The first person means using ‘I’ and me the second person, you and the third person – he or she. As Fiction Ed Shirley always says – before going ahead with your story, ask yourself whose story it is that you want to tell, then make sure it’s told from that perspective only. The setting also includes the season the climate the date and time and the era. It can be somewhere large and impersonal, like Outer space (Star Wars/Trek), a more intimate setting, such as a kitchen, or even somewhere imaginary, such as Narnia.
It can be a place of residence, such as Hogwarts (Harry Potter), or a town or city, such as Oxford (Inspector Morse). Unless there’s a good basic story, it’ll be difficult for the characters to spring to life and the reader won’t want to keep reading. Your characters will help the plot move along naturally with realistic dialogue. A beginning, a middle, and an end, with a realistic storyline. Real people, with likes, dislikes, funny little foibles, and habits. But they’ll all be memorable, credible, realistic, and interesting. Not all your characters will be likeable, not all of them will be like you, some of them may appear fleetingly, others may be seriously flawed. This is so important, because unless your reader feels something for the characters, they won’t care what happens to them, and they won’t read on. Sign up to our Weekly newsletter Subscribe to our magazine for more great content Did you know there are seven basic elements in every successful story?Ĭharacter.