Antagonists are usually older and far more powerful than the protagonist.

You can in fact start a tale by introducing one conflict, a minor one that is easily dispensed with, and then moving to another, and another, and another—until you reach your major conflict.

stories revolve around conflict, and when you open with only one character, you’re not putting that character into direct conflict.

in your opening chapter you’ll need to ground the reader in the character, conflict, and setting. But you should also know that in every chapter where you change setting or character you’ll have to do the same thing. So each time that you open a chapter in a novel, make sure that you’ve got all three of these major elements covered.

One way to make a character memorable is to tag each of your characters. By this I mean, you can give each person a distinguishing feature—such as a limp, a red trench coat, or an unusual accent—so that when you bring that person into the story, the reader can quickly identify him or her.

—The character must then try to resolve the conflict and fail. —The character must try to resolve the conflict a second time, using greater resources—more resolve, more determination, with a better plan, perhaps even calling upon the aid of friends—and fail a second time. —The character must make one grand final attempt to resolve the problem. (In

First, in every scene, the setting should impinge upon the character’s senses.

advise you that rather than have a scene set in Boise, Idaho, you should see if you can move it someplace more exotic and desirable, such as Paris or Monaco.

Remember that just as we can escalate the action of a story, we can also escalate the rooting interest in our characters. Some characters become more likeable, more noble, as we read on. So in order to make a character more likeable, we sometimes have to look at the protagonist and consider ways to surprise the reader. In other words, let your