My main character's motivation took me three months to figure out

I kept writing around the problem, adding subplots and side characters, but the story felt hollow. I finally realized I'd given her a goal but no real, deep reason to want it, which meant 30,000 words of rewriting. Has anyone else spent way too long fixing a core character flaw?

3 comments

3 Comments

harpery4710d ago

Honestly, rewriting 30k words sounds extreme. Sometimes a character just needs a small tweak, not a total overhaul. I've patched a weak motivation with a single flashback scene before and it worked fine. Maybe you're overthinking it and the subplots you added actually gave her enough depth already.

the_richard10d ago

Harpery47 makes a good point about overthinking rewrites.

miles_young599d ago

My first drafts are basically just overthinking made permanent.