Fiction is rooted in reality. Human nature is always human nature. And fiction needs to explore that to be believable. In addition, starting with a seed of reality helps push off writer’s block.
Fiction is also about choice. If the Main Character is not active in the story, a reader quickly loses interest as the inevitability of the story generally makes it miserable.
Think back to a time in your life when you had a choice.
It doesn’t have to be big (I could have chosen to serve my family peas instead of green beans for dinner. I could have bought the blue shirt instead of the green one.), but it can be (I could have gone to university for marine biology instead of coming to Israel to learn for a year. I could have stayed at my day job instead of becoming a full-time writer.).
Exercise:
Write a fictional story of what could have happened if your main character had made the choice you did not make. Even the smallest decision may send us careening in a different direction.
