This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 270 second episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

December is when I always try to do cleanup on the blog. I check all the static pages to make sure their info is

still pertinent and their links are still alive. Mostly this is just routine

stuff, but if you have any suggestions for ways to make the site more accessible or useful to you,

now is your chance. Just drop me a line via the contact page at helping writers become authors dot com slash contact. And now I hope you enjoyed this week's podcast entitled

Most Common Writing Mistakes Part 36, too much introspection, not enough interaction.

The best character development is often found in the heart of his personal narrative, his introspective

observations and reactions to the events of the story. As I've preached many a time, if a character is not reacting to what's happening in your story,

then what's happening doesn't matter.

But the irony here is that the eternal balancing act of the writer leads us to yet

another of the most common writing mistakes. Too much introspection.

Character thoughts are awesome.

They're the single greatest advantage of written fiction over other narrative art forms.

The ability to get inside a character's head and see the world from his unique

viewpoint is what brings life to great stories, everything from Catcher in the Rye to

true grit to Poison Wood Bible.

Stories that are too sparse in the Internal Narrative Department

are often two-dimensional, lopsided, and less than engaging, sometimes to the point of being outright boring.

But introspection can never take the place of interaction.

When you end up with characters doing more observing than acting,

that's often, although definitely not always,

a sign you're avoiding the best parts of your story. So there you are writing an

...