Side Characters with Jobs
Supporting characters should do more than fill a scene. Learn how meaningful side characters challenge protagonists, create conflict, and strengthen your story.
Dialogue That Isn’t Small Talk
The best dialogue isn’t always about what characters say. Discover how subtext, hidden emotions, and conflict can turn ordinary conversations into compelling scenes.
The Lie The Character Believes
Discover how a character’s false beliefs shape their flaws, decisions, relationships, and character arc, with examples from popular movies and television.
Flaws That Drive Plot: Creating Conflict Through Character
Flaws That Drive Plot Main Street Writes Group Discussion — Originally presented May 11, 2026 Every interesting character has flaws. They're stubborn, impatient, arrogant, insecure, impulsive, overly trusting, or perhaps unwilling to trust anyone at all. But here's...
Wants vs. Needs
Main Street Writes Group Discussion — Originally presented May 4, 2026 What makes a character interesting? Is it what they're trying to accomplish? The obstacles standing in their way? Their personality, intelligence, courage, or flaws? All of those things matter, of...
Start Late, Leave Early
Main Street Writes Group Discussion — Originally presented April 13, 2026 This was the very first craft discussion I shared with my writers' group, and it addresses something that almost every writer struggles with at one time or another: knowing exactly where a scene...
Every Scene Needs a Turn
Main Street Writes Group Discussion — Originally presented April 20, 2026 One of the things we've been exploring in our writers' group is what makes a scene worth reading. We spend a lot of time thinking about dialogue, descriptions, characters, and atmosphere. But...
Writers Group Discussions
A couple of months ago, I started preparing short discussions about various aspects of storytelling for my weekly writers' group. The idea was pretty simple. Each week, we'd spend a little time exploring a particular element of writing—something that might help us...
Bees, Pt 9 (Finale)
Related previous posts: Bees Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 Bees, Pt 9 (Finale) Similar to her time in the pantry, Honey lost track of time in the jar where it lay in the back of the van. A steady flow of bumps and thumps marked...
Bees, Pt 8
Related previous posts: Bees Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 Bees, Pt 8 By the time all the action started the following day, Honey had no energy left to investigate and no emotion left to care. First, she heard voices – two men that...
About Me
Scott Boyer grew up in Santa Monica, CA and still resides in the Los Angeles area. Graduating from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in 1996, he started writing Bobby Ether And The Academy with the goal of blending YA fantasy with spiritual fiction. Nowadays, Scott splits his time between helping his father manage an insurance brokerage, playing with his Shepherd-mix rescue dog Patch, and writing other adventures in the Bobby Ether series.
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