S15E8 - Pet the Dog: Moments to Humanize Characters

There are some things that can help any author simply write, no matter the genre. We're sharing with you this month tricks of the writing trade. Especially during November, which is National Novel Writing Month, writers everywhere need all the help they can get to hit that 50,000 word count goal. That includes things like how to write right, filling the middle bits of a book, and making sure to also highlight supporting characters.

Some characters need to be seen as hard and immovable. For readers to sympathize with a character, however, there needs to be a different side. They need to have a moment we like to call "pet the dog." It's that moment where the character shows they really do have emotions and empathy for something else. But there are other uses for these moments as well. Hosts Ley and Leigh discuss how to use this writing tool, and some of their favorite uses in popular fiction.

First aired November 16, 2020.