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If you have a general idea for a story but either aren’t experienced in writing a story to completion or are stuck somewhere along the way, a detailed narrative structure can give you some ideas as to how to get to typing “the end.” I’ll be talking about Lester Dent’s Master Plot Formula, Algis Budry’s Seven-Point story structure, and Dramatica.

Lester Dent Master Plot Formula

The Lester Dent formula is just that: a formula. It comes as close to a “input this, and you get a story” equation as any formula I’ve seen. Those who have used it swear by its success. It divides a short story into four, 1500-word sections with details that need to be included in each. Thanks to this site for helping me learn about this formula.

Genre: Works best for adventure, detective, western or war stories.

Story length: Creates a 6000-word pulp story.

• First 1500 words: the more of the following four details you include, the more unique your story will feel.

1. A different/unusual murder method for villain to use
2. A different thing for villain to be seeking
3. A different locale
4. A menace which is to hang like a cloud over hero

1. Shovel more grief onto the hero.
2. Hero, being heroic, struggles, and his struggles lead up to:
3. Another physical conflict.
4. A surprising plot twist to end the 1500 words.

• Third 1500 words

1. Shovel the grief onto the hero.
2. Hero makes some headway, and corners the villain or somebody in:
3. A physical conflict.
4. A surprising plot twist, in which the hero preferably gets it in the neck bad, to end the 1500 words.

• Fourth 1500 words

1. Shovel the difficulties more thickly upon the hero.
2. Get the hero almost buried in his troubles. (Figuratively, the villain has him prisoner and has him framed for a murder rap; the girl is presumably dead, everything is lost, and the DIFFERENT murder method is about to dispose of the suffering protagonist.)
3. The hero extricates himself using HIS OWN SKILL, training or brawn.
4. The mysteries remaining—one big one held over to this point will help grip interest—are cleared up in course of final conflict as hero takes the situation in hand.
5. Final twist, a big surprise, (This can be the villain turning out to be the unexpected person, having the “Treasure” be a dud, etc.)
6. The snapper, the punch line to end it.

Algis Budry’s Seven-Point Story Structure

This structure follows the well-known three-act format with a bit more detail as to what to include in each act. Budry’s main idea is to have 1) a character (2) in a context (3) with a problem (4) who tries to solve his problem (5) but fails, (6) and then, at the climax of the story, makes a final attempt that either succeeds or fails, after which (7) the result is “validated” or resolved. In other words, put a character in a setting with a problem and then employ try/fail cycles until the climax where he succeeds or ultimately fails before ending with a validation. Head to this site or this site to see examples and learn more.

Genre: Works best for science fiction, fantasy. Also can work for any type of fiction.

Story length: Creates a full-length novel.

• The Beginning:
  1. A Character
  2. In a setting
  3. With a problem
• The Middle, based on the items established in the Beginning:
  1. Character(s) attempts to solve the problem in a logical way but doesn’t understand the true nature of the problem. The resulting catastrophic failure reveals more of the problem to the character(s).
  2. Two more attempts to solve the problem. Each requires more resources or effort on the part of the protagonist(s). Each ends in failure and costs them more, but also helps reveal the solution.
  3. A final push/attempt to solve the problem, giving all remaining to the solution, and resulting in either ultimate victory or final failure up to and including death of the protagonist(s).
• The End:
  1. Validation; someone authoritatively telling the reader the story is really over, either one of the characters, or through the general denouement of the story.

Dramatica

The Dramatica theory of story involves looking past the basic narrative structures that focus on plot or character or genre or theme and instead using four “throughlines,” or threads, that a writer weaves together to create a story with true depth. Each thread provides its own perspective, as well as its own character, plot, and theme. Digging into Dramatica can feel a bit overwhelming because there are a lot of new terms to provide a vocabulary as a story that gets broken down to its basic components. This explanation had me confused, so I would read this one first.

Genre: fiction

Story length: full-length novel

I’m not going to go into all of Dramatica’s ins and outs here (maybe in a separate post if there’s a lot of interest), but I’ll leave you with two components that are the most foundational: the throughlines and character arc.

