Tuesday, July 15, 2014

How to avoid clichés and melodrama



Each book you write should be fresh, new and different. If you have ten books they should not be the same story told ten different ways.

Resist the lure of stereotypes. Real people are much more interesting, and much harder to write.

Tell your own story. Don’t try to rewrite someone else’s.

You do have to keep the story moving, but don’t rush. Give the reader detail so they understand and relate to the characters and the situation.

Conflict doesn’t have to be sensational. Ordinary lives with the problems set out so the reader relates to them work fine. Avoid gratuitous violence and melodrama.

Your characters need to grow, develop, and change. The reader needs to see this happen and understand how and why it happens. That makes them want to keep reading.


Helen Woodall
helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.



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