This is KAMWyland and you are listening to the one hundred fifty- episode of the word play podcast.

What a difference a week can make.

I'm very happy I took a week off to reduce my writing batteries.

I feel like it did wonders to help me decompress from my hectic and intense rewrite of Dreamlander,

but I'm also thrilled to be back at it. This week I not only began another edit of my historical work and

progress the deepest breath, I also dived into outlining my new historical

fantasy, Storming, about a barnstormer who discovers a land above the clouds after a strange woman

falls from the sky onto his plane.

Right now, I'm still working through basic what-if questions and organizing my ideas,

but so far it's been an absolute blast.

In many ways, the outline is my favorite part of the writing process, since it combines the

raw creativity with a complete lack of pressure about getting the pros just right.

Anyway, I have no complaints right now, and I hope your writing is treating you just as well.

Signs your story has too many characters.

The latest post in the video series on my blog highlights a few of the problems of over large casts and offers remedies.

You can watch the video on my blog at Wordplay dash k m yland that's

W e i l a n d dot blog spot dot com new videos are posted every Wednesday and now

I hope you enjoyed this week's podcast. Most Common Mistakes Series Part 15.

How to Spot and Fix Non-Reactive and Overreactive Characters. Half of what your character does in a story is going to be

reaction. Fiction is all about pushing and pulling. Your antagonist pushes your

protagonist and your protagonist moves away, considers the situation for a moment, then pushes right back.

That's reaction. That's the essence of fiction. It's what makes the dominoes fall.

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