Quick and Easy Writing Fixes

A monthly column offering easy, effective solutions to writing and revision challenges.

Personality fixes everything

Posted on October 14, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

That’s a good notion. With multiple interpretations of course.

Writers who are introverts may already be running away from this post. Wait!

This post is not about us as people, but about how to IMPROVE our WRITING in general to impress readers.

How do you inject personality without going too far?

I recently attended an in-person conference where not only the agent panel talked about “looking for personality” in your query and writing, but panels of authors, contest judges, poets, and others boiled things down to “personality.”

Personality sells. It’s a tool to improve your writing project, even making it seem easier or more satisfying for you.

Even social media are important. Agents said they look at social media to see if you are “lifting up people” with your messaging versus otherwise.

Let’s stick with personality in the writing project in this post.

We know we shouldn’t be dull. Let’s get more helpful for techniques you can apply right now.

The dictionary gives small clues. “Personality” means the PATTERNS and the QUALITY of the behavior as expressed by physical and mental activities and attitudes. Right there you have a handy list of several things to use to develop a new character or to massage a character that isn’t yet capturing reader attention.

The conference “horror workshop” gave another clue for building better personality in all types of stories. Horror relies on EMPATHY for the character. That’s true of any type of story, whether romance, thrillers, general fiction or even memoirs. How soon do we learn three important things about your character that will draw us into the story? I advise writers strive to have those three things on page one or somehow hinted there.

At this conference keynoter Christina Clancy said she works on “personality” in her prose in other ways.

“You always remember the vibe of a book even if you forget the story.”

Wow. VIBE. What is the vibe your pages are giving off to readers?

Again—what is the personality?

Clancy also mentioned a practical technique: When you get stuck on page 72, go back and think about why you wanted to write the story.

Her advice holds true for poems or anything—remember why you started your project in the first place. Re-capture your vibe—the PERSONALITY you so loved in the beginning.

In the picture book workshop, the same sentiment came out this way: “Lean into your weird.”

Figure out what makes your project WEIRD in the sense that it’s truly YOU. Is it the character? Structure? Voice? Word choice? Emotion? Action? Objects? Your weird makes you unique and worthy to readers.

Our own personality drives our writing. “Remember in the middle you are OPTIMISTIC,” Clancy said. “Editing is an act of optimism.”

A conference poetry session gave us this exercise, and it’s a good one for a writer OR YOUR CHARACTER to complete.

“I knew I was ____________________when __________________.”

My character knew X when…?

I knew I was a writer when…

…When I was inspired to add more PERSONALITY to my writing.

(The conference referred to is an annual autumn one sponsored by Wisconsin Writers Association.)

Key for your writing: Who LONGS for what?

Posted on September 8, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

You may be writing a novel, memoir, screenplay, short story, or poem. Illustrating LONGING is important.

Think about its importance, too, in songwriting where the singer is always longing for something or someone.

“Longing” sells.

Readers identify with it. Don’t we all long for something or someone at some moment in life? Scarlet O’Hara longed for something and someone in Gone With the Wind. Dorothy longed to get home in The Wizard of Oz.

When you pick up your next book or watch the next movie or series, ask: Who longs for what? How did the writer turn that into a great plot? Great characters?

“Longing” is a key theme in my Fudge Shop Mystery Series. I built that series around characters who long for something important. Protagonist Ava Oosterling and her grandfather Gil always long for something better to happen for them and the good people of Door County and the village of Fishers’ Harbor.

In Mastering Plot Twists by Jane Cleland, I found essential advice about “longing” for memoirists and novelists. Three questions create a crucial triad:

1. Who longs for what? (Answer for all main characters)

2. What are those people willing to do to satisfy their longings?

3. Who or what opposes them? What do they long for?

I applied the exercise to one of my series’ books. Analyze your own plot along with my effort, or if you’re a reader think about the book you’re currently enjoying.

My homework from the Fudge Shop Mystery Series:

Protagonist Ava Oosterling LONGS for happiness for her grandparents, who live on the street next to her B&B Blue Heron Inn on the hill in Fishers’ Harbor, Wisconsin. Why that longing?

She returned from California to Door County on Lake Michigan after her grandma broke a leg and couldn’t help in Grandpa’s fishing gear shop. Grandpa moved things around and made room for a candy-and-fudge-making operation run by Ava. He LONGS to have the family back together in Door County, and he longs to keep Ava happy because he loves his only grandchild.

“Longing” created my plot and characterization “roots.”

Ava had secretly LONGED to return home after ten years away in California. She’s eager for success. She LONGS to do well for family and community.

Murders oppose Ava’s peaceful goals, therefore she’s MOTIVATED to leap into solving troubles so Fishers’ Harbor is a haven and the place where she “longs” to belong.

Look at your story, novel, script, or memoir idea.

1) Who longs for what? Why? How?

