Decisions, decisions. The Universe has been really on point of late and trying to pick just one message to pass along has not been an easy choice. And look at me, I managed to use different words to convey the same action: decisions, pick, choice. There was a thread over on X about the struggle to not use the same word over and and over. As one writer said, Theasaurus is their favor dinosaur. In another thread, we were talking about characters and the different aspects of creating and writing them and the need to infuse life into them. Hence, I picked this one:

Honor them.

Love them.

Help them.

Heal them.

But above all else, Silver, free them.

Everyone, of course –
The Universe
©www.tut.com

P.S. They’ll return, Silver, one day, somewhere, over the rainbow or in times without space. And then they’ll show you all the “pictures” they took, play some weird music, and finally… they’ll thank you.

This is a very basic yet very complete blueprint for writing characters and developing their arcs. I’m a bit weird in that I tend to give even my secondary characters their own emotional arcs. That’s partly due to the fact that I think in series so I know eacy of them will likely get their own story eventually. I want my readers to be as invested in their lives as I am. And trust me, I am. I’m not kidding when I say the majority of my friends are imaginary–and yes, I have a meme for that. 😆

So there it is in simple terms. For those of you who are starting to write and writers well into their careers who might need a reminder. And for readers, this is a little peek into the way a writer’s mind works. Of course, this applies to real people too. Honor. Love. Help. Heal. Free. It all sounds so simple in theory but it’s tough to put into practice. On that note, I have a stubborn hero to go tangle with. He’s not happy with me at the moment but someday, I’m pretty sure he’ll thank me. 😉