By Books Author Denise Turney

Inspiration for these writing tips came to me while watching a Television Drama. As interesting as the plot for the television drama was, the characters made too many mindless choices to keep me hooked.

After awhile, I felt too frustrated watching the characters make choices that would put anyone’s life in jeopardy. More than a few kindergarteners would know better than to do what these characters did. It was more evidence that great storytelling takes work.

Great Storytelling – Avoid These Writing Mistakes

Because the acting was good, I actually tried to figure out why the characters in the TV drama were unbelievable. A possible reason could be that the TV producers and directors were so focused on the story that they often tossed practicality and common sense to the wind. And, it’s easy to do.

To sharpen your writing craft, consider practical real-life patterns and traditions. Also, avoid these story missteps:

• Align character motives to what you reveal about the character’s childhood, development and experiences. In other words, don’t make a pastor have a marital affair just because the pastor moved to a new town or just because a woman tried to seduce him. Give the character strong, believable motives.
• Craft story scenes were women close the front door, not once lock the door, and go upstairs or into the basement without so much as a second thought.
• Set women characters in suspense settings but avoid having these same women characters look through a peep hole or glance out of the edge of their blinds to see who’s on the porch or front stoop before they open the front or back door.

More Great Storytelling Writing Tips

• Build deep, abiding trust between two strangers that have known each other less than a day, the type of trust  that, in real life, takes months, sometimes years, to develop.
• Embed a motive to save someone in a character to the point that the character turns blind, even ignoring her own instincts, common sense and basic human impulses to save the person.
• Develop a character so that he exhibits only one personality trait, ambition or motive.
• Limit a character to a single emotion, only allowing a character to express rage, fear, kindness, weakness, intelligence or courage.
• Introduce fashion, housing, food, slang and cultural trends into a television drama, fanfiction, a short story or other storytelling that did not exist at the time that the story takes place.

Power of Realistic Fiction

Great storytelling takes work. Even if you’re a writer who can knock out an engaging story absent an outline or character sketches, it takes time, focus and skill to write a story that resonates with hundreds or thousands of book buyers. For starters, you’ve got to appeal to each book buyer’s interests, ambitions, passions and fears.

Even if you write science fiction books, you have to create such believable characters that readers perceive the characters to be real. Readers have to believe that the story could happen, even if the story takes place on another planet.

And, yet, the story has to have practical elements. Readers need to believe that your characters’ motives, weaknesses, strengths and personality traits are relatable. Whether you’re writing a novel, a stage play, major motion picture script or television drama, make sure that your characters use common sense. After all, if you’re an especially skilled writer, people could think that the choices that your characters make really are the best options.

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