Subtext: Creating Layered Characters

I’ve written many times about how much I love subtext, the stuff that happens between the lines. We often hear that subtext is what’s not said, but that can imply that subtext is limited to dialogue.

In fact, subtext lurks in many aspects of our stories.The messages readers get from our writing aren’t always explicitly stated—in dialogue or otherwise.

We can find implied messages in different story elements, such as:

Genre: Unspoken promisestell readers what they’ll find inside. Theme: Sets...