As a book coach and developmental editor, the biggest mistake I see in manuscripts is a weak character arc. A weak character arc means that readers won't stay invested in your story. As fiction writers, our primary goal is to get readers to the end of our story. That means you need to do whatever you can to get character development right! Your success as a writer depends on it.

An author’s job is to please and delight readers. This is the joyful, beautiful, wonderful gift of being a writer. Writing success is directly linked to how well we can engage readers. If you are not considering what a reader experiences when they read your story, then it will be incredibly challenging to figure out how to become a successful author.

Whatever your feelings about the Barbie movie, you can’t deny its popularity. But, why is the Barbie movie so popular? Let’s put on our storyteller hats and try to figure that out. My inkling is that it’s the themes of the Barbie movie that resonate so well with so many people (and perhaps infuriate others).

Readers can get tired of too many lines of straight dialogue, so what should we do to break up our dialogue? One of the toughest things about getting dialogue right is figuring out what should surround it. Below are three ways to break up your dialogue and expertly draw readers into your scenes.

Your main character is the beating heart of your story. Your goal is to take them on a transformation journey so powerful that your reader is itching to turn the pages of your novel. Considering how important character is, I’m always surprised at how many writing teachers don’t know how to build proper character arcs.