Every story is about a character trying to accomplish something with an obstacle in the way. And what they do and the action they take in the face of those obstacles, well, that is your story.
It is the one question asked more than any other:
I write. I write everything. I read a lot, too. Last year I think I read 80+ books. Cookbooks, operator manuals, and the magazines in the doctor’s office. Only a couple of them actually put me to sleep. Get one of those half-size spiral ring notebooks and start packing it around with you. Write down the things you see. The accident on the freeway. The person in line in front of you at the grocery store. What did you see, hear, smell, or taste?
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Under the Weeds Near the Pond
Ameera Vintebras and Chasse Domuzu
When an alien trafficking cult tears an interstellar freight vessel to pieces hunting for a terrible secret, it’s up to a veteran female freighter captain, an overworked interstellar justice officer, and a gun-slinging extra-terrestrial to hunt down the gang before it kills again.
Organic Apathy
Has your antagonistic character become a story darling or has he eased over into a psychopathic danger?
Write in a few of these tendencies to see if your darling turns into someone we love to hate:
Glibness and superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, cunning/manipulative, lack of remorse, emotional shallowness, callousness and lack of empathy, unwillingness to accept responsibility for actions, a tendency to boredom, a parasitic lifestyle, a lack of realistic long-term goals, impulsivity, irresponsibility, lack of behavioural control, behavioural problems in early life, juvenile delinquency, criminal versatility, a history of “revocation of conditional release” (ie broken parole), multiple marriages, and promiscuous sexual behaviour.