Writers in the Storm

by Selene Grace Silver

Few things infuriate a reader more than a beloved character acting out of character for no logical reason because the writer needs the protagonist or antagonist to do something unexpected in service to a plot twist or development.

Today, readers crave character-driven stories, even in their high-action adventures featuring static heroes experiencing modest character arcs. Therefore, writers producing new stories need to create characters with well-developed personalities that feel authentic and real.

That requires writers to spend important time and research developing their main characters, especially their protagonists and antagonists.

Short of earning a double degree in psychology and literature, writers need to lean on what the writing and psychology experts tell us about human traits and psychological experiences. A new aspect of personality theory, called personality identity makes this task even easier to do well.

The Importance of Emotional Wounds and Their Misbeliefs

Resources like the Writers Helping Writers’ thesauri series and website, along with Lisa Cron’s book, Story Genius, offer writers effective strategies for developing great characters by addressing the connections between emotional wounds, misbeliefs, character arcs, and plot.

To identify a character’s goal and needs, we have to know what misbelief holds her back from just going out and getting what she wants.

To understand why a character developed a misbelief in the first place, we need to identify the origin wound that caused it to spring to life, and what additional experiences in her past reinforced it.

To determine whether an experience actually wounded a character emotionally, we need to know how her personality would respond to the event.

Finally, to craft an exciting, conflict-rich plot in which a reader stays up all night to find out what happens, we need to set in place the most difficult scenario and obstacles to challenge the character’s misbelief.

The Importance of Character Traits and Personalities

A writer can’t understand why a specific character feels, thinks, acts, or reacts in specific ways until they know the character intimately, including their psychological history and how it shapes them into the person they are at the start of a story.

It’s not enough to pick a random emotional wound out of an encyclopedia and assign a misbelief that might develop from it, then start plotting. That approach completely ignores personality theory.

Personality theory argues that people are born with distinct—often genetically inherited—ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving, and that those traits influence how an individual gets affected by life experiences. For example, researchers have linked the trait of introversion to the genetic evidence and persistence of shyness.

Placing an over-achieving intellectual Commander type (Extroverted-Intuitive-Thinking-Judger) on stage in front of a crowd when she is seven at the school Spelling B might spark excitement and a renewed sense of self-confidence in the child even if she loses. While placing another analytical personality, the serious Architect type (Introverted-Intuitive-Thinking-Judger) up for potential failure in front of his peers might damage his self-confidence for life, especially if he loses. Public embarrassment can easily become a motivating or debilitating experience, depending completely on the individual child’s personality.

One person’s wounding experience is another person’s motivating drive to be better. We can only know how or to what degree most damaging events affect a person if we know their personality type.

Using Assertive vs. Turbulent Identities with Personality Traits

The 16 Personalities website is a fantastic resource for researching and developing a protagonist or other character’s wound and consequential misbelief using its added data on type identities.

Besides the classic personality traits: extroversion vs. introversion, intuitive vs. sensing, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. perceiving, the site’s researchers have further explored how these traditional traits get expressed differently in individuals with identities that tend towards optimism (Assertive identity) or pessimism (Turbulent identity). 

Basically, the identities Assertive and Turbulent research delves into the different ways individual personalities view themselves and the world depending on whether they see the glass half full or half empty.

The really interesting aspect of this additional data is that writers can determine how a wounding experience early in life might damage a character’s personality development and subsequent approach to the world.

Using Traits + Identities to Create Backstory Wounds and Misbeliefs

A character’s self-confidence can be impacted negatively or positively by a specific experience.

If we look at the Commander (ENTJ)’s personality profile again, we can see how this bold and strong-willed character type might be damaged by an early experience of losing a Spelling B in front of their peers and parents if they lean toward having a Turbulent identity. Or, losing the Spelling B might push them from being an Assertive over to a Turbulent identity.

Ninety-two percent of Assertive Commanders report having high self-confidence, while only 51% of Turbulent Commanders report the same. Also, 87% of Assertive Commanders experience increased motivation when a task is more difficult than expected, while a much lower 56% of Turbulent Commanders respond the same way.

With this added identity data, it’s easy to see how a specific personality type might lose some of their innate confidence and react differently to subsequent stress and challenges based on a wounding experience of losing the Spelling B.

