I have heard over the years how easy it is to write. It is not that simple or easy. It be great if it was. So I pulled up some notes on things that authors need to remember and include from a character development class I took.

Do you have your setting correct? It tells you where and when a story line is occurring. It has to be believable for it gives you the opportunity to deliver a backdrop for your book. For example if you are in the tundra or jungle odds are the book is an adventure. If the dust bowl in the Midwest is where you are at the character might experience tough times in the story line.

One can’t forget that the mood and setting can change through the book. Location and weather also hints where the reader will find themselves. The setting gives us the physical boundaries and develops the plot and characters. If we can’t wrap our minds around it you will lose us.

You can’t forget the good guy who is the central figure that readers can identify with but they must go through changes through the book or else they will fall flat and be one dimension. You want your characters to be well-rounded. They should have positive features and still be flawed making them dynamic as they change with the experiences they encounter. We develop characters directly or indirectly. Directly we state what the character looks like, what they say, do or feel. Indirectly we let the readers draw the conclusions by the words written.

But hey let’s not forget about the plot which is an arrangement of consequence of the story including conflict and obstacles. And even then there is still more to think on and perfect. One has to include the conflict and the resolution.  And still that is not the end.

There is so much more that goes on in writing a book and making it published ready. To tell someone writing is easy has never picked up a pen and tried.