Time to Write

The power of thinking young (and how to do it, regardless of your age)

You don't have to be young to think young. That's one of the points Ian Wharton makes in his book, Spark for the Fire. 

In the Foreword, Wharton's boss at advertising agency AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed, mentions how we lose that spirit: "One of the many great gifts of being young is that we think we can achieve anything. The only problem is that such a gift can be fragile: sometimes when we share our dreams with certain kinds of people--teachers, bosses, others in authority-–their reactions suffocate our imagination and kill the creative spirit."

Wharton says of turning your creative ideas into reality, "It’s not always rewarding or fun, and sometimes the clock turning to 3am is much more noticeable. But you battle through. Every individual who simply can’t imagine not making things – the people who want to inspire others, make great things and be respected for them – are the ones who will shape much of the future. And there are plenty of challenges that need solving."

Most of the book is made up of interviews with six creative individuals, including chef Jamie Oliver, branding guru Michael Wolff, and CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown.

What's the secret of thinking young when you've stopped or at least slowed down letting your creativity lead you?

One that Wharton points out is "creativity favors intuition." If you have the feeling that something is worth doing even though you have no idea how to do it, put aside the usual flood of doubts designed to dissuade you. 

WHAT STOPS US

We tend to jump right to logical questions like "How can I do it?" "Who do I have to get involved?" "How long will it take?" "Will it be expensive?" "Has anybody else done it before?" And the grandaddy: "What if it fails?!"

A DIFFERENT FOCUS

It's not that we don't have to face those questions at some point, but we don't have to face them all at the same time.

When we do face them, it helps to reframe them more positively. If money is an issue, and usually it is, instead of asking "How expensive will be be?" and stopping if the answer is, "Very!" ask "How could I do this for the amount of money available?"

Your first impulse may be to answer, "It can't be done!" If so, follow up with another of my favorite questions: "Yes, but what if it could? What would that look like?"

One of the interviewees, ad man Rory Sutherland, says, "The problem here is that every great new idea, every new challenge, every opportunity can seem ridiculous, illogical, out of place. All too often we are quick to disregard great ideas or new ventures before they gain any momentum, largely because we haven’t seen or heard of them before."

The next time you have an interesting idea, put logic on hold. Take a moment to go back to a time when you were young enough not to know how many obstacles await. Explore the idea with that youthful energy before you decide whether or not to proceed. 

A PRACTICAL METHOD

Put out three chairs. Assign one chair to the Experienced Adult, another to the Excited Youngster, and the third to an Observer. Sit in the Youngster's chair and in your imagination talk about the idea that has excited you...what you hope it will achieve, the enjoyment of bringing it to reality, etc. Allow yourself to feel the emotions.

Then move to the Experienced Adult's chair and if that part of you thinks this isn't a good idea, express ONE objection (only one!).

Return to the Excited Youngster's chair and rebut the argument--but with ideas for how you might overcome that objection.

From time to time, move to the Observer's chair and taken notes on the most useful ideas that have come up. Then continue the exchange.

AN EXAMPLE OF THE TWO-CHAIRS METHOD

Here are a few sample exchanges from an idea I'm considering:

Excited Youngster: "I want to make a comedy feature film! I have this idea about a kid who finds out he's adopted and he goes in search of his birth mother, but there's no record anywhere of his birth and he begins to suspect he's actually from another planet."

Experienced Adult: "Feature film? Even a low-budget feature film costs a lot of money! We don't have money to spare right now, certainly not the amount it would take to make a feature film, especially anything to do with aliens! Those films require expensive special effects!"

Excited Youngster: "Not necessarily. Some guy shot a feature film with his iPhone! I'm not talking about going head-to-head with Batman or anything. I'm thinking digital. We have a videocamera. The alien stuff could all be in his imagination! It could be done with animation--not PIxar 3D or anything, more like the old Monty Python animations were done. That would make it funnier."

