshop: Character Development

Viewed from Cache. Load Time: 0.016.

Home  |  Page Two  |  FAQ's  |  Contact  |  Terms of Service  |  Article Submission Guidelines  |  Questions & Answers  |  Privacy  |  Mission / About
Copyright © 1999-2009 SearchWarp.com, All Rights Reserved - SearchWarp.com is an IcoLogic, Inc. Company