Victoria Bastedo

Another great writing tip shared by FVP Featured Author, Victoria Bastedo:

All characters need a home. It’s like meeting a new friend at work or at church. You may laugh in the hallways or at break time, but after a while the friendship doesn’t progress until you take that person home. It’s that way in a lot of shows on television too, as well as in love stories; meeting the family for the first time means something.

So give your characters a home, even if your story is set (as my current one is) on a spaceship. On the Enterprise in Star Trek we saw Spock at home in his quarters, playing a lute. In Middle Earth our hobbits returned to their hole in Bag End.

If you see a thriller where the spy only lives his life in hotel rooms and Moneypenny is his deepest relationship, there may be some excitement and fancy gadgetry, but there’s not a lot of personal connection.

Even if the home is oppressive at the beginning of the story and the goal is to get away from it, bring your characters to a home worth having by the end. Building that house makes a richer story.