• The four throughlines. Each throughline provides an angle on the events of the story as they unfold. Each has its own character, plot, theme, and genre.

1. Objective/Overall Story: the traditional idea of “plot”–a dispassionate overview of the events of the story
2. Main Character: the firsthand account of the events
3. Influence Character: the account of events from an alternate, often opposite, perspective to the MC
4. Relationship Story: the course of the interplay between main character and influence character

• Character Arc is not just how a character changes, but has two factors, one constant and the other fluid

1. Resolve: what the main character wants throughout the story (what they really want, not what they think they want, which may change); static
2. Growth: how that character grows as they try to achieve what they want

Further Resources

This site outlines the narrative structure of many books and movies.

I found this site to be helpful in thinking about how a narrative structure can be useful to you.

Here are seven additional plot structures for you to think about.

Conclusion

I still have a lot to learn about plot structures, but this post helped me to dip my toes into the world of plotting (and I had no idea there were SO MANY story structures out there). If there’s a specific narrative structure you’d like me to talk about, let me know in the comments! If your plot feels strong but your dialogue feels weak, check out this post.

As with any type of character development, writing LGBT+ characters requires research. I sometimes refer to LGBT+ as gay in this post. A lot of stereotypes around gay people make it into stories written by straight authors–the token gay friend, for example. But just as you have to research what slang words a teenage boy used in 1970, or what food a Somali refugee eats, you need to research the details of LGBT+ culture to create a realistic character.

I’m a strong believer in getting information from the source–the person with the lived experience. As a cis straight woman, I’m not a good resource. Instead, I want to point you to several articles written by LGBT+ people who generously offer their perspective on writing gay characters.

Resources for Writing LGBT+ Characters

Ashley Lauren Rogers writes about four pitfalls to avoid when writing trans characters in sci fi and fantasy, namely,

1. Don’t conflate gender, sex, and sexuality;
2. Don’t write trans characters who are always downtrodden;
3. Trans and nonbinary folks are more than their gender identity; and
4. Trans people are not out to deceive you.

Lisa Freeman writes about six pitfalls to avoid when writing LGBTQIA+ characters in teen fiction:

1. Don’t be invasive in your writing and research;
2. Avoid stereotypes;
3. Don’t be afraid to create an emotional connection with your character;
4. Don’t try to protect your queer darlings;
5. Don’t make everything about sexual identity; and
6. Don’t skimp on the backstory.

Finally, tumblr’s miss turdle has a brilliant compilation of resources for writing LGBT+ characters with articles ranging from “How to write gay characters in mainstream fiction” to “Writing lesbians when you’re not a lesbian.” Highly recommend checking these sites out.

To close, I want to leave you with this thought by Lee Mandelo:

“If you’re writing queer characters you need to have an awareness in the text of the social climate, even if the story is not ‘about’ homophobia or transphobia or their attendant violence.”

Language is powerful, which is why stories are powerful. Use that power to create LGBT+ characters that show the complexity, depth, love, passion, and everything else that makes up any person. Happy Pride!

I recorded a Facebook Live on creating a style sheet for Owl Hollow Press on March 11. You can see the replay here:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=405398887412952&ref=search

What is a style sheet?

A style sheet is a reference document for your specific story. Traditionally, copy editors will make them for the manuscripts they’re working on as part of the copy edit. Let’s talk about this traditional style sheet to get familiar with how a style sheet works.

Style sheets are a way to organize the details of your story into appropriate categories. Common categories include characters, timeline, terms, and style. Within the characters category, each character is listed along with details about that character that have been mentioned in the book. The terms category includes phrases or words that are unique to your book, as well as words that have various spelling options, like grey/gray. The terms category would include what spelling has been chosen as the go-to for this book. The style category tracks various grammar, punctuation, and usage preferences an author has, like the Oxford comma or how to format scene breaks.