Scenario: Matthew, His Origin Wound, Misbelief, Character Arc, and a Perfect Plot

To illustrate, let’s create a character named Matthew who has developed a Commander personality by age five, due to genetics and life experiences. He’s a little energetic machine of nonstop ambition who likes to win, be in charge, and boss his younger siblings around.

In first grade, he eagerly signs himself up for the school Spelling B. He studies and prepares, and then competes with complete confidence, winning first place. Or he loses first place to Ernie because he didn’t study much, but decides he’ll just work harder and beat Ernie next year.

The event reinforces his Assertive identity (ENTJ-A). Lesson learned with a positive, optimistic outcome.

But let’s say Matthew eagerly signs up for the Spelling B, but due to his personality’s tendency to be arrogant, doesn’t study much, and he loses after only one round. Shocked by the early loss and humiliation, his self-image and self-confidence take a hit, setting up a turn towards a Turbulent identity (ENTJ-T), in which he decides never to compete in a Spelling B ever again.

Lesson learned with a negative, pessimistic outcome.

Or, his ensuing misbelief, following other losses, could be that the only way to succeed is to over-prepare and work tirelessly in order to be good enough to win against the competition. Lesson learned, also with a potentially negative, pessimistic outcome.

In fact, his confidence has taken such a hit that at the start of your story, as an adult, Matthew only ever takes on jobs or challenges he knows he can win, and despite his competence and love of managing other people, he never applies for a management position at work. He never feels truly successful or wins the esteem of his loved ones because he never takes genuine risks, meaning his satisfaction in life is stifled.

What kind of plot and conflicts will the writer need to build into the story to force Matthew to learn to take risks in his work and life again?

Obviously, the plot must force Matthew into a scenario where he faces a task or challenge he’s never done before, then places a more skilled, experienced antagonist against him, then setup increasingly difficult hurdles and humiliating moments on the journey to the finish line, until poor Matthew finally decides he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks (regaining his Assertive identity), uses his natural intelligence and imagination to strategize a way to achieve his goal, and wins!

Not all character-wounding events need to turn characters into victims. They do need to damage the character’s personality in a way that prevents them from leading a satisfying, happy life.

One of the best approaches to creating the wound, misbelief, character arc, and a corresponding plot is to incorporate established expert knowledge from psychology into your character and plot development.

The added 16 Personality Traits Identity component is a wonderful resource for writing your character’s journey and story.

What emotional wound or misbelief have you explored in one of your characters, and how did it shape their journey?

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Selene Grace Silver resides near the beach in Southern California with her romantic Scottish husband. Trained to read and write literary fiction, she never quite abandoned her early love of the romance genre.

After 20 + years teaching English, writing, and literature at the high school and college levels, she’s retired to write fiction full-time. She’s had to adjust her writing style and craft to suit genre fiction, which includes learning to plot and write complex characters. For Selene, an INFJ, writing is a journey of constant self-improvement.

To read a short prequel to the small-town beach romance series she’s developing, sign up for her newsletter. She’s also on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

By Janice Hardy

Not every writer plots the same way, so if one path trips you up, try another.

I adore plotting. Give me a blank page and a character in trouble, and I’m all in. Figuring out goals and tough choices is one of my favorite parts of writing, especially when I drop my characters into impossible situations just to see how they’ll get out. My motto: What doesn’t kill them makes them way more interesting (bwahahaha).

Not every writer feels that way, though. If you find plotting more painful than pleasurable, you’re not alone—and you’re not stuck on a path going nowhere. You just need to find a path that follows how you think about your plot, and how you like to tell a story.

Here are five options that let you blaze a plotting trail your way:

1. Follow the Problem

When a story revolves around a major problem—save the world, solve the murder, break the curse—that core conflict creates the path of your plot. Every scene becomes a stepping stone to solving it, with obstacles and complications along the way.

Start with your core conflict. What caused it? Who’s affected? What happens if it doesn’t get resolved? Let each smaller problem lead naturally to the next. It’s like assembling IKEA furniture, but with higher stakes and fewer missing screws.

Great for: Writers who like to focus on what happens in the story, and those who find it easier to create the situations of the story first. It’s also good for plot-focused stories where the events are more important than the character journey, such as thrillers or mysteries.

2. Follow the Character

Character choices drive the plot, and in character-driven stories, those choices are shaped by a deeper emotional journey. The story unfolds not just through what the protagonist does, but through who they’ll become. It’s all about that internal transformation, moving from who they are at the start to who they’ll become by the end.