The Observer writes down the basic idea and that animation could be used for the alien scenes the protagonist imagines.

Experienced Adult: OK, fine, but what about actors?

Excited Youngster: There are loads of good actors who just want to work! I've read about lots of films where they got even some famous actors to do a role or at least a cameo because they liked the project and the filmmaker! And there are drama schools--lots of people there probably want to work to get experience and credits."

(note: it's not the intention that the Experienced Adult is the bad person here. Not every idea the Youngster gets excited about is a good one. At some point The Experienced Adult may start to make suggestions as well, or his or her questions may point to real flaws in the idea.)

Experienced Adult: Hmmm, there are some interesting ideas there. What about making it, or part of it, as a short film first, to get experience and test the idea? Kind of proof of concept?

Excited Youngster: Yeah, that would take a lot less time. It could be a way to raise money for a feature version, too.

You can do this over several sessions to get the maximum number of ideas and a sense of whether to proceed with the project. Even if you decide not to, be sure to save the ideas the Observer noted because they might be useful for another project.

(If you want to rekindle your creativity, get a copy of my book, Creativity Now, published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you using your sleepy brain to help you write?

What's the best time to write? In an article in the New York Times, Merrill Markow reveals the secret of finally overcoming her procrastination regarding writing.

Her description of what kept her from writing may sound familiar to a lot of us: "Each time my efforts were thwarted by the tyrannical voices in my head, which grew louder as the hour grew later, berating me for not taking care of bills, cleaning, shopping, grooming, pet care, more bills, more grooming. And if I got caught up in those things, the voices would quickly remind me that I was too ill informed to begin writing even a personal anecdote without undertaking years of painstaking research."

Keep in mind that this is from a woman who has been a writer for 25 years. She always wrote, but it was a huge struggle to start each time.

Then she had hip surgery and for a while had no morning paper and no access to a newspaper. She tried writing shortly after she woke up:

"When I tried writing at 6am, to my complete surprise I effortlessly wrote 15 pages that first day. The same thing happened when I did it the next day and the day after that."

Her conclusion: "Words come pouring out easily while my head still feels as if it has full of ground fog, wrapped in flannel and gauze, and surrounded by a hive of humming, velvety sleep bees."

What's interesting about this is that she had never been a morning writer. Her habit had been to try writing around 3pm, only to encounter that vicious inner critic she described so well.

I've used the time between being awake and falling asleep, and the time between being asleep and becoming awake for brainstorming, but not for actual writing. Sounds like it might be worth a try.

(Do you want friendly guidance for writing your book? You'll find it in my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

 

 

Considering publishing with America Star Books? Know the facts.

PublishAmerica has gained an unenviable reputation in the realm of digital vanity publishers. Google their name and you'll come across an impressively long list of complaints.

What do you do when a product or service becomes notorious?

Improve the service?

Naah, there's a much easer way: change the name!

That's what PublishAmerica has done this month. They are now known as America Star Books. Anybody going to the old PublishAmerica site is now forwarded to the new America Star Books site.

What is/was the problem with PublishAmerica? Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

PA pays advance fees of US$1–$1000^[1] to its authors, provides minimal editing and provides few of the services handled by trade publishing, such as retail distribution, marketing and media relations. Disgruntled authors told Publishers Weekly that PA did not pay royalties owed to them, sold books it no longer had any rights to sell, set unreasonably high list prices and lower-than-average discounts for authors to buy their own books and either neglected or failed to place books into bookstores.^[4]

In December 2005, PublishAmerica author Philip Dolan, who had spent between US$7,000 and $13,000 promoting his book^[15] only to find that no book stores were able to order copies of it, took PublishAmerica to arbitration for breach of contract. Dolan also alleged accounting irregularities; despite a clause in his contract allowing him to inspect PublishAmerica's accounts, his accountant was denied access, and Dolan received royalties for fewer copies of his book than he was able to account for having sold himself. He was awarded an unspecified amount in compensation for PublishAmerica's breach of contract, and his contract was rescinded.^[16]

Despite this, Wikipedia warns that the entry is written more like an advertisement than a neutral factual description!

