More Wise Words From Michael Caine

More sage advice from actor Michael Caine: He said, "Learn how to read a script. If you read the first ten pages and the last ten pages, and nothing has happened to your character, you can be pretty sure nothing's going to happen to you in between." Great advice for the writer who is weak in the area of characterization. This was one of my weaknesses long ago, until I learned that great characters are those who are pro-active, and who change somehow (learn a lesson, perhaps) at the book's end. So take a minute to read the first and last pages of your novel. Has anything happened to your main character? Is he or she passive? Are they motivated? Do they have goals? And most important, has anything significant happened to them by the end? If you answer no to these, then chances are your book will be flat and the reader, I promise you, will put it down.