Hi everyone, I haven’t been posting over the last month, as I have been focusing on my cosy mystery novel. I have written a few chapters over the last couple of weeks and I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of writing although, as a lot of you will understand, fitting it in around a job and all my other life commitments is not easy. There really are not enough hours in the day!

As I write further into my cosy mystery, I keep coming back to the same question – is my protagonist Martha interesting enough? Does she have enough personality? Is there something missing?

I always wanted Martha to be that quieter figure among her two sidekicks (and close friends), she is ‘the brains behind the operation’. I have written in an earlier blog about developing Martha and I keep referring back to the checklist I used for this:

1. Is she kind? I feel sure she is. She is a really good soul and I think this comes through strongly in my writing, maybe even too much!
2. Is she brave? She will be as the story unravels.
3. Is she active (not passive)? Yes, although she is quieter than her two sidekicks. She is the leader and makes the vast majority of decisions. Her sidekicks are the louder and more eccentric characters.
4. Am I sure she is not a fool or pushover? I think so, but I do need to be mindful of this.
5. Does she grow throughout the story? There is a lot of potential for her to grow but I do need to consider this more. What is it about Martha that is going to be changed or developed by the time the reader reaches the last chapter? How will I portray this?

I feel I can check off each of these areas for Martha, yet I still can’t shake this feeling that Martha is not quite enough!

I feel I need to do more with Martha’s character. I am now considering the following 3 areas as I keep working on her:

1. Does she have a major goal?
2. Does she have a strong enough motivation and reason to try and achieve her goal?
3. Is the reader going to like and care about Martha?

Have you had this same battle with your protagonist? I would love to hear about your experiences of developing your protagonist, particularly if you also felt they were too passive…how did you overcome this? Any tips and ideas are gratefully received in the comments below.

Tabitha💟