2) What action did that longing motivate?

3) If a writer, can you use “longing” for more profound emotions?

“Longing” examples in novels…

WIN by Harlan Coben, James by Percival Everett, Havoc by Christopher Bollen, Weepers by Nick Chiarkas, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

“Longing” example in nonfiction:

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“Longing” example in memoir:

How to Catch a Mole, and also Seed to Dust, and Spring Rain, all by Marc Hamer

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | 1 Comment

Attach “attachments” to attract readers

Posted on August 13, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Attachment (dictionary meaning): anything added or attached; affectionate regard or devotion.

In storytelling an “attachment” means things you add to a character to make them not only distinct but to possibly take away and thus challenge them.

An attachment is part of the plotting exercise, and can also be used in the sales wording for the novel’s back cover or inside jacket.

The attachment—when messed with—is also a handy tool to force change in a character and the trajectory of the story.

Attachments can entertain effectively. They draw in readers.

Example of attachments: In the classic movie The Wizard of Oz the girl Dorothy has an aunt as her advisor/protector (attachment) who is lost when Dorothy is whisked up in the tornado. After she’s in Oz, Dorothy gains three helpful friends (attachments) but almost loses them, and later the Wicked Witch wants to take Dorothy’s dog (attachment from the start) and the new mysterious, magical ruby shoes (attached at a significant plot point). Dorothy is forced to change and grow when those attachments are threatened. We feel for her emotionally.

Attachments help us care about a character, even laugh, as in the dogs, cats, and other pets attached to protagonists in mystery novels and more. Those attachments show up on the cover on purpose—they draw readers.

A bland character might have few or no attachments, but can be improved when you add or change the attachments.

Attachments are planned and planted by wise authors.

A plot may sprout from characters with attachments. A plot may also be improved by revising with a new attachment.

Introduce a supportive best friend early, for example, who leaves before or at the Midpoint Crisis so we can see the protagonist shine on their own. The attachment was necessary in order for readers to witness your character suddenly cope without a buddy. We empathize with the loss of a friend or “going it alone.”

Effective stories strip away or mess with a character’s attachment(s) in order to make the character DESPERATE enough to make decisions, take ACTION, and GROW.

If a character or plot is too shallow or “thin,” add an attachment early on, revise, and see where it takes you.

If critique buddies aren’t connecting with your manuscript, experiment with an attachment or two.

If the publishing and producing worlds aren’t connecting with your character, think about how attachments can bring in needed layering—and fun for the audience. Superman got a dog, after all, in a recent movie.

Attachments are superb when they have “weight.”

Example: Saying a character lives in a two-story house doesn’t have weight. You can’t sell that. Yawn for page one of your novel. Instead, what if your character reveals they saved for years to buy a historic house built by a famous mobster or poet? And they’ve lovingly restored it to its former beauty. Now the house has “weight” for readers. Losing that attachment would mean something to the character and readers.

How would you sell that scenario to an interviewer? Just give us the attachment info: “After lovingly restoring a former mobster’s house for years, Fred discovers…(you fill in the blank).”

Dorothy in Oz had 1) a dog, 2) ruby shoes literally attached, and 3) various friends/mentors who helped her journey. We rooted for those attachments.

What are one to three significant things your character might be attached to that you can use to improve characterization and plot?

Attachments help you create a character that grows and a plot that wins readers.

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: fiction, writing, writing-tips | Leave a comment

Sense of taste—sweet or sour, stand out & sell!

Posted on July 8, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

To fix a bland opening or beginning area of your novel or memoir, even a screenplay—try the sense of taste. You’ll stand out AND join authors who are selling well.

Most writers ignore sense of taste in opening pages—and that’s why it’ll help you.

We writers often focus on action. We also easily fill in colors, smells, and a sense of touch. What if after the tenth, twentieth, or second pass on your material you revise your beginning by including a significant taste sensation? How about trying the quick fix now, before you send out your new material the first time?

Readers REMEMBER tastes, flavors, and food. We gravitate toward taste, and that’s why it can work on pages one and two in particular.

The sense of taste can be used anywhere within the manuscript. The Harry Potter series has Aunt Petunia’s “violet pudding,” and we know about the novel and movie with “fried green tomatoes.” How about “green eggs and ham”? Or “pickled limes” in Little Women?

Look at current authors using food for killer book sales in any genre.

In her suspense/thriller “Sean McPherson” series, Laurie Buchanan puts scrumptious food on the pages and table of her crime-fighter family.

In John Sandford’s Easy Prey, his first paragraph contains this line: “He lay with his eyes closed, breathing across a tongue that tasted like burnt chicken feathers.” The writer means business. I’ll read on.

Harlan Coben’s The Boy From the Woods has this tasty material on page one of Chapter One: “They threw things at her. Paper clips. Rubber bands. Flick snot from their noses. They put small pieces of paper in their mouths, wad the paper into wet balls, propel them in various ways at her.” Coben used our familiarity with the taste of paper to draw us in.

