Watch the Stereotypes

Watch the Stereotypes

I did a favor for a writing colleague not long ago. Initially, he’d said he wanted help with some romantic aspects of his mystery. He sent me pages, but by the time he did, he’d forgotten he asked about romance and sent me his opening chapters, ones he said he’d rewritten countless times.

I read them, gave him my feedback, but one thing that jumped off the page was his description of a character who (I assumed) was there to provide some frustration for his protagonist, and...