How do you make a clever character stupid?

You give them an infatuation. A fixation. Something that completely overrides their critical thinking and better judgment. Something that drives them nuts like a switch is thrown.

And when that happens, they're dumber than a bag of rocks. (And they're ...

Scoring my scars on the daybreak
We head for howlers delight
Scaring the hummingbird’s stalemate
We bed the runners on sight
Scheming our elders of haydays
We rid the hours of blight


NaaN (Now, always and Never)

Scoring my scars on the daybreak
We head for howlers delight
Scaring the hummingbird’s stalemate
We bed the runners on sight
Scheming our elders out of hay days
We rid the hours of blight


NaaN (Now, always and Never)

Sometimes the arch villain of the story is the one pulling all the strings in the background, and the protagonists don't know about them until the endgame.

And other times, the arch villain gets to clash with a protagonist (or an opposing character) that is also a mastermind pulling ...

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Schemers can be part of some great stories when they're done well! When they're done badly though they're very annoying! Schemers, plotters and planers ...

Who doesn't love a good intrigue, some scheming in the shadows, some low chuckling behind a curtain?

The author.

It's the author that doesn't love it. Or rather, the sheer background work that needs to go into writing a good scheming plot, counter plot, and the whole ...

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Hey! Merry Xmas! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Kwanza! Merry Festivus! Happy Yule! Happy Saturnalia! Winter Solstice and all the rest ^_^
In this Quackcast Banes, Tantz, and I ...

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The entire gang comes together today for two topics that were taken from recent newsposts: Emma Clare's Positive self promotion, and Tantz Aerine's Handling Controversial ...

CHARACTER SHAPES

I remember hearing about this notion some time ago, on the dvd special features for an animated movie or show. I don't remember which one.

Characters derived from basic shapes can give a very strong impression of their basic personality type. This can help the audience feel ...

bravo1102 says:

Technically it hit 100 pages last Monday, but I prefer to go with 100 pages of story as opposed to “making of –” segments so it's this week.

And we're entering into Book 2 where we get back to plot as opposed to character angst. Somebody has ...