Hopefully you can see how keeping track of these details in a separate document specifically made for your manuscript is a helpful resource. It’s very rewarding to read about a character’s vivid blue eyes, check the style sheet, and leave a comment for the author about how this character’s eyes are actually green. No going back and searching through chapters to find where the character’s eyes were first described. No need to search for all subsequent eye color descriptions and making sure they match up. And that’s just one minor detail.

Style sheets are an editor’s friend, and you probably shouldn’t hire an editor if they don’t offer a style sheet as part of their edit. But what to look for in an editor is a topic for another day.

Editor style sheet vs. author style sheet

Let’s talk about how an author can benefit from a style sheet. If anyone knows a different name for an author style sheet, I’d love to hear it. Authors often make character bios that have background details on usually the main characters, but I couldn’t find anything that mentions bringing the details of a story and putting them into categories to make them easy to find and compare.

I recommend authors make style sheets of the sort that I make as a developmental editor. Making this type of style sheet may not be part of the process for other developmental editors work. The difference in the quality of my edits has been remarkable once I was serious about making thorough style sheets for my manuscripts.

Let’s start with how authors with a finished draft or mostly finished draft could use a style sheet. What I find particularly useful is that reading your draft to create a style sheet requires a more analytical read. The resulting style sheet is a summary of major points and characters and places through which you’ll be able to more easily identify weaknesses and inconsistencies.

Author style sheet

An author style sheet is going to be much more involved than a copy editor style sheet. You can forget about a style category, which only becomes relevant much later in edits. Categories I have in every style sheet are

• Characters
• Geography
• Timeline
• Unique Terms and Phrases

Then each book will have additional categories that are specific to it, such as

• Animals
• Magic system/rules
• Items of interest
• Words from other languages
• Culture

The best part is that adding the actual content to the style sheet is the easiest part!

1. Highlight the detail you wish to add to the style sheet
2. Copy
3. Open style sheet
4. Paste in appropriate category

Yes, you literally copy and paste from your MS into your style sheet. Don’t summarize or rewrite some detail—one of the main points of the style sheet is to identify what is currently in the story. The discoveries and insights you could have into your story thanks to the style sheet are endless. If you read through your style sheet after and realize your magic system is really low on detail, you know exactly what you need to beef up in the story. You may notice the timeline is a little wonky, or a character has several eye colors. The list really goes on and on.

You can find a link to a style sheet template that I created here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fj5o6PeOFhDit-AhHp6EeTp2hTsxx1mp/view?usp=sharing

For more self-editing tips, see my blog posts here for four more ideas:

https://oliviaedits.com/2021/01/29/editor-notes-secondary-characters/

https://oliviaedits.com/2021/02/05/editor-notes-realistic-injuries/

https://oliviaedits.com/2021/02/12/editor-notes-geography/

https://oliviaedits.com/2021/02/19/editor-notes-body-language-and-dialogue-tags/

Examples

Let me give some examples of what categories I used for different types of books. Below I give several books with a synopsis and a list of the interesting categories I used for that specific style sheet.

Kiki Macadoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas by Colette Sewall

Synopsis: When eleven-year-old Kiki MacAdoo and her talented older sister go to Mount Faylinn Dance Conservatory for the summer, they ignore the brochure’s mysterious warning that “ballets come alive” in the nearby forest. But after her sister disappears, it’s up to Kiki to brave the woods and save her sister from the ghost sylphs that dance young girls to their deaths.

• Characters—in addition to physical characteristics, don’t forget to include details like allergies. Kiki’s mom died before the book starts, and several details about things her mom liked influence Kiki’s preference for things—like polka dots and chocolate chip cookies—and those are the kind of details that could come up later in this book or maybe a later book. They’re also details that can’t get mixed up. Her mom can’t later be remembered as being gluten free.
• Also note nicknames
• Places: addresses, layout of house, conservatory, construction history of conservatory, layout of conservatory
• Rules for dance camp and dance camp schedule
• unique words: lubbly jubbly: British expression of happiness their mom used to say
• ballet terms
• Animals/nonhuman beings (there are fairies and fantastical beasts like the brown slawk and the Willies (spelled Wilis)
• Other items of interest: items mentioned that may have significance in later book, which I won’t mention here as they come at important moments in the story
• Formatting: how to handle ballet terms (italics) and how to handle looks; you’re weird look (italics)

Spirits of Chaos series by Nicole Conway—Scales and Wings

Synopsis: When New York City faces the threat of an ancient evil, a teenage boy must use a magical bracelet to transform into a monster-slaying dragon superhero.

