by Derek Murphy | Apr 26, 2025 | Secrets
Some stories are complex. Others are just confusing. There’s a difference between a plot that keeps readers engaged and one that leaves them frustrated—between a story that challenges the mind and one that makes readers give up halfway through because they can’t keep...
by Derek Murphy | Apr 26, 2025 | Secrets
Readers love flawed characters—until they don’t. Give a protagonist too many weaknesses, and they become exhausting to read. Make them too self-destructive, and readers lose patience. Make them too selfish, and readers start wondering why they should root for them at...
by Derek Murphy | Apr 26, 2025 | Secrets
You’ve done everything right. Your protagonist has a detailed backstory, clear goals, and a unique voice. They fit the genre, they have depth, they even struggle with inner conflicts. And yet… something isn’t Why Don’t My Readers Care About My Protagonist? (Continued)...
by Derek Murphy | Apr 26, 2025 | Secrets
A bad villain ruins a good story. If they’re too one-dimensional, they feel fake, like a placeholder rather than a person. If their motivations don’t make sense, they come across as cartoonish, evil just for the sake of being evil. Readers don’t fear them, don’t...
by Derek Murphy | Apr 26, 2025 | Secrets
Writing a character who’s smarter than you feels like a paradox. How do you make someone more intelligent than you say things you wouldn’t have thought of yourself? How do you craft a master manipulator, a strategic genius, or a detective who pieces together clues...
by Derek Murphy | Apr 26, 2025 | Secrets
You’ve done the work. You’ve built an intricate backstory for your protagonist—where they were born, what their childhood was like, the defining moment that shaped them, their deepest fear. On paper, they should feel real. But on the page? They don’t. The character...
