Novelists often get carried away with characters. Or maybe that should be, characters often carry away novelists. Either way, well-developed secondary characters can run away with a story if you let them. In one of my sample book maps, I showed how this can happen. In my fictional fiction (sorry …
Tag: Subplots
Don’t leave readers hanging off a cliff
Writers of series books have gotten into an ugly habit lately. They leave readers hanging, either by giving them a cliffhanger or just arbitrarily picking a stopping point for one book. You can tell by some of the one- and two-star reviews on Amazon that readers are sick of this …
Make subplots integral to the story
We’re still working on the Plot section of the Elements of Fiction Editing Checklist. ☐ Subplots arise organically and make sense as they unfold, not only in light of the ending. Done right, subplots add richness and depth to a novel. They give us a chance to see characters in different …