The 'Always, Sometimes, Never' Framework for Fictional Characters

Instead of the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, you can find fictional rules and probabilities of likely character behaviour -- and you can use this to your advantage in writing...

On my workshop course, we work a great deal on writing skills in general, not just in interactive forms. One of the most important exercises is about characterisation — a process I call ‘ALWAYS SOMETIMES NEVER’ (ASN). It is similar in many ways to the ‘questionnaire’ approach to coming up with characters that so many writers adore or revile, the invent…