Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence

he theme, is what your story says about human nature. Theme tends to be reflected in how your characters treat each other, so it defines what is possible and what isn’t in the world the story unfolds in.

The story isn’t about whether or not the protagonist achieves her goal per se; it’s about what she has to overcome internally to do it.

Here are just a few telltale signs that a story is going off the rails: