Fiction writers must read fiction.
Wait, let me re-phrase that. Fiction writers who want to be good fiction writers must read fiction. Frequently. Widely. Voraciously. Apart from writing, it’s the best way to improve your abilities as a storyteller, a writer, a wordsmith, a wordweaver. Writing fiction without reading fiction is like exhaling without inhaling, talking without listening. It’s like teaching without knowing your subject. Dispensing wisdom when you haven’t lived.
Tell me what you’re reading. Tell me what you’ve read in the past and still think about today. Tell me about books that seduced you with their delicious, rich imagery. Tell me about the stories you want to swim in.
Even in writing a suspenseful novel, my characters always run the show. It’s all about them, their motivations, dreams, flaws and ideas. It’s about what moves them forward and makes them both respond to and change their environments.
I fall in love with them as I get to know them even in ways that I may never directly mention. Every little detail about them shapes their thoughts and actions. Everything I’ve learned about them is relevant; it’s part of the holistic picture of who they are. The story works when I know them as people and not plot devices.
What are the little things you’ve noticed about your characters that you may not even mention in your story? Traits that shape their behaviors and thought processes? Things their roommates or spouses or siblings would notice? Do they make their bed or do they leave the blankets in disarray? Why? What are the quirks, habits and preferences their friends tease them about in passing? Inside jokes they go on about for years? What drives these traits and preferences?
What makes your characters three dimensional?
