“Whatever traits you want the reader to remember need to be magnified and exaggerated, even if only a little bit.”
“Try to resist the urge to prune a few bushes while the forest burns.”
“I had been neglecting to follow my story’s lead. I’d been so adamant about what I wanted my story to be that I’d ignored the signs of what it needed to be.”
“…require that characters deliver their news while climbing three flights of stairs, place a protagonist’s important interview in a too-noisy or sinister location that will put her off balance.”