Start by identifying what your protagonist needs on an emotional level. Maybe it’s something rooted in a personal wound, a false belief, or long-held fear. What’s keeping them from facing or trying to achieve that internal need? What lines won’t they cross to get it, and why? What fears are they avoiding? Create turning points that force them to act against their flaws, confront painful truths, and make choices that reveal who they truly are.

Great for: Character-driven writers and stories where the focus is on the characters and how they grow. It’s also good for stories with strong character arcs that illustrate themes or explore human nature.

3. Follow the Individual Arcs

If plotting an entire novel feels overwhelming, try writing it piece by piece, exploring one arc at a time. Arcs are modular, so every scene follows the same beginning-middle-ending structure, which helps keep your story moving, even if you don’t know where it’s going yet.

Start with your opening scene (or favorite moment. No one says you have to plot in order). Figure out where that leads and how that problem is solved. Once your protagonist finishes that arc, take the next problem and do the same thing. Look at your various arcs and determine how they link together to tell your larger tale.

Great for: Pantsers and discovery writers who don’t want to know how everything works out ahead of time. It’s also good for writers who imagine their stories in vignettes and prefer to write the scenes that excite them the most first.

4. Follow the Mystery

Some plots exist purely to answer a question, such as, Who killed the baker? What happened to the missing heir? Why is the AI targeting only one family? These stories are driven by curiosity and secrets, and the narrative tension stems from the protagonist uncovering the truth bit by bit.

Start with that core mystery. What must the protagonist figure out to resolve the story? Then break that answer into pieces. Who knows part of the truth? Who’s lying, and why? What’s being misinterpreted? What clue gets dismissed until later? Every red herring, half-truth, and false assumption becomes a beat in your plot. The protagonist learns, revises their theory, makes a decision, and all that drives the plot.

Great for: Writers who enjoy the puzzle side of plotting, and who want to keep readers in the dark as long as possible. It’s also good for genres such as mysteries or suspense, where the focus in on the mystery more than the characters.

5. Follow the Emotion

Romances, character dramas, and literary fiction aren’t always about solving a problem or uncovering a truth, but the emotional journey the protagonist needs to take to make their life better. The major plot beats come from what the characters feel, not just what they do.

Start with your characters’ emotional arcs. What are they afraid to feel? What feelings do they chase or avoid? Use relationships—romantic, familial, friendly, adversarial—to push and pull those emotions forward and explore what’s really going on under the surface.

Great for: Writers who want to explore relationships and how people interact. It’s also good for romances or any story that seeks to explore an emotional truth.

No matter which path you choose, the right plot for your novel is the one that keeps you excited to write and your reader eager to turn the page.

Whether you’re unraveling a mystery, chasing an emotional arc, or building a story one small arc at a time, the key is to work with your natural storytelling instincts, not against them. Plotting doesn’t have to be a rigid roadmap. It can be a flexible framework that supports your creativity, so if one method isn’t for you, try another.

The more tools you have in your plotting toolbox, the easier it is to shape the story you want to tell, in the way only you can tell it.

EXERCISE FOR YOU: Take five minutes and think about which plotting path feels the most natural to you. Don’t choose the one you think you’re supposed to use, pick the one that excites you. Then, jot down five things you know (or suspect) about the story from that perspective. If you get stuck, try a different method and see what new ideas emerge.

What’s your favorite path to plotting? Or do you prefer something not on this list? Love to hear your path!

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Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy. When she's not writing fiction, she runs the popular writing site Fiction University, and has written multiple books on writing, including Understanding Show, Don't Tell (And Really Getting It), Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, and the Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft series. Sign up for her newsletter and receive 25 ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now free.

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by Madeline Nixon

Somehow, over an extremely busy weekend, I had three separate conversations with three different people that all ended the same way. I wish I could do what you do. At first, I was kind of baffled that these three people from different friend groups and obligations all felt the same way. How weird that I had a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this. And then I stopped and thought and got a little upset that life and other people’s opinions got in the way. I hate that this is such a common experience for creatives that I had to have this conversation three times.

I know I don’t have all the answers. I’m an author who strongly believes that no one has the exact same process and there is no advice that’s one size fits all. You have to figure that out for yourself. But I do know one thing: You can do this. It’s never too late to start.

