←

JWTroemner.com

The Blog

  • Characterization: What shape is your noodle?

    Maybe you’ve come across those prompts that have been floating around the internet since 1998 or so: they’re massive lists of things that, supposedly, every writer should know about their character. They start out with some solid information: legal name, nicknames, appearance, where they were born, etc. And then things get specific. Oddly specific. Questions… Read more

  • Happy New Year!

    Traditionally, I’ve done a new year’s resolution post on this day. This year, I’m going to not do that– because isn’t making and breaking traditions what today is about? Instead, I give you the first writing prompt of the new year: Your character finds a genie, and they are given a wish. Just one. But… Read more

  • Shifting the scales on gender bias

    Just now I was working on a minor transition scene: our heroes were sitting in a diner and unwittingly witnessed the villain making a deal. In order to more subtly plant the villain in the diner, I listed off the restaurant’s other patrons: a boy in a college hoodie, a homeless man, the villain’s henchman,… Read more

  • What is Demisexuality?

    Let’s start with a vocabulary lesson: A person who is Demisexual typically doesn’t experience sexual attraction to someone unless they have a strong bond with them first. On a similar note, a person who is Demiromantic typically won’t fall in love with a person without that same kind of strong bond. It’s on the same gradient… Read more

  • The tricky thing about relationships (and not the ones you’re thinking about)

    I don’t know what your childhood was like, but when I was a kid, the world was divided into very few categories. The people I knew were either friends, family, that amorphous mass that comprises my extended family, and teachers. That was it. Fast forward twenty years. Now I have online friends and local friends, I… Read more

  • Getting from a concept to a story

    The amazing thing about being a writer is that you learn to spot the ideas and ‘what if’s that other people would normally pass by. They’re everywhere, and they’re incredible. And they can also be incredibly frustrating. You can get incredibly intricate and detailed ideas in your head, but for the life of you, you… Read more