Posted on January 4, 2023 at 3:30 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Editor Ken Brosky and book coach C.S. Lakin — both of whom are also authors themselves — recently shared pieces on major big-picture problems they find in storytelling.
And they both boil down to a failure to keep the story moving.
In Brosky's piece (on Jane Friedman's blog), he advises authors not to let their characters get too comfortable and to ensure that forces of antagonism continue to challenge the protagonist.
(Note that he describes them as forces of antagonism, not a single antagonist — you don't have to limit yourself to an archvillain.)
And in Lakin's piece (on her Live Write Thrive blog), she reminds writers that their story must have a solid premise from which an inciting incident can launch, preferably quickly.
Categories: Behind the scenes