• Let your characters write their story. They actually know what you want to say.
Sometimes when writing, you’ll feel as if your characters are directing and controlling their own fate rather than you being the one who shapes them. All of them seem to tell you what they’ll say and do. Sometimes their choices may even startle you!
• Downgrade your minor characters
Not all characters in your story are created equal. Some are of the utmost importance while some are fairly insignificant.
• Use confidant to reveal hero’s inner turmoil
Sometimes to reveal the protagonist’s inner conflict, he shares his thoughts with another character. This character who the protagonist trusts is referred to as a confidant (or a confidante if a female).
• Do your characters’ actions arise from their needs?
When editing drafts of your manuscript, examine how your characters’ motivations are presented as the story unfolds.
• Avoid writing concealed identity story
One kind of plot you should avoid is the concealed identity story. This involves keeping the main character’s identity or true nature secret until the end of the story, often the last line.
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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.
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