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How to Write Realistic Characters

June 15, 2019

How to write realistic characters is something most fiction writers worry about. This is for good reason. Writing realistic characters, with realistic dialogues and inner worlds, is the key to writing realistic fiction.

Of course, before seeing how to write realistic characters, you should perhaps ask yourself whether it’s necessary for your novel to have realistic characters.

You might find that question a bit odd. Surely, what’s wrong with realistic characters? Why would anyone not want to write realistic characters?

We’ll take a look at this little detail, too. Sneak preview: it has to do with what I mentioned above, referring to “writing realistic fiction”.

how to write realistic characters
To know how to write realistic characters, you must think like they do, understanding all the nuanced subtleties of their thought processes

After we get that out of the way, I’ll give you concrete tips on how to write realistic characters. Here’s another sneak preview: To write realistic characters, with believable dialogues and rich inner worlds, you must think like them, individually.

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Separate the Art from the Artist

June 10, 2019

No, this isn’t a post about the chaos of meaning and authorial intention. Or, then again, maybe it’s at least related to it. Today I want to talk about those peculiar readers who seem utterly unable to separate the art from the artist.

But what does it mean, to separate the art from the artist? In a sense, it’s about understanding that meaning is created by the author as well as the audience.

However, in our context, not to separate the art from the artist refers to those who cannot objectively assess a work of art as a result of their preconceptions about the artist.

separate the art from the artist
Where do you draw the line between art and artist?
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How to Make a Random Quote Generator

June 5, 2019

Although today’s topic doesn’t have to do with literature, society, the Gothic, or writings tips, in some abstract way, it does. Although this post is a technical step-by-step guide on how to make a JavaScript random quote generator, it’s also yet another reminder that creativity (like knowledge) is a holistic process.

In other words, there aren’t “areas” of creativity, neatly isolated from one another. There isn’t a creativity related to fiction writing, another related to academic writing, and yet another related to developing Android apps. There is only one form of creativity, and the more efficiently you can combine its different facets, the better.

make a random quote generator
To “outsiders” code appears as something akin to witchcraft. Things are stunningly simpler once you get past the surface

Chances are, if you found this post you care more about the JavaScript code, so I won’t tire you with theorizing – if you’re interested in philosophy, feel free to take a look at the many posts dealing with philosophical musings.

Having said that, this post still wants to make a more theoretical point, namely that what appears difficult and incomprehensible (like coding) can be very simple. Therefore, I will be a bit… verbose in my explanations, trying to help beginners keep up.

So, let’s get to the details of how to make a random quote generator written in JavaScript.

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