Here's a "fact" on the America Star website: "FACT #1: Unique among all traditional book publishing companies, America Star Books has served 50,000 authors since 1999."

Well, that's not strictly true; PublishAmerica did that. If you go to the Store page of the America Star Books site and click on the various categories, like "Adventure" or "Horror" you find books published by PublishAmerica. If you click on "America Star" on the same page, you get...nothing. Apparently no books have yet been published under this new banner.

America Star Books seems to be targeting foreign authors, offering to translate and publish foreign-language books in English:

From South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa we now (sic) translating thousands of books by foreign authors, all scheduled to be released in 2014! Most popular languages that we're currently translating: Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Chinese.

Really? Thousands? Then isn't it strange that the six samples of translated text on the website are all in Dutch, the native language of the owner? 

Still, this sounds good: America Star Books is a traditional, royalty paying publisher. The author is never obligated or expected to pull their wallet to make any purchase whatsoever. All expenses involved with acquiring new titles, formatting, custom designing, and illustrating the final manuscript into a book, translating a foreign book into English, making books fully available to all bookstores at home and abroad, and informing news media upon the release of a new book, are underwritten by America Star Books solely. 

They say they pay royalties on an escalating scale that looks similar to that of mainstream publishers. 

One thing to look at is the retail prices they set. For instance, on the store page at their website is a book called Altered Perceptions: A Writer's Journey Thorugh Life With Attention Deficit Disorder, or A.D.D. it is a paperback 110 pages long in a 5.5" x 8.5 format. It sells for $19.95.

There's a novel called The Absurd Aventures of Tucker Doubt, paperback, 116 pages, again $19.95.

I think authors, especially unknown ones, would have trouble getting people to pay $20 for a slim paperback.

If you have any contact with foreign authors groups, it would be kind to let them know about the connection between America Star Books and PublishAmerica so they can make up their own minds with all the facts in mind.

Will this venture be any better than PublishAmerica? I'm sure it won't be long before authors who sign with America Star Books start posting their experiences on the web, for better or worse.

Until then, all I know is a saying that always struck me as very sensible: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

 

How your evil twin stops you from doing what you intend to do

Is what you do exactly the same as what you actually do? 

Me neither.

In an article in the Sunday New York Times psychology professor David deSteno points out that there actually are two yous involved: the one in the present who intends to do something in the future--exercise more, eat less, make time to write, etc.--and the future you who may decide in the moment that sleeping another hour is just as good for your health as going to the gym, that one little dessert isn't gong to make any difference, and that it makes sense to watch TV instead of writing because the show might inspire you.

When we make promises to ourselves we are in a different set of circumstances than when it comes time to deliver on the promise. Temptation is much stronger when it's in front of you than when it's an abstract notion.

Also, we are experts at rationalization, as exemplified by the excuses in the example above. That allows us to still think of ourselves as basically trustworthy...but on some level we do know that we're not great at sticking to our intentions.

DeSteno's suggestion for improving our chances of sticking to our intentions is to use technology, like apps that remind you to exercise or ask you to record everything you eat, for instance. One smiple app for this kind of reminder is a web tool called Joe's Goals. If you want to have an element of social reinforcement, 43 things is a good choice. 

Reminders are good but can easily be ignored or rejected with the same kinds of rationalizations we're used to employing.

More powerful are the tools that include a penalty if you don't do what you said you would. For instance, you can specify that a certain amount of money will be donated to a political party or cause you don't like if you don't deliver. One of the most popular tools for this is StickK.

If you really want to ensure that you follow through and don't fib or rationalize, it's best to put the judgment of whether or not you complied in the hands of someone else...tricky at best, as it's easy to imagine this leading to arguments and broken friendships. 