• for a series, I make a style sheet for the first book, and a fresh style sheet for each subsequent book. For later books, I’ll go back and compare and make sure details match up and leave notes where they don’t. By the end of the edits, I combine the style sheets into a master style sheet for the series.
• Characters: include scar locations from previous injuries, school class schedule for characters and overlap classes with other characters
• Spelling: dragon-girl hyphenated, full-kur transformation hyphenated, goodbye one word, spellign of school is Saint Bernard’s, not St. Bernard’s, totem-wielders, etc.
• Formatting: reminder to italicize video game titles, signs are in all caps and no quotation marks, how texts are handled
• Places: windows in Koji’s room (since he leaves from it often)—some of the rooms changed from book 1 to book 2, so I make a note of that
• Aircraft (lots of military planes in this one)
• Special items, called totem/kur tools, that have to do with the fantasy/magic component of the story, that I want to keep the details straight on for the next book.
• Also noted other relationships that are relevant to later books, like Koji’s relationship with the government—is he taking orders from them or acting on his own, and how does that evolve?

The Girl and the Tiger by Paul Rosolie

Synopsis: When Isha is sent to live with her grandparents on the Indian countryside, she discovers a sacred grove where a young Bengal tiger has taken refuge. Isha knows that the ever-shrinking forests of India mean there are few places left for a tiger to hide. When the local villagers also discover the tiger, Isha finds herself embroiled in a life or death cultural controversy.

• Big one for foreign words, names, and places—takes place in India, lots of dialects of languages there, so a long foreign language list that said not only what foreign words meant but which language they were in so that characters from different regions were using right words. Author had specialist go over the list I made for the style sheet.
• Also needed to keep track of timeline closely and align with seasons and Indian holidays.
• For some broader aspects of the story, you might not be able to go day by day, so use whatever timeframe works. As Kala the tiger learns to hunt, I had things like “in month three, Kala gets her first kill”, month 6 Kala kills a stag, etc.

Conclusion

One benefit of an editor is that they aren’t familiar with your story, and the fresh eyes see things that as the author you can’t see. The style sheet is one way to give you a fresh set of eyes on your work because it’s your work in a different format. It may take some practice to create a style sheet that works for you—there’s no right and wrong with it. Follow your instinct when it comes to categories. If you feel like you have too many, just focus on characters or geography. It’s easy to get bogged down and pick too many categories to focus on. Focus on areas you’re worried about with a style sheet. Do what works for you and your story.

You’ve got questions about how to publish a book. Hopefully it’s your book, and you’ve got the first draft finished. But maybe you just have an idea and want to figure out what happens after the writing is completed. I’ll give you the rundown of what your publishing options are in this post.

I’ve worked as an editor for eight years, mostly for indie publishers and self-publishing authors, so a lot of what I’ll be telling you is from personal experience. (If you don’t know what an indie publisher is or what self-publishing is, we’ll get to that!) When I work with an author who wants to get published, I tell them they’ve got three options:

• Traditional publishing
• Indie publishing
• Self-publishing

It’s important to think about what route you want to take, even before you finish your story, because your publishing goal may affect your story. Let’s talk about the three options and then we’ll circle back to why that is.

Traditional Publishing

The “Big Five” publishing houses—Penguin Random House, Simon and Schuster, Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins, Macmillan—publish at least 70% of books; each publishes hundreds of books a year. (And Penguin is in the process of acquiring Simon and Schuster as of November 2020, so they’re about to become the Big Four.) Each of the Big Five have multiple imprints, or divisions, that focus on children’s books, fiction, YA, etc. You can see the fascinating breakdown of which imprints go with which publisher here. They require agented submissions, meaning an author has to find an agent to represent their book.

