Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
Mary Sue is not your friend. No matter how much your Mom likes her. by Anne R. Allen. You can learn all you want about writing powerful prose, well-planned story arcs, lyrical descriptions—or any other aspect of fiction—but if you don’t have a protagonist your readers care about, none of the rest matters. But “caring […]
by Anne R. Allen You can learn all you want about writing powerful prose, well-planned story arcs, lyrical descriptions—or any other aspect of fiction—but if you don’t have a protagonist your readers care about, none of the rest matters.I don’t think it’s terribly relevant to talk about character “likability” in the sense of “niceness.” The […]
By Anne R. Allen This is usually Ruth’s week to post, but she’s busy proofing galleys of her much-anticipated new novel The Chanel Caper. And next weekend, I’ll be busy teaching THE TECH-SAVVY AUTHOR workshop. So we switched. On March 3rd, look for Ruth’s post on why we like a tough, flinty heroine. OK, […]
by Anne R. Allen Introducing your protagonist to your reader may be the single trickiest job for a novelist. You have to let readers get to know your character in a very short time–then entice us go on a journey with this person into a brand new world. If you tell us too much, […]
