How Make Your Characters Active, Not Passive

Your characters must be active, not passive. This is a cardinal rule of writing fiction.

I really liked the simple advice that the hosts of the Writing Excuses podcast (episode 13.2) gave (listen here).

I’ll summarize and expand, but essentially have your characters:

Desire – They must want something. Plan – They must make plans to get it. Act – They must act on these plans. Success or Setback – Their actions must succeed or fail. New Plans – They must make new plans to try to achieve their...