Author: Rick Wood
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What’s the Secret to Writing Villains Who Aren’t Cartoonish?
A bad villain ruins a good story. If they’re too one-dimensional, they feel fake, like a placeholder rather than a person. If their motivations don’t make sense, they come across as cartoonish, evil just for the sake of being evil. Readers don’t fear them, don’t respect them, don’t even find them interesting. But the best…
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How Can I Write Characters Who Are Smarter Than Me?
Writing a character who’s smarter than you feels like a paradox. How do you make someone more intelligent than you say things you wouldn’t have thought of yourself? How do you craft a master manipulator, a strategic genius, or a detective who pieces together clues faster than you ever could—when you are the one writing…
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Why Do My Characters Feel Flat Even With Backstories?
You’ve done the work. You’ve built an intricate backstory for your protagonist—where they were born, what their childhood was like, the defining moment that shaped them, their deepest fear. On paper, they should feel real. But on the page? They don’t. The character moves through scenes, saying and doing the right things, but something’s missing….
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Should Your Writing Be Original or Just Good? The Balance Between Story and Style
Writers are constantly told to “find their voice,” to be unique, to write something that stands out. And that’s true—eventually. But there’s a trap that comes with chasing originality too soon. Some writers become so obsessed with being different that they forget to be good. They focus on unusual sentence structures, experimental storytelling, or hyper-stylized…
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How to Start Writing When You Have Big Ideas, Characters, and Worldbuilding—But No Story
Some writers begin with a clear plot. Others begin with… everything but that. You have a world that feels real, filled with history, politics, geography. You have characters who feel alive, each with their own motivations, backstories, and voices. You have aesthetic, mood, and themes—you know how this book should feel, the type of story…
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The Procrastination as a Literary Device: The Art of Writing By Not Writing
Some of the best writing happens when you’re not writing. You step away from the desk, fully intending to come back in ten minutes, and suddenly you’re washing dishes, reorganizing your bookshelves, scrolling through obscure Wikipedia pages. Hours pass, and you tell yourself you’ve wasted time—but have you? Because somewhere in the background of all…
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Doppelgänger Fiction: Why Some Authors Subconsciously Write Themselves Into Stories
Writers swear their characters aren’t based on them. They insist that the brooding detective, the ambitious young artist, the isolated scholar—none of them are self-inserts. They’re just characters. Made up. Fictional. And yet… something familiar lingers in them. A particular fear. A private longing. A personal flaw, magnified. This is Doppelgänger Fiction—the strange, sometimes unconscious…
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The Sacred Writing Desk: Can an Author’s Workstation Be a Talisman?
Some desks feel different. You sit down, and something shifts. The mind clears. The words come faster, easier. It’s not just a piece of furniture—it’s a place where books are born, where stories take shape, where thoughts crystallize into something real. For many writers, their desk isn’t just a workstation—it’s a talisman. A sacred space…
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Why Do Some Writers Need a Lucky Object to Write?
Some writers won’t start without a specific pen. Or a certain notebook. Or a ring they twist on their finger between sentences. They swear by these objects—not just as tools, but as something more. A charm. A key. A physical tether to creativity itself. It sounds superstitious, but it’s common. Many writers, from novelists to…
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The Pen Name Paradox: Does Writing Under Another Name Change Your Brain?
Some writers feel different when they write under a pen name. The words come easier. The style shifts. The voice feels like it belongs to someone else. This isn’t just about privacy or marketing. Some authors report that switching to a different name actually changes the way they think and write—as if adopting a new…