Have you given your tale enough “oomph”?
There should be no “boring bits” with information drip-fed in. You need to alter the pace a bit as too much excitement is exactly that - too much - but too little and there is no story. The “troughs” in between should give your reader information they’ll need to take your tale forward and a chance to get their breath back as it were, but not for too long. Do play cat and mouse. There should be a sense of something “coming”.
Do your characters speak in an appropriate way for how you’ve portrayed them?
L’Evallier I’ve deliberated portrayed as never using contractions, not even when stressed whereas the Queen sometimes will, partly to try to keep her “common touch” up and running. Eileen doesn't much care how she speaks. She will lose some of her formality when talking to the common people but can be haughty with the best of them when she needs to be (though she usually uses that to take down someone else's pomposity).
Can people visualize your world and your characters?
We don’t need an atlas or an in-depth history but enough details to see what you see when you write, enough to make it seem as if it could be real. Your characters may be the weirdest aliens imaginable or have intellect we humans can only dream of but they should still have traits we can identify with. After all I think it’s a fairly safe bet to suggest the Daleks are a tad on the aggressive side but it’s how our hero overcomes that aggression that drives the Doctor Who stories. No aggression = no Dalek. No character trait = no character worth writing about. I've always loved the Columbo stories. A premise where the viewer already knows who did the killing, why and how sounds odd but what is so fascinating is seeing Columbo work it out.
What are your characters striving for? What can they use to help them achieve their wishes?
If everyone can do magic, then that’s no story but if everyone can do magic but there are those who can do a lot more than others then you get a tale, if only based on the inevitable resentment of those who don’t have so much power. Equally if folk have the ability to improve themselves, to earn extra powers, what do they have to do to get these and are they prepared to do it? What would they sacrifice to achieve their ambitions? There's several story ideas in that!
There should be no “boring bits” with information drip-fed in. You need to alter the pace a bit as too much excitement is exactly that - too much - but too little and there is no story. The “troughs” in between should give your reader information they’ll need to take your tale forward and a chance to get their breath back as it were, but not for too long. Do play cat and mouse. There should be a sense of something “coming”.
Do your characters speak in an appropriate way for how you’ve portrayed them?
L’Evallier I’ve deliberated portrayed as never using contractions, not even when stressed whereas the Queen sometimes will, partly to try to keep her “common touch” up and running. Eileen doesn't much care how she speaks. She will lose some of her formality when talking to the common people but can be haughty with the best of them when she needs to be (though she usually uses that to take down someone else's pomposity).
Can people visualize your world and your characters?
We don’t need an atlas or an in-depth history but enough details to see what you see when you write, enough to make it seem as if it could be real. Your characters may be the weirdest aliens imaginable or have intellect we humans can only dream of but they should still have traits we can identify with. After all I think it’s a fairly safe bet to suggest the Daleks are a tad on the aggressive side but it’s how our hero overcomes that aggression that drives the Doctor Who stories. No aggression = no Dalek. No character trait = no character worth writing about. I've always loved the Columbo stories. A premise where the viewer already knows who did the killing, why and how sounds odd but what is so fascinating is seeing Columbo work it out.
What are your characters striving for? What can they use to help them achieve their wishes?
If everyone can do magic, then that’s no story but if everyone can do magic but there are those who can do a lot more than others then you get a tale, if only based on the inevitable resentment of those who don’t have so much power. Equally if folk have the ability to improve themselves, to earn extra powers, what do they have to do to get these and are they prepared to do it? What would they sacrifice to achieve their ambitions? There's several story ideas in that!
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