I’ve hinted that the Kingdom’s historical magical wars have made parts of the realm barren.  That in turn has led to overcrowding in certain areas and the sprite attitude to reproduction (just get on with it basically!) causes a great deal of resentment amongst other species.  One problem leads to another and in turn another and makes your world seem more lifelike…  The trick is to get a good enough problem to trigger consequences you can write about.  I hope at some point to write more about the realm’s past in more detail but a sketch like this has got my world up and running.

Does your world interact with others?  The Kingdom has a divine commission to watch earth.  It has also been at war with other worlds (something I hope to flesh out more in separate novels later).  The Kingdom in the time I’m writing about it tends to stick to its divine commission only and hasn’t been attacked for ages given it has not provoked other worlds into doing so.  There is an arrogance in the Kingdom that says non-magical beings are inferior.  I hope at some point to set it against another magical world as I feel that would lead to some interesting conflicts.  It would also test the loyalty of the characters. Who would back the winning side regardless of the consequences (aka as Doing A Sir William Stanley if you're a Richard III fan)?

What can threaten your world?  External forces?  Diseases?  Both?  What are their approaches to science, magic, religion and so on?  Are the beings in your world happy with their lot?  Is the government reasonable?  How does society handle those against the norm or those who defect, like my Eileen did?  How does your society organize itself?  If it’s a magical world, do they use magic for everything or do they limit its use?  If the latter, why?  I use limitations on the grounds fairies etc want to save magical energy for more important magic.  After all, food can be grown, baked etc, so why use magic for that, unless in a dire hurry?  My Fairy Kingdom has also realized machines can be used for drudge work too, again saving magical energy for better things (like taking on the Witch!). 

Are the genders the same as for us?  Is there any kind of gender discrimination?  Has your world got a sense of its history and does it effect the present day (it should do, for good or bad, all places are influenced by their past)? 

Use your mood to help your writing. 
If you’re in a sad mood and you’ve got a sad scene to do when better to write it?  You don’t have to write in strict chronological order. Conversely, use writing to help improve your mood.  Being creative in itself is a positive thing.  If what you produce is good, even better.  (And if not, it’s on its way to being better because a darned good edit works wonders! And everybody needs said darned good edit on whatever they write before sending it anywhere.  Even Shakespeare didn't get it right first go).

Show your characters’ moods well and how they change. 
After all we’re not in one state of mind all the time so neither should they be.  Moods affect actions affect consequences and plot!  Show your characters learning from their experiences - what not to do again for example - and where appropriate where a character refuses to learn.  Look at why they have that refusal - is it just stubbornness or are they afraid of change?  Have they good reasons to be afraid?

Show your characters’ expressions. 
I tend to get Eileen to grimace a lot (!) (though to be fair she has cause) and am aware I need to vary her expressions.  Also show your characters trying to hide what they really feel - after all we do it so why shouldn’t your creations?  What happens when a character fails to hide how they feel or shows their emotions to the wrong person?  What catastrophes could be unleashed? 

What calms your characters when agitated? What cheers them? What depresses them?  What do they get angry about? 
If you know the answers to the above, you know your characters well. Whilst I don’t think you can separate character from plot, both are essential for a good story, a good plot with a weak character will fail as will a good character with not “enough to do” or in the wrong storyline for them.  You can only know what story line is right by knowing the character well enough and knowing what they would/would not do in any given circumstance.  Ask yourself if you're stretching your character well enough too. 

Does your tale show the passing of time?
Do your characters lead their own lives?
Is your star in their life’s prime
Or going through a period of strife?
Do they develop and change?
Do they have an emotional range?


The quickest way to kill a novel, script or short story is to populate it with flat characters.  Flat as in no depth and in having “bland” reactions to the events depicted in the story.  It sounds horrid but readers want to “see” the characters experience pain, laughter, learn from their mistakes, make mistakes to learn from in the first place and so on.


Do all of your characters fascinate you?
Can you see how their lives change for better or worse?
Are they fully rounded, believable too?
How do they affect others - by blessing or curse?


When I say fascinate, this doesn’t have to be in a good way.  I’ve portrayed Brankaresh as a power hungry misogynist - do I have any sympathy with those views?  Definitely not.  I think out of all my characters it is easy to spot the one I really didn’t have any sympathy with at all and it was such a joy to kill him off!!  Having said that I tried to get into the head of this wizard to find out how he could justify what he believes and what he does.  And you need to do this for all your “stars”, whether they’re heroes or not.  Readers have got to be able to see where your characters come that in that sense or they won’t be able to empathize.  No empathy with at least one character (and it doesn’t matter if that empathy is limited) and you lose your readers. 

I've found useful writing advice from various sources - Stephen King's marvellous On Writing, Writers' News/Writing Magazine and author websites/blogs.  Some of the tips I've found most useful are given below.  They're not in any particular order.

Give your characters hell.
The hell has to be relevant to the situation  your characters could face, naturally, otherwise it will be artificial.  In a magical world it would be not deemed unreasonable to face a dragon attack but put that situation here on 21st Century Earth... well you get the point!

Generally speaking, characters aren’t meant to have a quiet life in fiction!  As a reader I want to know what these characters are capable of doing, what makes them tick and there's nothing like a crisis to bring the best/worst out of someone.  In between the crises and the ending, you want to see how the characters normally are so you can see how they change for better or worse.  It's the change in situation/character reactions that makes for a gripping read.

You wouldn’t read a quiet book, would you? You are looking for something to happen even if that is something like the dear old lady character on Page 2 Chapter 2 becomes a crazed jumble sale veteran, willing to kill for the latest bargain, by the end of the story.  It'd never surprise me if someone somewhere has written that tale! Do you know your characters’ individual stress levels?  There’s many a tale to be told showing where characters crack, why and the consequences of that cracking. 

Give your characters secrets.
Again these have to be relevant.  The secret of being able to produce really good knitting at the drop of a pair of knitting needles will only be relevant when someone's craft skills perhaps puts them in serious rivalry with someone else (and that character acts on that rivalry.  Stabbing them to death with a pair of scissors perhaps?!). So ask yourself what secrets do your characters have? Who else knows them?  Who could find them out if they suspected anything was up?  Corruption exists in any world, why not your fantasy one?  Who is the whistle blower?  What are the consequences?

Give your characters a mixture of good, bad and irritating traits.
Just as we have a mixture of good traits, bad habits and irritating traits, so should your characters.  Eileen is courageous, bends the rules and is as stubborn as they come.  How good that is depends on (a) what circumstances she is in and (b) who is on the receiving end of this.  The Queen does not approve at all.  Eileen is a pain in the neck to her and to Jenny yet when you want someone with grit to tackle the latest magical threat, Eileen is the one to call.

Don't be afraid to cut.  Everything that remains in your story must be relevant, else it's out.
I’ve learned to cut more as I’ve written more.  You get a better feel for what is relevant and what isn’t. I enjoy the editing process, especially as you sense your story becoming tighter, better and the waffle comes out (and there’s always some!).  It is important to let yourself write and then let yourself edit and treat the two as two separate tasks.  They are two separate processes.  You don’t want your editing side to get in the way of your creative side.  And the things you cut might work their way into future stories if good enough.  Stick to the point of your story, always. Know what that point is, always.