Finding an agent involves researching agents that represent books similar to the author’s book and sending queries (or “will you represent my book” letters). The agent has to agree to work with the author.

The agent then finds a publisher who will buy book–hopefully one of the Big Five, if that’s the author’s goal. The publisher pays the author an advance, and the agent gets a percentage of that advance.

The author then works with the publisher’s team of in-house editors, cover art, etc. In one to two years (and sometimes longer) from acquisition, the book is officially published and sent to book stores. The publisher does the marketing for the book.

Indie Publishing

The biggest difference between traditional publishing and indie publishing is that indie publishers don’t require agented submissions. Instead, they have “open submissions.” The author can query the publisher directly, which requires the author to read the publishers requirements for submission and follow their specifications closely. Indie publishers also tend to publish far less (anywhere from 10 to 50 or more books a year) than traditional publishers.

Authors tend to have more say in cover art and other details when working with an indie publisher. Many indie publishers hire freelance editors (like me!) to work with their authors instead of having in-house editors. In one to two years (and sometimes longer) from acquisition, the book is officially published and sent to book stores. The publisher will do some marketing, but many indie publishers ask the author to do much of their own marketing.

Self-publishing

Self-publishing is for the author that wants complete control over the entire process of publishing. The author will be responsible for every stage: finding a professional editor (optional but HIGHLY recommended); designing a cover or finding a cover artist; developing a marketing plan.

The author chooses which platform to publish from (usually publish as an e-book with a print on demand option; common platforms are Amazon KDP, Kobo, Apple Books, etc.) The platform allows free upload of book but typically takes a percentage of sales.

After the cover and book are uploaded—it’s published!

Vanity presses are a way to pay for your book to be published–they’ll have packages that may include editors, cover art, etc. So if the author still wants most of the control but doesn’t want to figure out the nitty-gritties of publishing, then he or she can hire a vanity press.

Pros and Cons

Traditional Publishing

Pros: higher advance amounts, big marketing budget, more distribution (which means your book will get to more readers through more channels)

Cons: little control over cover and content—author has to do what publisher says; low royalties

Indie Publishing

Pros: work closely with editor, have more control over story and cover, higher royalties

Cons: marketing is largely the responsibility of the author, smaller advances

Self-Publishing

Pros: total control over everything; highest royalties

Cons: must pay for everything out of pocket (no advance or editors from the publisher); author must do all marketing; stigma against self-published authors because “anyone can do it”

Which Route is Right?

Think carefully about what your writing goals are and what a realistic path to achieve them is. Maybe you publish with an indie publisher first, and that helps you land the agent that gets you with one of the Big Five. Maybe you have a vision for the book you want and you enjoy marketing, and you self-publish. To circle back to what I mentioned earlier, you may need to reconsider your story depending on where you want to publish. If the intended audience for your story is very niche, but you want to publish big, then you may need to pick a different story.

However, I’m of the opinion that the story should come first. You write your story, and make it the best it can be. Talk with your editor about different options for publication. Think about what you want and what is realistic. And know that the next book you write will be even better.

Hopefully this helped to give you some idea of how to publish a book. Happy writing! And here’s a little pep talk if you need some encouragement.

Conversations between characters is dialogue. (There’s also inner dialogue, like a character’s thoughts, but that’s confusing because the di- prefix implies two… but we won’t get into that here.)

Dialogue tags identify who spoke: he yelled, she explained, they said at the same time, etc.

Body language describes what the character is doing while they are speaking.

Example from one draft of Bennytown by Matt Carter:

“F*&% yeah,” Olivia says. (<—dialogue tag)

I wince at her choice of words. (<—body language) “Do you really have to, you know, say that here?”

Olivia looks at me like she thinks I’m joking. When she can tell I’m not, she says, “Really?”

I know I’ve said something wrong. “Can we pretend that I maybe didn’t say that?”

“You can pretend whatever you want, but it doesn’t change anything,” Olivia says, more amused than anything else. She cranes her neck to see if any ducks have made their way around the bend.

“Anything yet?” I ask.

