This is K.M. Island and you are listening to the 38 episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

This week was a week of finishing things, or subsections of things to be more exact. For starters, I finished my first act edit of my portal fantasy sequel Dreambreaker.

And I'm really happy with how it's turned out other than the fact that it's about 10,000 words

longer than I want it to be. I also saw the

completion of the cover design and interior type setting for the creating

character arc's workbook. I'll be getting final proofs soon and we'll be moving toward publication within

another month or so. Can't wait to share that one with you since I know so many of

you are waiting for it. So that's where I'm at with my projects right now.

The latest post on my blog is 10 ways to perfect your story style.

How to perfect your story style for beginning to end using these 10 laws of flow from visionary director Baz

Lerman. To read the post, visit helping writers become authors.com.

And now I hope you enjoyed this week's podcast, Part 16 of the do's and don't of storytelling,

according to Marvel, four ways to write a thought-provoking mentor character.

Good stories rise and fall based on their minor characters. You can write an amazing protagonist, but if he isn't supported by an equally amazing cast, the story will fail to

fully develop the protagonist himself, fail to flush out the thematic premise, and bottom line

failed to be entertaining. But it's not enough to just run through a checklist of must have characters, which we have already discussed in past episodes on the Iron Man 2 and Dr. Strange. You've also got to make sure your take on the archetypal

roles such as the mentor character is fresh, interesting, and not

stereotypical. Character archetypes exist within a story form to fulfill necessary angles of the thematic argument.

With even one missing archetype, the overall story arc will be weakened. But authors who are committed

to a rounded cast must be wary of letting their archetypes become stereotypes. You must balance the challenge of presenting characters

who fulfill concrete roles within the story, with the equally great challenge of presenting

those characters as fully rounded,

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