Building a Solid Foundation for Your Novel

One of the most challenging aspects to novel writing is getting your pacing right. I knew I was struggling with mine, it lagged in places and people weren’t accepting it for publication. Which meant my worst fears were true, something was off. And that something has to do with how I’ve structured my novel.

When I reviewed it, all the necessary elements were there: love interest, betrayal, love triangle, secrets. Yet something grander was missing. Actually, for me I had a two-part problem. The first part was a passive protagonist. If you’ve made this same mistake, stop what you’re doing and fix this! Too many coincidences or chance meetings aren’t going to fly. Plot must come through conflict which directly leads back to character wants and needs. Read more