Write for yourself: “My family always judged me for it. I wrote in secret and then figured there was no point.”

I’m lucky enough that I grew up in a family where everyone was writing. I didn’t have this familial pressure to stop. But I have gotten judgy comments from other sources. When you hear them enough, it does take a toll. It makes you question why you’re doing this and if it’s worth pursuing, especially without support.

I think sometimes we have to go back to square one.

If you want to write, if you enjoyed writing at some point in your life, then do it for you. It doesn’t matter what mom or dad or old aunt Bessie thinks. There doesn’t have to be a point or an end goal. Your happiness is up to you and if writing is a source of happiness, screw all the other opinions. Treat yourself. Do this one thing for you again.

Write for fun: “I haven’t written since high school. Maybe I just liked it because we had to.”

I went to school for writing. I had an English teacher in grade nine who encouraged me to keep going and I never looked back. But for a lot of people, once the English projects end, the writing also ends. And I get that. Life gets in the way.

I think there’s an association between writing and education that sometimes makes the writing part undesirable. We take language arts, which then turns into English for approximately twelve years. Then, we graduate, move onto post-secondary pursuits, and wonder whether we did something because we had to or because we liked it. There was structure in the writing we were assigned. That can be great for some and terrible for others.

Instead of viewing writing like an assignment that needs to be graded, just write for fun. Easier said than done, but a switching of the viewpoint allows us to open up.

If it’s been years since you’ve gotten anything on paper, get back into it by challenging yourself to write the weirdest thing you can possibly think of. Have fun. There’s no way to fail here.

Write without rules: “I can never get past the planning stage, so I just stopped.”

Writing for fun leans well here, as well. There’s a lot of writing advice that gets thrown around. Show don’t tell, write everyday, use this specific software to plan, don’t use the passive voice, write what you know . . . Sometimes it all seems like a lot. While some advice is useful, other pieces just adds more pressure. We put a lot of emphasis on planning out a story, but no one writes the same way. If something isn’t working for you and is keeping you from writing, you’re allowed to find another way.

Don’t limit yourself. Don’t listen to all the advice and just write the way that works for you.

One of the best courses I took in university was called Writing Without Rules. We wrote in second person, had to turn in a story we created in the two-hour class period, created pieces entirely made up of texts and letters. It challenged us to stop overthinking all the rules we’d been taught for years and years and get the words down. And after writing professionally for seven years, I can tell you that some words are better than no words.

You can work with no-rules words. You can’t work with a blank page. Write without rules until you find what works for you, then write within your rules.

Write when you can: “I don’t know how you have so many books out. I just don’t have time.”

I hate to break it to you, but no one has the time. Most authors have full time jobs or kids or family obligations and write on the side. I wrote this blog post from my phone on a Sunday evening, while sitting in the dark in front of a fan after melting in the heat outside all day. I squeezed that in because I was asked to do it. If you want to do this, you need to find the time. And a lot of that is just writing when you can.

I’ve found that writing before bed when the house and world is quiet is my most productive time. But I’ve also written in lines, waiting rooms, cars, and airports (I literally uploaded files at the airport for my book Not Actually), at family events and weddings. Some of that is just inspiration struck at an inopportune moment, but some of it is also me recognizing I had some downtime and writing instead of staring off into space.

I don’t always have time. I don’t always write. But I always write when I can. That’s all you have to do.

Five minutes is better than zero. At least it’s the tiniest speck of writing if you want to write. It’s something. And eventually little somethings build up into big somethings. Give yourself grace to take the time you need.

Just write

Write because you can. No one can write like you. No one take that away from you.

What tip would you give someone just getting back into writing?

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About Maddie

Madeline Nixon has been a dog walker, a nanny, a baker, a shoe saleswoman, a chocolatier, and an editor, but the title she’s most fond of is author. She’s published one nonfiction short story collection about her paranormal experiences entitled Feathers, the Like A Love Song romance series, and a magical Christmas novella, Last Christmas I Love-Spelled Us Apart. She also has stories in several romance anthologies. When she’s not writing, you can find her hunting ghosts, planning elaborate theme parties, and baking new recipes. She lives in a suburb outside of Toronto.

You can find more about Madeline at madelinenixon.com/

Phot credit - Nick Fewings at Unsplash