Have you ever read a book that just fell flat?

The author didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. They created strong characters, killer conflict and a clever plot, beautiful scene descriptions, and so on. But still the book fell short for you, and you just can’t place your finger on what could have made the story more dynamic.

“Eh, it was just a bit formulaic,” you say when a friend asks how you enjoyed your latest read.

Today, I’m here to make the case that disappointing stories aren’t the result of sticking too closely to story structure (or to any other established writing techniques, for that matter), but rather sticking too closely to the basics of those techniques.

Vague statement. I know.

But I’m going to explain everything you need to know about how we, as authors, can move beyond the basics and elevate our stories into a realm of dynamism that will knock our readers’ socks off.

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In setting out to write Future Sex, Emily Witt 

I hoped to define what she once considered an “interim state”: the sexual identity of being a single woman unconstrained by long-term reciprocated love and partnership. The language used to describe relationship statuses within this state, such as the too all-encompassing “dating” and outdated “lovers,” she argues, has lost its meaning in the 21st century. This leads her to another query—perhaps this state isn’t so interim after all
http://lithub.com/the-evolution-of-sex-writing/

Every fiction writer beyond the beginner stage knows about point-of-view.  It’s the perspective from which a story is told.  It’s the eyes through which we are seeing, the ears through which we are hearing, the mind through which we’re processing, the heart through which we’re feeling.

POV is mostly the protagonist’s, but it can also be any other character’s (as in multi-POV), an observer’s (think Nick Carraway), or even the author’s.  The prime directive of POV is also well known: keep it consistent, no head hopping within a scene

http://writerunboxed.com/2017/01/04/immersive-pov/

It’s impossible to talk about plotting your novel without discussing character as the two are inevitably intertwined throughout your book. I also don’t believe there should be any difference between genres, as character is just as important in genre thrillers or romance as it is in literary fiction.

However, it’s important not to get too hung up on the order in which you have your ideas, as each author starts with different elements of a story at different times

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2016/12/23/writing-character-plot/