Author: Peggy Bechko

Peggy Bechko: Into the Heart of Darkness

A_Kitten_for_Hitler

by Peggy Bechko

Our fiction writing, whether it be novels, short stories, screen scripts or whatever, needs good guys and bad guys. Either one can be very tricky, but for now let’s tackle the villain.

How easy is it to make your villain an unrepentant, painted-black totally negative figure with absolutely no redeeming features who no one can stand to be around? How easy is it to make it so that that ‘bad guy’ (or woman) makes very choice on the dark side, is so vile and depraved that he or she feels no remorse for what’s been done – ever – doesn’t car who gets hurt and manipulates and exploits every person, plant or animal that gets in the way?

Too easy. read article

Peggy Bechko: Writers Revealing What Characters Don’t Want To Show

secrets

by Peggy Bechko

Oh, come on, you know your characters are just like you. They say one thing and think something else entirely, try to conceal you’re really doing that – and then give it all away with a flick of an eye, a gesture or some muted (or otherwise) sound you make. Yep, that’s reality. Us humans evade, lie and maneuver (just for starters). We do it to protect ourselves, to protect others, out of embarrassment or an assortment of other reasons.

Now, knowing this it becomes a challenge for the writer. In a script for a movie the writer sets the scene, the mood, tweaks details to make things clear and then actors take over to do the subtle little things that portray what’s in the script, the character’s inner monolog.

For novel writers it’s a different kind of challenge. read article

Peggy Bechko: Your Ugly What? – The Art And Craft of Writing (not to mention editing)

i.chzbgrby Peggy Bechko

“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” Mark Twain

“It’s hard to take someone seriously when they leave you a note saying, ‘Your ugly.’ My ugly what?” Cara Lynn Shultz

Yep, they’ve noticed too! Seriously. I read. A lot. Have you been reading what’s out there? I admit I’m not perfect and mistakes slip past me too, but really…. read article

Peggy Bechko: Writers, are You Writing?

focus

by Peggy Bechko

No, really, are you writing the projects you want to and need to complete? Are you getting those ideas down on paper? Writing stories? Writing articles?

Or do you feel like you’re not getting any writing done despite the fact that you sit in front of a computer for hours, fingers flying? Do you feel like you’re accomplishing little to nothing, that you’re procrastinating, not getting to the writing you need to do?

Of course you’re writing. I’ll bet you’re sending emails to friends and business associates, probably texting like crazy, posting to Facebook, maybe writing promo blurbs. How much writing does all that add up to? Have you added it up? How many words did you write with all that? read article

Peggy Bechko: Writers Making Life Interesting

by Peggy Bechko

We hope.

“We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting.”
—John Updike

Do you agree with John Updike? Have we truly gone past the age of heroes and hero kings (using it as a metaphor, not taken as literal)? Are we no longer creating mythology, but rather just looking back at it? read article