Author: Peggy Bechko

Peggy Bechko: Character Motivation – The Wounds That Don’t Heal

motivationby Peggy Bechko

Have you considered what motivates your characters? What their background is? Whether it is your hero or a villain or some other character in the piece he or she has been affected by life. We’re all bombarded by tiny wounds, hurts and influences (sometimes large ones) throughout our lives. Your characters should be no different.

Think about it. Everything that happens, or we cause to happen defines us. Painful things even more so. They influence character. Whether focused on one ‘big one’ or a culmination of multiple lacerations (death by a thousand paper cuts) those things can chip away or blast away at a character’s self-worth, or can elevate it to the point of ego-mania.

So think about this; what kinds of events can come together to form this mudball of experience? read article

Peggy Bechko: You’re a writer? Do you trust your gut?

Positive-Gut-Feelingby Peggy Bechko

You’re a writer? Do you trust your gut?

Really.

It’s amazing how many writers might have day jobs and trust their guts to make the right decisions there, but when they get to their writing desk, suddenly everything has to be planned out just so and there can be no deviation. read article

Peggy Bechko: 6 Things that Could be Keeping You from Writing Success

holding-backby Peggy Bechko

So, what holds you back? What keeps you from writing what you want to write, from getting it out there and being published? Recognizing what might be holding us back as writers could well be key in helping us to move forward.

You want to create worlds, right? Whole new places in space, time, and experience for readers to go. And readers, that’s the experience you’re in it for, right? Those new places, those new adventures.

Worthy goals to be sure. read article

Peggy Bechko: Evolution of Beginnings – Writers Keeping Up With Readers

evolution

by Peggy Bechko

I’ve talked about beginnings of novels before but recently I’ve seen a few articles on a different angle and had someone ask me how beginnings have changed over the eons of writing. Had another someone, reading an Ebook, comment he didn’t have time to read works like War and Peace because its length depended mainly on long introductions and pages and pages of description that goes on at length about a tilt of a head or small gesture.

It got me to thinking, and reading, and thinking some more.

Here’s the thing. Each way of writing is correct for the era it’s written in. The old classics are mostly filled with long descriptions, some with flowery prose, and the like. It was a different time. And it lingered that way for quite a while. The writer would feed the reader a whole backstory right in the beginning to set the stage. They’d provide lots of description to give a feel for place and time. read article

Peggy Bechko: Tomorrow May Be Hell

neil-gaiman-on-hell

by Peggy Bechko

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.”

Been there, done that? read article