Writing.Com General Discussion

Hi Zen,

You bring up the most crucial point, though I think you have it exactly backward. I've been reviewing here for twelve years (while struggling mightily to follow my own advice, with decidedly uneven results), and the most common problem I find in stories that can't seem to get started is characters who are basically decent, who more or less get along with each other and have a positive world view. Great for the real world, death in fiction since such people have no reason to change.

Dissatisfaction is the key. It has to be engineered into your character's profile from the start. Don't spend all your time thinking about who your characters are. They can spend all day sitting in a chair being who they are. Design them with a fundamental imbalance that will compel them to get off their butt and DO something. There are dozens of ways to slice and dice plot dynamics, but if there's nothing your character wants to attain, or avoid, all your plot points will be contrived. Fight or flight. It is this that will spark your plot, not the other way around.

And if you must create a good, decent character, waste no time confronting him, like Job, with trials and tribulations of Biblical proportions that will force dissatisfaction on him.

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