“Nothing yet, but soon, I think,” she says, getting back to looking for the ducks.

Curious, I sneak a look at the business card Kathleen slipped me. She put a message right above her number.

THESE PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS

WHEN YOU NEED HELP, CALL ME

(Want to read that story now, right? Highly recommend if you like horror.)

My tip for you as you self-edit your story is as follows: You almost never need dialogue tags if character voices are distinct and if you use body language appropriately. Often writers get into the habit of either using a ton of body language and no dialogue tags or no body language and only dialogue tags. There’s a balance, and while it’s hard to find it perfectly as you are self editing, I would start by first identifying the dialogue tags and seeing which can be cut without confusing the reader.

Then identify the body language that occurs during a conversation and see if a clear picture of the tones and feelings of the characters is being painted. If it just feels like two people are saying words but it isn’t clear how they feel about any of it—add in some body language!

Body language tips: It helps if the body language fits the characters and the scene. Avoid generic body language like grinning, smiling, chuckling, folding arms, etc. (though of course those have their place). Maybe a character has long hair, and she plays with it when she’s feeling comfortable. Maybe a character clasps and unclasps his watch when he’s nervous or distraught. Maybe characters are having a picnic and one needs to shade her eyes from the sunlight breaking through the leaves when the breeze blows. Think outside the box with body language.

Here is the edited version of the passage above. Can you notice what I changed?

“F*^% yeah,” Olivia says.

I wince. “Do you really have to, you know, say that here?”

Olivia looks at me like she thinks I’m joking. When she can tell I’m not, she says, “Really?”

I know I’ve said something wrong. “Can we pretend that I maybe didn’t say that?”

“You can pretend whatever you want, but it doesn’t change anything.” Olivia sounds more amused than anything else. Phew. She cranes her neck to see if any ducks have made their way around the bend.

“Anything yet?” I ask.

“Nothing yet, but soon, I think.”

Curious, I sneak a look at the business card Kathleen slipped me. She put a message right above her number.

THESE PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS

WHEN YOU NEED HELP, CALL ME

(This material corresponds with a FB Live I did for Owl Hollow Press. I talk about geography in minutes 9:47-14:30.)

Setting can make or break a story. The setting sets the mood, creates both opportunities and challenges for the characters (and therefore, for the author), and shapes the culture and mobility of the story. Here, I want to focus on the importance of getting the simple geography of a story straight. In some of the cleanest manuscripts I work on, I’ll find inconsistencies in the geography. This might look like an inconsistent number of days traveling to City A from City B, or the small island that has cliffs but no mention of the climb it takes to get to the cliffs, or a canyon system where dangerous beasts live and only has one exit or entrance.

In Witches of Willow Cove by Josh Roberts, Robby and his friends use a tunnel system to get around their town. On my second edit, I was paying more attention to the details of the tunnel system, and realized there were several entrances that were described similarly but were actually different. It was an easy fix for Josh to clarify and make entrances distinct, but it went a long way in making the world of Willow Cove feel that much more real.

In Del Toro Moon by Darby Karchut, Matt and his family are responsible for keeping the skinners (think wolves that look like they’re made of ground meat) within the canyon–called the Maze–located a mile from their home in the valley. After my first edit, I mentioned in the developmental letter to Darby that I had difficulties visualizing the geography:

“How big is the valley (I was picturing half a mile, but someone mentions it being several miles long)? Does the whole valley slope down from the Gate, or is there just an incline as you approach the Gate? How long is the Gate corridor? How big around is the maze–could they ride around and check all the exits in a day? I think a little more description in that first chapter would smooth these confusions out.”

Darby dove headfirst into hammering out the details, and figuring out the Maze allowed her to figure out some other issues she was having with world building and character development. The power of consistent geography!

I recommend drawing a map of your world, whether it be an entire new world, a contemporary neighborhood, or even a single house. Draw what you think the geography is, and then reread your manuscript. Whenever you mention a specific detail—a road name, how long it took a character to get from the sea to the trader’s office, etc—add that detail to your map. As you add the details to your map, you’ll see whether or not everything matches up!

