Author: Peggy Bechko

Peggy Bechko: The Villain Of The Piece

by Peggy Bechko

Let’s talk about villains. Seriously. There are a variety of villains, some of which you want nothing to do with in your writing. Others can be fixed and still others are right on!

So what do I mean there are different kinds of villains? Well there are lots, actually, but I’ll just discuss a couple of them here.

There’s the Self-Absorbed and too Careless to live villain. This can lend a lot of comedy to your story if that’s the direction you want to take since this kind of villain is above hard work and dealing with complicated decisions. He might be a pretty boy or a mob boss type, but the most important thing in life is his own comforts and the way others fear and/or look up to him. He pretty much delegates everything to underlings and expects his every desire to be served up to him like he’s a king. read article

Peggy Bechko: Cornering Your Character

choices-sign

by Peggy Behcko

We’re writers. We tend to fall in love with our character. They become our buddies and we’re loath to hurt them or cause them extreme difficulty.

And yet that’s exactly what we have to do in order to produce a fantastic script or novel. You have to be downright mean, forcing your favored character into a corner with no obvious way out and very little wiggle room.

Those who read your novels or watch the movie resulting from your script have to see a character with a spine, convictions, and unique personality to cheer for. That’s what they’re there for. That’s why they read and watch movies. read article

Peggy Bechko: Writers Drawing The Line For Their Characters

drawtheline

by Peggy Bechko

We, as people, have all kinds of values and codes we live by whether we’re fully aware of how we define them or not. There are things that just stick in our craws or rub us the wrong way. There are lines that can’t or won’t be crossed and places we don’t want to go. Beliefs we hold dear and of course reactions to those held by others.

So, how can we use all this in writing.

Simple. read article

Peggy Bechko: Giving Your Characters the Squeeze

stressby Peggy Bechko

We writers know readers, whether novel readers or script readers, can’t hardly resist turning your pages when you work to force your characters to face difficult decisions. It’s nearly a compulsion for that reader to find out how your characters are going to cope with, sort out and come to terms with those decisions.

It’s a fact.

So, how do we, as writers, manage to accomplish that? How do we take characters of our creation, for whom we actually form some gently twisted attachments, present them with moral predicaments in the story and get them to flounder through to solutions? read article

Peggy Bechko: I Write Books to Find Out About Things

discoveryby Peggy Bechko

“I write books to find out about things.” ~ Rebecca West

Me to! How about you? Writing is not simply the act of writing, whether we’re talking about writing books like Rebecca West, or scripts or even writing promotional copy.

Mainly it seems we write to find out about things. Things about our world, things about ourselves. Things about quantum physics (well some of us want to know about that). read article