character Archives - Irreverent Muse

World Building – Every Character Has a Story

Posted on February 11, 2021 by Michell

An I’ve been thinking a lot about characters and building rich, living worlds for them to live in. I have also been re-reading some old favourites. Specifically Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall Trilogy set in her fictional world of Pern. I have come to better understand that every character has a story within their world and approaching those various stories in different ways will enrich the world you are building. Pern – a rich story world Let me use Anne McCaffrey’s planet of Pern to better show what I mean. If you ask any lover of her Pern books what elements most stand out for them, you will likely hear about dragons and dragon riders. An invasive spore, know as Thread, […]

Get Published Episode 98 – JW Schnarr Talks Horror

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Michell

The holiday season is upon us and for some that means stress. For me, stress really starts to show up around deadline time. If I have properly scheduled myself, no stress. If I have too much going on, proper scheduling goes out the window. This episode I talk about how goals should help you reduce that stress if done properly. I also have Bill Schnarr on the show. Bill is an award winning journalist, horror author, editor and publisher. We had a really great conversation that I’m pleased to share with you today. That’s today’s episode. I hope you enjoy it. Show Notes 00:00 — Opening – Get Published Episode 98 – JW Schnarr Talks Horror Everything has to start somewhere […]

Keeping Your Character’s Voice Consistent

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Michell

You have a character in your head who is clamoring to get out. You already know his or her entire backstory: where he/she was born, who were the parents, first loves, first broken bone, etc. etc. You also know how the character should grow during the story. So far so good. Then you start to write and the character ‘magically’ goes from being a hard-headed bitch (substitute bastard for a guy if you like) to someone who gets all emotional over the smallest thing. And it all happens in a few short chapters. Maybe even in a few paragraphs. Sound familiar? It happened to me in my book “The Goddess Renewed”. One of my protagonists, Paena (female, in case you’re […]