Too little plot

Not sure if this will help -- plot is definitely an area of growth for me -- but one bit of advice I found helpful was -- after you've figured all the stuff you already know (characters, relationships, setting, etc.) write the climatic scene and then all the way through to the end. Once I did this it made it easier for me to see how the decisions made early had to build up to it. This helped me figure out how to make the conflicts bigger over time and to make sure what the characters learned in the early conflicts paid off later. And it worked a lot better for me than outlining because, for better or worse, I tend to think in dialogue.

Don't know if this will help, but I write historical fantasy, and the history is an important element.

I just pubbed a novelette set at the end of WWI (even ancient-er history). I think it'll sell over time, but it was really a passion project. It's something that I think will please my readers (and that bit worked: https://absolutewrite.com/forums/sh...onderful-happened-when-I-checked-Amazon-today), but it's not the sort of thing that will necessarily attract new ones, just because of its length--15k.

But that's all the story there was, using my pacing and my voice. Adding more would merely fluff it up and dilute the story, IMO.

Maybe you're trying to make a boring novel out of a riveting novella. Just a thought.

I haven't read the other answers so excuse me if someone else has suggested this but a subplot would help. A subplot is great for adding depth to a story.

There are lots of definitions of the word plot. Basically, it is the sequence of information. Controlling how the information is released, is how you keep the reader interested. It is the main skill in writing page-turning books. I suggest you don't worry about the first draft. It is easier to see events and how the improve them later in the process.

Assume your reader is not at all interested in WW2.

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mpack said:

Given the continued popularity of books, movies, television series, computer games, and documentaries set in WW2, I don't think this makes for a good assumption.

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I'm also going to go ahead and say that in historical you should definitely NOT assume your reader wants the historical setting as backdrop. You should NOT assume your reader is uninterested or uninformed. Quite the opposite. Historical fiction readers read historical fiction because they want to read about history, not a story that could be anywhere with some window-dressing. If they don't already know a lot about the period, they WANT to know a lot about the period. The history MUST be an integral part of the story. It MUST fuel the characters and the plot.

There's little for me to say that hasn't been said already, but I have been reading Donald Maas's The Breakout Novelist. In it he mentions how tension needs to be on every page and the many forms it comes in. It can range from two characters not talking to each other or a pending decision. It doesn't have to be action on every page, but it does need to move things along in an interesting way. You may be able to incorporate such things into a plot that you've already outlined, but it may also take some rewriting as well. Don't be too discouraged about the dreaded rewrite. Your characters and story will benefit from it, and you will be able to see your work go in directions you may not have expected, which is always fascinating to me. I hope this helps. Best of luck to you!

For what it's worth, I can relate. I've had the same challenge a lot, where I'll come up with characters quite easily but have a hard time translating that to external conflict.

One thing that might help is to think about ways that the characters' internal conflicts might translate into action. For example, if a character is self-conscious and eager to please, how could that get them into trouble? Maybe they tell a lie to impress people and then have to scramble to cover it up, or they jump at an opportunity to do something that they think will bring them glory or popularity and end up getting in over their head.

I feel like it can help to really understand what a character-driven plot looks like (which is something I'm still working on). I realized that a lot of the problem I had was that I was approaching the characters and plot separately. I had my characters, who were very fleshed-out. But then I approached the plot as something I was obligated to invent, which isn't a very organic way of figuring it out. I've had better luck focusing on 1) ways that my characters can create conflicts (both in the sense of having goals that aren't easily attainable and in the sense of getting themselves in trouble sometimes) and 2) external conflicts that make sense for the story I want to tell.

I agree conflict keeps us turning the pages, but I also believe that some sort of long-term goal needs to be established as well. The goal can and often does change, which is fine.

One thing I learned that helped me is having really dissimilar characters, with different beliefs, goals, demeanor, backgrounds, etc. I once had a story with two protagonists who were very similar, agreeing all the time. I thought the plot would carry the story, but it didn't. It seemed thin. After trying all kinds of things someone suggested I change the two main characters to be completely different. Not only did it vastly improve the story, but I got to evolve their relationship from antagonistic to one of grudging respect, one of my favorite kinds of relationships.

Some Lonely Scorpio said:

... it's more about how the war effects and changes them psychologically.

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Then write a scene about each of those changes. Are they sad? What made them sad? Maybe they lost a friend on the battlefield. Write a scene of them receiving the news. Are they happy? What made them happy? Maybe they saw a lovely sunset and forgot about the war for a moment. Here's another scene. But maybe then they felt guilty that they changed from sad to happy. There comes another scene. Maybe that character sits there, poking themselves with a fork as punishment. And then somebody else comes in and sees it. Maybe that's their future love interest. Here's a side-plot. You can still have the main plot about this character being affected by the war and alongside that they can fall in love. Or they can take up a trade. Maybe they can start a chocolate shop and try to make everybody else in the village happy, despite the war. More plot. Maybe the mayor will be completely unhappy with that and will try to stop this character's chocolate business. The plot complicates. There's always things that can happen. You can't just have your character sit in a room and sulk because that's how the war's affecting them. People have lives, they do things all day, so just tell us what your character does. That's plot.

cool pop said:

I haven't read the other answers so excuse me if someone else has suggested this but a subplot would help. A subplot is great for adding depth to a story.

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Yes.

I am writing in SFF.

I spent some time figuring out a minor character's motivation for her own life (she is only in 2 of 36 chapters; chapters 1 and 32). Then I made the main character work to figure that out even though she wasn't on the page in the intervening chapters. It gave me a way to perk up a few slow scenes, and it gave the science fiction a small mystery angle, too. In the end, this subplot allowed several chapters to fill out nicely because he was working through a puzzle. It's like adding a spice, and depth, and it gives the illusion of progress in scenes that would feel too slow otherwise.

He figures out her motivation. Technically, the story existed without it, before, but now having it makes those chapters so much richer. His ending motivation is linked to blocking her plans, and so he gets an oomph in his drive, too, when he figures her out.

Subplot, baby. I've heard you can go overboard with this strategy, but if you have a minor character with a strong personality, you might consider giving them their own unwritten story - what they are doing off the page - and then let the critical bits bleed into your story,

Plot is about conflict and resolution. Moral imperfections in your characters can lead to conflict. In a historical fiction, I'm thinking of someone who is tired of the war rationing, and maybe has decided to take matters into their own hands with a blackmarket deal. But you know your charactes and may imagine some other conflict.