Most romance novels get the obstacle wrong. The external conflict—he’s her boss, she’s leaving town next month, there’s a misunderstanding—is decoration. Readers don’t stay for the obstacle. They stay for the wound. Every compelling romance protagonist carries something that makes love feel dangerous before the story starts. The wound is specific: she watched her mother…
Every confrontation in your manuscript was initiated by someone. If that someone is almost never your protagonist, you have a passive protagonist—and passive protagonists bore readers even in high-stakes plots. Take any 3 scenes. Ask: whose idea was this conflict? If the antagonist keeps knocking on doors and the protagonist keeps answering, the reader will…
The protagonist is running for her life. The world is collapsing. The villain has won. And the reader shrugs. Danger and emotional stakes aren’t the same thing. Plot jeopardy comes free with genre—any thriller has danger, obstacles, conflict. What your reader needs before any of that matters is emotional stakes: what is the protagonist’s deepest…
Most setting descriptions read like the writer paused the story to file a property report. “The room was large, with high ceilings and antique furniture.” We’ve all written it. It tells the reader nothing about the character experiencing it. The fix: filter every detail through your POV character’s emotional state. Whatever she notices should be…
Most writers spend 80% of their energy on the external plot and almost none on the internal conflict. Then they wonder why readers finish the book and forget it. External conflict is the story’s skeleton—it keeps the plot moving. Internal conflict is the flesh and blood. The external problem gives your protagonist something to do;…
mww42 Manuscript Evaluation ChecklistDownload This topic is covered in depth in our Novel Writing Workshop.
It seems the number one way you learn more about your characters is simply by writing about them. Unfortunately, when this process occurs while you’re writing your story, it can show. Awkward, uneven character development in your completed piece can be the result. One way to get around this is to write scenes with your…
After two years of editing(!) Dani’s and my new book, Writing Young Adult Fiction, is about to be published. As one of our fans, I’d like to extend this special pre-publication offer to you: get the Kindle book for just $2.99, or get it for free when you purchase the paperback. My favorite part of the book…
One of the best ways to create believable fiction is to structure it around believable characters. But how do you get to know your characters well, and give them the depth of real people? One excellent way is to create a list of everything you know about each major character. I’ve created a form you…
Many literary and movie characters have become cultural icons—Atticus Finch, ‘Ratso’ Rizzo, Holden Caulfield and Scarlett O’Hara, for example. A great character name will help make your story clearer and more memorable. The name should also reveal something about your character: who they are, where they come from or where they are going. Here are several tips…
45 Questions to Create Backstories How much about your characters do you really know? Small details might seem superfluous even irrelevant to the story you intend to write, but the smallest detail informs the bigger picture. The more you know about your characters, the better you’ll create believable characters who live and breathe on the…
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