Here are some addiitonal tips that might be helpful:

* Tackle one thing at a time. Will power is limited and while today it might seem noble and exciting to start reforming three or four aspects of your life tomorrow, tomorrow it won't seem nearly as attractive.

* Apply the same chunking strategy that you may already be using to overcome procrastination. For example, if having a healthier diet is one of your goals, start by deleting one unhealthy snack from your diet. Once you're used to that, choose another small modification. (Note: there are some people who are more motivated by making a big change and find this works better for them--try one approach; if it doens't work, try the other one).

* Use cues to remind yourself of what you have promised yourself you will do. As well as using web tools and apps you can put notes to yourself on the fridge, or put your gym bag by the front door, or leave your manuscript file open on your computer so it's the first thing you see when you fire it up next time.

* Ask for constructive support from friends and family. Ask them to remind and encourage you to stick to your intended behavior.

Gotta go, I intend to spend the next couple of hours working on my novel...

(You'll find a lot of practical help in my book, Focus: Use the power of targeted thinking to get more done, published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

 

There may be more tips in his forthcoming book, The Truth About Trust, although I confess I think it may turn out to be another book that actually would be a better long article. 

 

 

The danger of misteaks, and the question you don't want readers to ask

Will little mistakes in your book turn people off? Is proofreading really that important?

I hesitated to write this post because I know there are typos in my blog posts. I do proofread them but I post just about every day, sometimes under time pressure, and things slip through. For that reason, when I read blogs I cut them some slack regarding typos and little errors. 

When I’m reading books, not so much. I’m sure many readers feel the same.

This came to mind earlier today when I was reading the “look inside” preview of a book about research into psychic phenomena. It said that many famous people followed this research, including "Rod Sterling".

The late Rod Serling happens to be one of my heroes. I grew up loving the Twilight Zone series and later read a number of his plays. When I was a teen-ager I wrote him a letter and he was kind enough to reply. I guess that’s why seeing his name misspelled bothered me. More importantly, though, it provoked this question: 

“If the author got that wrong, what else did she get wrong?”

That’s the question you don’t want your readers to ask. It undermines their confidence in you and it may even make them put the book aside (or not buy it if they spot the error while browsing).

Here are some tips for proofreading a manuscript:

* Get at least one other person to proofread it

* Use a ruler or piece of paper and move it down one line at a time. That stops your eyes from moving ahead too far. Even better: in a piece of paper or light cardboard cut a horizontal slot the length of your lines, so anything above and below the line you are looking at is covered.

* Read backward. That makes you isolate each word and you’ll notice misspellings much more easily.

PS: I bought the book anyway…but I’ll be on the lookout for any other mistakes.

-----For friendly help with writing your book, get a copy of Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and avaialable from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

How to get free and discounted ebooks

If you’re interested in getting free and discounted ebooks, you can sign up for a daily email offering those, at http://www.bookbub.com.

I signed up a month or so ago. A lot of the books are not in a genre I like, but I’ve downloaded three free ones so far.

There’s no catch—some authors feel that giving away their ebook is a good strategy because if you like the writing you’ll see what else they’ve written and pay for their other books. 

People do judge your book by its cover (what not to do)

If you are planning to publish an ebook or a regular book yourself, don’t make the mistake of giving it a bad cover. I’ve written about this before, but it came to mind again today when looking at the covers of a couple of books featured in the bulletin from www.bookbub.com (see this previous post for details of how to get free and discounted ebooks from them). 

The two covers are below. Please note that I’m not saying the books are bad. I haven’t read them and for all I know they’re both brilliant. But in my opinion the covers are bad. 

On the cover above the typeface for the title is a bit jolly for a word like kidnapped, it seems more appropriate for a children's book. 

The book is described as an espionage thriller but the image doesn't reflect that tone at all.

