Join indie authors Crystal Hunt and Michele Amitrani as we share ways to save time, money and energy as you level up your writing and publishing career.

In this episode, we get started with a conversation about resistance, and how that operates in our creative process. And then we tackle building complex characters, and increasing conflict in our stories with special guest—bestselling author Eileen Cook. 

Counselling psychology has a lot to offer writers when it comes to getting to know your characters really well, and helping ensure they are well developed and consistent. Conflict is a key piece of good stories, and we discuss many ways to develop and increase it. Internal vs external conflict, environment, beliefs, roles and the “hole in their soul”, how to be mean enough to our characters, how to smooth out conflict once you’ve built it up, and how your characters can solve their problems in new ways. And always, always put your reader first. 

We wrap things up with a discussion of indie vs traditional publishing, and what similarities there are between the two routes.

HIGHLIGHTS

• What has happened since the last episode?
• About Eileen Cook
• Making better characters with conflict
• How to make conflict for your characters
• Post interview discussion
• What do you think is the hardest part about writing a novel?

SHOW NOTES + RESOURCES

Complete show notes, transcripts and links to the tools and resources mentioned in this episode from our website at https://strategicauthorpreneur.com/podcast/010-conflict-and-character-building-with-eileen-cook/

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