Is Your Novel a STILL LIFE or a LIVING PORTRAIT?

WHAT MAKES A NOVEL 

COME ALIVE?

1.) Memorable characters

More than plot, riveting, absorbing characters draw us in.

I read and re-read the Spenser mysteries for the quick wit and snappy dialogue 

between Spenser, Hawk, and Susan.

Raymond Chandler made Philip Marlowe a person you wanted to listen to no matter how confusing the mystery.

“From 30 feet away 
she looked like a lot of class. 
From 10 feet away 

she looked like something 

made up to be seen 
from 30 feet away.”

2.) Original Plot

Take the movie, Mirage:

 Gregory Peck is caught in a building’s blackout, 

and rather than wait for the power to return and use the elevator, 

he makes his way down the stairs. 

He bumps into Diane Baker who greets him as a friend, but he does not know her. 

Alarmed, she flees into a sub-basement.

On the street, he finds the body of a man who supposedly jumped out of a window.  

He returns to try to find Diane only to discover there is no sub-basement.

Shaken, Gregory hires a private investigator to help him sort things out.  

He brings the detective to his office, only to find a blank wall.

It is an absorbing, riveting film because the plot is totally unique.  

And since it was made in 1966, there are no Matrix explanations ... only well-thought out ones.

3.) Do you like being a victim?

Neither does your reader.  

Most of us feel powerless in life more than we wish.  

We read to lose ourselves, to live vicariously adventures 

where the protagonists take control of their problems 

and after thrilling adventures triumph.

4.) Make them laugh.

Novels with serious themes like The Fault in Our Stars and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl 

use humor for good reason.

 Joss Whedon:

“Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, 

but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.” 

A good laugh is a great way to relieve non-stop tension to set up the reader for the next jolt.

Humor in dialogue also is a way to quickly, subtly convey character relationships.

WHAT ARE SOME GOOD WAYS 

YOU BREATHE LIFE 

INTO YOUR NOVEL?