It is important to create living breathing characters with whom the reader can identify and who fulfil the roles required in fiction. These are:

In order to bring your work to life, it is important to consider the difference between explicit and implicit description. Consider these examples:

a)   The man was fat

This is explicit. It's often our first draft of the image. It's the synopsis thought, the report, the easy way out for the writer. We are only dealing with one layer of information here, but could create a better illusion of reality, and draw the protagonist into the scene, so that we see it from their point of view. Try this...

b)   The man's shirt stretched across his belly. She could see the folds of his stomach

This is implicit. There is a picture here, an image, and I'm waiting for her to say or think something else. There's tension.

You can see that it is frequently beneficial to work towards producing an image, and adding a layer of tension, instead of just telling the reader a fact.

"I told you not to come here."
"I don't care what you said."
"Someone might have seen you."
"They didn't. I made sure."
"Oh yes, like the time before."

The complete absence of speech modifiers or setting makes it difficult to follow just who is saying what. It also makes it impossible to create a specific image, therefore denying the reader complicity.

What is it that makes us prefer one writer's work to another?

When you consider that there is one common structure it has to be the way in which that particular writer perceives a situation, and then portrays it. It comes down to the fact that they have accessed their voice.

How do we find this voice ? One important step is to give ourselves the gift of time, which is perhaps the last thing we ever allow ourselves. But it's essential.

Write for 20 minutes - the Daily Pages.

The Daily Pages comprise free writing, or in other words, stream of consciousness writing, and have been around for some time. Stream of consciousness is just as it sounds - you let whatever is in your mind pour out onto the paper - without heed to punctuation or spelling. The Daily Pages stir your unconscious. They reinforce the habit of writing, and help remove inhibitions and self-consciousness. They lead to self-awareness and self-esteem.

Feel free to write about whatever comes into your head. You might rage about a row you had the night before, or enjoy again a moment of triumph, or a dream, or an overheard conversation. Whatever comes into your head, let it stream out on the page. Let yourself feel the emotions in their raw state.

You might ask yourself questions, and not know the answers. That's OK. Say so. The day might come when you have the answer. You might show a nasty side of yourself. So what? We've all got one, but have been trained to hide it, in order to fit into society. Quite right too, we can't have everyone going around letting it all hang out whenever they feel like it. But not all your characters will be good and even the praiseworthy ones will be flawed in some way and have less than acceptable emotions. You need to remember and access how that feels. This method will help you.
Your words will be quite safe.

Because when you have completed your Daily Pages, you will destroy them. I know it's unusual but bear with me.

In the Daily Pages you will only reveal the deep truths about yourself and your experiences if you are safe in the knowledge that no-one else can ever read them. If you don't destroy these pages, you will unconsciously censor yourself. If you feel you've produced a piece of brilliant prose, then keep it. But always start thinking that no-one will ever read what you are about to write.

This will aid your writing enormously.