Characters
Strong characters are undoubtedly the single-most important element of fiction writing, and while you may have a general plot outline, it is generally better to begin with a detailed character outline. Such an outline will entail much more than adjectives to describe your character, for example brave, athletic, ambitious, etc.
Rather, think of who the characters is and how they define themselves. People often define themselves by their employment or family. Let’s consider employment as a starting point. Perhaps your character is a cop, teacher, FBI agent, writer, or scientist, and this is extremely important to his or her sense of well being. If something were to threaten the character's ability to continue in this field, or to practice the skills and work toward the goals of this job, he or she would be very unhappy indeed. This is the basis of conflict, which will drive the plot.
Character development is very much a study in psychology and identity. The character must struggle and work to overcome these obstacles. When it seem the obstacles are just about to be overcome, another conflict occurs, which makes it seem that the goals will not be realized. Typically, in the end however, the main character triumphs over adversity.
The author should give the character some strong and some weak points.
This helps to make the character realistic. Good novels contain
characters that grow and struggle to achieve their goals. Typically,
conflict occurs when the character’s way of life is threatened and the
character works to align his world with his strongly established
identity.
The motivation of the character is very
important. Why does the character set out to solve the problem of a
polluted lake or run in front of a car to save a child? The character
shouldn't do something totally alien to what the writer has led the
reader to think is the character's viewpoint of life. There is a saying
that writer's use “stepping out of character.” That is not supposed to
happen.
Writing a character sketch for each character in a
short story or novel is a good method of figuring out what the
character will be like. The character sketch includes where he was
born, family, friends, hobbies, likes, dislikes, physical attributes,
body language, background, and any other distinguishing trait. Once
this is done, the writer should stick to the character sketch when
showing his characters in action and in dialog. How the character talks
and what he says will say a lot about him.
When the writer
knows his characters well and the era his characters live in, he is
ready to write a believable piece of fiction.
Premise
The premise of your book is like a thesis statement in a research paper. The sum of your plot, the actions and their consequences, will prove your thesis. In fiction, unlike reality, we can create an ideal world of absolute justice. The struggle to achieve justice is a common element of fiction.
Organization, Structure, and Selectivity
Organization and form are perhaps the most commonly overlooked elements of writing. In the absence of a detailed outline where one action leads to another in logical causation, books tend to be disjointed and rambling. Such a disorganized and unfocused book is absolutely unpublishable.
We understand that each hour of organization will save months of time writing. In actuality, many writers become overly focused on the irrelevant passages and sometimes entire chapters they have written. Although the chapters may be well written, in the context of their book, it has no place. It is often challenging to set aside quality writing that has no place in the book. Perhaps it can be used in a different story, but the skilled writer understand selectivity and when to set aside certain passages, pages, and chapters to keep the story moving and focused on the single premise.