#253. 5 Common Mistakes That Make Your Character Feel Flat

#253. 5 Common Mistakes That Make Your Character Feel Flat

From Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice by Savannah Gilbo

June 23, 2026 · 25 min · Episode 253

About this episode

This episode helps writers diagnose and fix issues that make their characters feel flat on the page.

If your protagonist feels vivid in your head but flat on the page, this episode will help you diagnose what’s missing—and fix the specific piece of character development that will make readers care. You know your main character. Their backstory, their childhood, the exact way they take their coffee. You could talk about them for an hour. So why do they still feel flat on the page? When this happens, most writers assume they need to know more—a deeper backstory, more personality details, anoth...

People in this episode

Host: Savannah Gilbo

Topics covered

  • character development
  • writing tips
  • fiction writing
  • protagonist
  • storytelling

Keywords

  • character development
  • flat characters
  • protagonist
  • writing mistakes
  • fiction writing tips

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