Teaching WIth Hybrids People have told stories of hybrid animals for thousands of years. Consider the ancient Egyptians. Ra, Set, and the other gods had the bodies of a human but the head of an animal. In ancient Greece, there were numerous hybrid animals. Pegasi, centaurs, and gorgons are but a few examples. Almost every…
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Beware of overpowered characters In NOvels Authors have to resist the impulse to make their characters too powerful. If the character is made too powerful, that character will also need to have a weakness as well. Having a character that is too powerful without any weaknesses can ruin a story. Because of this, you should…
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Great Sentences in Stories While you might not be an author, you are a writer, no matter what you might think. That doesn’t mean you are a great writer, however. The following are a few guidelines that are necessary to create great sentences in stories. Let’s skip the basics, such as including periods and capital…
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Character Names Many students get stuck on character names. They might spend more time trying to figure out a name for a character than they do in actually starting to write the story. Names are important, but there are many ways to make finding great names for your characters easier. Impact of Character Names…
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Create Tension and Suspense Readers today have a lot of options when it comes to novels. This means you need to keep your audience on the edge of their seats. You can’t afford to lose them or they might move on to the next novel. One way of keeping their attention is to create tension…
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Personality ArcheTypes There is a difference between character archetypes and personality archetypes. In this article, I will discuss personality archetypes. For example, a hero might be a bad boy or an innocent archetype. The villain might be a trickster or a ruler archetype. [one_fourth] [/one_fourth] [three_fourth_last] Innocent Personality Archetype The innocent personality archetype is characterized…
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Character Archetypes There are a number of common character archetypes. In this article, I will be discussing eight of the most important character archetypes. While you do not need to have each one of these character archetypes in your story, I would suggest you have the majority of them. Take the time necessary to find…
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Teach Students With Book Writing Prompts There are many challenges when you teach students with book writing prompts. Both the teacher and students have to be committed to completing the book. Be sure that both you and your students are prepared to face the challenges of writing a book with prompts. If you are prepared…
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Character Development When writing a novel, your hero needs to go through some type of character development through growth or change. For example, your character might begin the story as an innocent bystander who watches things happens to an active participant in solving problems. Another option might be a novice warrior who is ill-prepared for battle changing…
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Call to Adventure – Steps of the Hero’s Journey Students have read, heard, or watched many stories in their lifetimes. These stories share similar characteristics and as such can be used to create a scaffold for students to use when creating their novels. The Call to Adventure – Steps of the Hero’s Journey is based…
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