(This material is pulled from a FB live I did for Owl Hollow Press. I talk about realistic injuries in minutes 5:45-9:45.)

Almost every book I read or edit involves a character hurting him or herself at some point, and if there are any fight scenes, there are (hopefully) serious wounds. The dilemma I’ve found that authors often have is trying to make their main characters sustain injuries–both to show their mortality and the reality they can’t fend off every blow–but the injuries can’t be too serious because what happens to the plot when the main character has to heal from a broken back? It slows WAY down. We don’t want that.

One counterexample: In the movie The Dark Knight Rises, Batman (Christian Bale) breaks his back and has to recover in the prison where Bane was born, and it turns into a super interesting way to learn about Bane’s back story.

Often an injury occurs, but then the next day the MC is back in the action, and this feels very unrealistic for the reader.

The Ghost and the Wolf by Shelly X Leonn

When I was editing this manuscript, the MC Penelope breaks a rib in one scene , and later in the same scene climbs onto a roof. That night, she bound the rib and then kept up with her friends (who investigate abandoned buildings…) while popping pain killers. I queried–it felt like too much. Shelly researched rib injuries and made changes by adding in more mentions of Penny’s pain as she’s was going about day-to-day actions, reminding the reader that yes, she broke a rib, and yes, she’s dealing with pain while doing everything.

So, as you strike the balance between fallible MCs and slowing the pace down, ask yourself the following about your characters’ injuries:

-Can the character realistically accomplish what is needed to move the plot forward with this injury? If not, consider adjusting to a more realistic injury—or get creative, like in The Dark Knight, and see if you can make their down time recovering intriguing

-Do your research: how long does it take to recover from this injury? Is that recovery time accurately expressed in your story? If not, how do you explain their fast recovery?

-What type of pain is expected during recovery? What actions will feel different to the character—walk with a limp, or feel lightheaded, etc. If possible, talk to someone who has experienced the injury, or have them read the scene and give feedback on the believability of the character’s actions with that injury.

Go forth and injure realistically!

To see me talking about secondary characters, see my FB live with Owl Hollow Press (minutes 2:15 to 5:45)

https://www.facebook.com/owlhollowpress/videos/320235005738233

Secondary characters are characters that appear repeatedly in your story but aren’t the main character(s). They serve to add to the depth of the world, reveal something about the main character, or generally just progress the story in some way.

Secondary characters are crucial to world/story feeling realistic—imagine a story where only the main character is described in detail and a nameless mass of people populate everywhere the main character goes. Or imagine a world with a main character who has four friends that are clones of each other in action, looks, and word. Neither is a very exciting or rich place.

Secondary characters in action, as seen in These Wicked Waters by Emily Layne

Main character Annie is working on an island resort and meets a group of other maids during breakfast on one of her first mornings. The way the author, Emily, wrote the interaction between the maids and Annie made me excited for future interactions, but then they were never mentioned again. No other coworkers were really mentioned either, despite the fact that Annie’s main role was as an employee (of sorts) at the resort.

I asked Emily if these maids she had introduced could fit in other scenes to make them more a part of Annie’s life on the island—does Annie see them in the halls? Does she work with them later in the book? Could they play a part in the final battle scene? Emily worked them in really beautifully and her story was stronger for it.

So look at your story and consider the following:

-Who are your secondary characters? If you don’t have any, why don’t you? How could your plot be strengthened if a secondary character was introduced as comic relief or as an unexpected ally or as a mysterious benefactor? How can a secondary character enrich your story?

-If you do have secondary characters, be sure they are each serving unique purposes. Make a list of their physical attributes, their personality traits, and their role in the story. Is one secondary character really similar to another? If so, cut one or combine them.

-Another way to tell if your secondary characters are distinct and unique is by looking at their dialogue. If you can read at any line of dialogue in your story and identify who is speaking without looking at the dialogue tag, or the he said she said, then your characters have distinct, unique voices that your readers will love. If you find that some characters sound the same, consider their purposes in the story and either make them more distinct or cut one.