The eyes and part of the face have been crudely cut out, and having the bottom of the veil (if that's what it's supposed to be) overlap with the landscape doesn't make much sense.

The cover looks like it was done by somebody who never finished their Introduction to Photoshop course. Because of that it also screams "self-published". That doesn't carry the stigma it used to but bad covers are a reminder of the days when many of the self-published books were not very good.

How about this one? The title has a dark last letter on a dark background, making it look like Crushe instead of Crushed. The author's name also is quite dark on a dark background, making it barely readable. On the thumbnail version I can't tell what the image is supposed to be. I looked at a larger version of it on Amazon and found that it's a grapevine and bunch of grapes, behind a shattered window. 

With ebooks the first image of the cover that potential buyers will see is the thumbnail. If that's not interesting and readable most will ignore it.

Apologies to authors Varda Foox and Barbara Ellen Brink (I had her last name as "Brin" until I double-checked on Amazon--the background makes the final letter of her name disappear totally). Again, I'm not saying anything negative about the content of their books but I don't think either of them is well served by their cover images.

 

More book trailers should be like this

A lot of book trailers are boring: The author looking slightly uncomfortable describing his or her book in superlatives, or else telling what inspired them, or trying to give a summary of the plot without giving too much away. I doubt that they prompt many sales and some I've seen probably dissuade anyone from buying the book.

Below is a book trailer that's fun to watch. Will it prompt you to buy the book? Well, I haven't but if I spot it in a bookshop or think of it the next time I'm roaming around Amazon, I might. 

Yes, the author has the benefit of professional actors, and what looks like professional camerawork and editing, and I'm not suggesting that everybody could match these. The point is that it's fun as well as revealing something about the nature of the book. I think that kind of relevant fun is possible to do without professional actors.

Having said that, if you happen to live in a city I'm confident there are a lot of professional, semi-professional, and skilled amateur actors there who would be happy to be in a well-written book trailer in exchange for nothing more than a credit, a pizza lunch, and an autographed copy of your book.

There are also quite a few camera operators around who do corporate work and would love to have a chance to do something more creative, especially a project that wouldn't take long to shoot.

For directing and editing you may be able to find talented students at a local college or university. Many are eager to take on a real-world project.

Here's a fun example--it reminds me of a mini-version of a early-to-mid-period Woody Allen film; it's promoting the book, One More Thing by B. J. Novak:

 

 

 

The screenplay graveyard (animation) - now with sound!

Here's a little animation (under one minute) to promote the next series of screenwriting workshops I'm offering via Raindance in London, for five Monday evenings starting on March 3, 2014.

How a bad day was turned into a hit song (in an hour!)

Having a bad day? How about trying to turn it into something good? 

That's what Merle Haggard, one of my favorite country artists of the old school, did years ago when Dean Holloway, the driver of his band's tour bus, was annoyed after having to sit in the sweltering heat, minding the bus. Haggard asked him how he was doing. His answer was "I'm tired of this dirty old city." 

The line caught Haggard's attention. He sat down with Holloway and started to create a story about the dissatisfaction of a worker in Detroit and his desire to get his family out of the city (although the dirty city Holloway was talking about was Los Angeles). Haggard asked Holloway where he'd rather be; the driver said Montana, and the singer-songwriter worked that into the lyrics as well.

Haggard finished the song in about ten minutes. He'd just completed a recording session but his band was still there and he got them to record the song right away. Within an hour or so he was able to play a tape recording of the song for Holloway.

The song, "This City," became Haggar'ds 28th number one single on the country charts. He split the proceeds 50-50 with Holloway, a long-time friend.

You can read the whole story on the Wall Street Journal website, here.

Once in a while, what's bothering you can also become what's inspiring you.

Would you ever want to be part of a human library?

We're all storytellers one way or another, and the Human Library makes it official. Instead of books, you borrow a person for half an hour, during which they tell you stories about themselves and answer your questions about their life .

