The 5 Biggest Fiction Writing Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)

May 3, 2016
1. Happy People in Happy Land

Chief among the most common problems, in first chapters especially, are scenes presenting characters who are perfectly happy in their ordinary worlds. The writer thinks that by showing nice people doing nice things, readers will care about these pleasant folk when the characters are finally hit with a problem.

But readers actually engage with plot via trouble, threat, change or challenge. I call the first hint of this the opening disturbance. It can be...