In The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman the mystery begins with Joyce at lunch having shepherd’s pie. We know instantly we’re in England.

Sometimes a certain food is the basis of something special within a plot, tying strands of action, time periods, and family members together. That’s the case with the well-received novel Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. Title your novel with food! It’s a draw! By page 15 we have this:

“Black cake. Byron catches himself smiling. Ma and Dad used to share a slice of cake every year to mark their anniversary.”

The author goes on to describe more about that special cake, which ties together the novel’s beginning, middle, and end.

What about memoir and nonfiction? Food on page one sells there, too. Perhaps you’ve heard of the uber-popular nonfiction books by Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass. In her shorter book, The Serviceberry, she gets us right into “taste” on page one as a touchstone for how we live and improve our communities.

“They are all around me, Cedar Waxwings and Catbirds and a flash of Bluebird iridescence. I have never felt such a kinship to my namesake, Robin, as in this moment when we are both stuffing our mouths with berries and chortling with happiness.”

Food helps express all five senses. Some foods crackle; colors are vibrant or not; smells might be ambrosial, heavenly, or not; food textures in our hands or mouths may pull in readers, too.

The sense of “taste” makes us pay special attention.

Food references on your page one might lean on food history, recipes, politics, chefs, farmers, gardeners, other people, travel, places, culture, money, adversity, beauty, animals, seasons, surprises, and more.

What is your character’s favorite food? For an exercise, describe it through their POV on page one and add a twist.

Taste success with your delectable writing.

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: creative-writing, fiction | Leave a comment

Quick Fix: Find a character’s “strength anchors”

Posted on June 2, 2025 by christinedesmetauthor

Effective characters deal in inner and outer strengths; the strengths ANCHOR a character’s abilities, actions, reactions, and emotional growth.

At least 5 types of strengths are in our toolbox: Emotional (love, sympathy, etc.), Intellectual (ability to reason, learned qualities), Spiritual (connection to soul or inner refinement/pursuit), Physical (muscles, etc.), and Practical (habits or skills developed for repetitive chores or safety, etc.).

Strength Anchors

We writers spend a lot of time figuring out a character’s “Fatal Flaw” and what’s behind it but a good strength (or more) is needed to overcome the Fatal Flaw.

What I call “STRENGTH ANCHORS” create characters we want to follow.

An anchor is not a quick cliché, but a cliché can be turned into a good anchor if the writer explores it within the story.

Also, characters are not just one strength and one weakness (though one Fatal Flaw is enough for any story).

Think about the array of strengths your character might possess, and which one is needed most and when. Which one must ascend from being a minor strength to become a major one? Perhaps that one should be hinted at in the opening pages. Rudolph the reindeer, for example, showed us his shining beacon of a nose in the opening of the classic annual Christmas TV movie, but he was told it was a weakness and hid it. Then, in the end it finally became a major strength.

On page one readers have to relate somehow to your character. We often try to present trouble and show the “weakness” starting out. An alternative is to show a strength that matters to your plot later. Maybe it’s a strength that only we witness at first. Oh how fun it is for readers to share a secret with your character! That’s a hook.

What is your character’s method or power to RESIST strain, stress, and stupid stuff? That resistance is pretty much the dictionary definition of “strength.”

Donald Maass in Writing the Breakout Novel notes strengths create COMPELLING characters. “The characters will not engross readers unless they are out of the ordinary.”

In Story Fix, Larry Brooks suggests writing a better “ticking clock” to test your character. Panicked characters often reveal unusual or interesting strengths.

In The Plot Thickens, Noah Lukeman notes a writer should create STRONG CIRCUMSTANCES for a character to react to. Good examples are usually found in award-winning books.

Here’s a trick: Create a stronger character using what I call “STACKING” of strengths. If we say things commonly occur in “threes,” try it for strengths to round out a character. “Stacking” makes characters surprising and interesting. No character has just one strength anchoring them.

Consider 12 ways to create “strength anchors” that matter:

– What did they learn from a past action?

– Pride fueled by a good memory of an event or accomplishment?

– Admiration for somebody and how they act?

– A meaningful symbol (the flag etc.)?

– A skill they have or decide to acquire? What motivates that?

– Do they experience an unexpected result after an action taken?

– Does another character leave a legacy your character wants to follow?

– What about an animal adding dimension?

– Perhaps they draw a special strength from nature? The land? Space?

– Strength from history and knowledge? A feeling of owing the past?

– Does a religion or belief system bring strength?

– What about a strength from the character’s younger years? Was that strength forgotten until now? Why?

Readers talk about strong characters. Get them talking about yours.

Categories: Quick and Easy Writing Fixes | Tags: writing, writing-tips | Leave a comment