This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 239th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors podcast.

I had a very cool surprise this week.

As I was flipping through the latest issue of Writers Digest

and their yearly roundup of the 101 best

websites for writers, I discovered that helping writers become authors was listed in their

writing advice category.

This is such a tremendous honor and I'm a little

floored. Thank you to all of you who emailed Writers Digest to nominate the site.

I appreciate it so much. The latest post in the video series on my blog is is honesty the most

important trait in a likable character it posits that even an unethical character can become a likable character as long as he's honest in one very important area.

To find the post, visit my site at helping writers become authors.

And now I hope you enjoy this week's podcast entitled Creating Stunning Character Arks Part 9, the first half of the Second Act.

In the structure of Character Arks, the first half of the second act is where your character ventures, or is thrust,

into uncharted territory and gets lost. He may not quite see it that way himself, but this is where he begins to discover

that the old rules, the lie he believes, no longer apply.

This puts him in a bit of a tail spin.

He scrambles to react to the events of the first plot point while chasing as hard as ever after the thing he wants.

He's reactive in the sense that he's at the mercy of the

antagonistic force. He's not in control of the conflict. But don't confuse

reactivity with passivity.

Your character will be very active in his pursuit of his goals

during this time.

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