Author Tamela Hancock Murray

A couple of weeks ago, I shared ideas about stakes versus conflict and the importance of making stakes and conflict both high and riveting. I also shared examples of pretexts that no one would care to read. Here is one:

Reginald just bought a private jet; but the air traffic controllers have gone on strike, meaning he will have to delay his vacation in Paris.

 Believe it or not, after I wrote the post, I kept thinking about our dear Reginald. Surely he’s more exciting than he appears. So I thought it might be fun to make him more interesting.

What if:

This is all a front, and Reginald is on a secret mission?

The strike is fake?

The person Reginald is meeting under the guise of a vacation holds the key to everything?

Is that better? Are you more likely to want to know about Reginald now?

I also gave an example of Jane. She didn’t linger in my mind as much, but here she is:

Jane works for a congressman that her in-laws don’t care for, and they like to argue about it. She wishes for a better relationship. They live across the country, so she sees them once a year.

So here’s our fun for today. How would you make one or both of these characters interesting?

I can’t wait to see what all of you whip-smart authors write!

Recently, an author asked me about stakes versus conflict in a novel, and so I thought this blog post might be beneficial. “Stakes” means what is at risk, what will happen, or what will be lost if the character doesn’t meet certain goals. Stakes are presented to make the reader …

When I run errands, I park in the lot’s equivalent of the North Pole, so my car doesn’t get dinged. I walk quickly, with swagger and purpose. I learned to do this in my twenties under the advice of security types who said women can deter attacks against themselves by …