It's an idea I wrote about some years ago and since then it has become an international movement, with more than 30 countries having hosted Human Libraries. The first one in the UK took place in Swiss Cottage, London, with 14 "books" and 49 readers.

The angle was "What's your prejudice?"-- that this was a way to find out about people with whom you might not normally have contact. The Human Library website says, "You could say that every Human Library is different and has its own best sellers. The most popular title [at the Swiss Cottage event] was the ex-gang member and the disabled person, both booked all day, but also titles such as the gay man and the social worker got great reviews from readers. All readers are asked to do book reviews for future readers and some of them are great fun to read."

I have to say it's slightly weird to see people reduced to their labels but I guess the point is that when you hear their stories you're less likely to do that kind of reductive labeling in the future. However, the typical reader probably is an open-minded person who just wants to find out more, rather than one who is prejudiced. That's still a useful function. One of the London readers said the value of the event for him was "having a chance to talk properly and ask questions of people without seeming rude."

One person who has attended a number of such events says they have always gone smoothly except for one case in which a man hung around the sex worker book too long.

The site lists four such events in Canada this month. Although not listed on the international website, there's also a Human Library day on Jan 25, 2014 at Rundel Library, Monroe County, New York, co-sponsored by the University of Rochester. The human book titles will include Third Culture Kid (a woman who grew up in 3 countries and speaks 4 languages), "More Than Just Sittin' Pretty: Funny and Real Stories About Life in a Wheelchair," and "VietNam Veteran."

What would be your title if you were a human book?

What title would you be most interested to check out?

If you are interested in participating as a book or a reader, check the international website to find an organizer in your country. 

 

Ten things you can write in ten minutes or less

If you think you need to set aside big chunks of time to write something creative, you're wrong.

Of course it's great to have a period of two or three or four hours of uninterrupted writing time, but here are ten things you can write when you have only ten minutes or even less:

1: A haiku. In case you've forgotten the details about this Japanese form of poetry, the pattern of haikus in English is three lines, the first with five syllables, the second with seven, the third with five.

Traditionally they are about images or feelings relating to nature, beauty or an important moment but feel free to add your own variations. For instance, if you were to write a haiku about your project, what would it be?

2: A description of a character in a book, script, or story you want to write. You can focus on the physical for one session, the emotional for another, the childhood and family for another, and so on.

3: The kind of glowing review of the project you're working on that you hope to see when it goes out into the world. Be specific--what makes it so wonderful? This can serve as a guideline for you when you create and refine it. 

4: A thank you note or email (a note is better) to someone who has inspired you or who gives you moral support for your creative activities. Is it your spouse or partner, or a parent, a sibling, a friend? Do you think 'oh, they know already that I apprecate them.' Are you sure? 

5: A note to yourself about what you need to do next to help bring your creative idea or project to fruition. If it's a big task, break it down into a list of smaller steps and the order in which it makes most sense to do them.

6: A list of at least ten things you've achieved in the past despite initial doubts. Keep it handy for days when you doubt yourself.

7: A description of one place you were in the past 24 hours that might be a good setting.

8: One memory that makes you smile.

9: One memory that doesn't.

10: One thought about a story you might want to write in the future. If you do this in a notebook you carry or a notes app on your phone, over time you can accumulate lots of ideas. 

Some of these might fit into a particular projects, some won't, but all of them can keep you exercising your creativity and developing your writing skills.

Want to write a horror story? These real photos will inspire you.

If you're interested in writing a horror story or a thriller or maybe sci-fi story, distractify.com recently featured 38 photos of "the most spectacular abandoned places in the world." They range from the "Willard Asylum for the Chronic Insane," to "Six Flags Jazzland" in New Orleans, to a hotel built in Colombia in 1928. Looking at some of these is like reading a Stephen King novel in sixty seconds.

photo credit: Barry Mangham/pixog

See the rest here: http://distractify.com/culture/arts/the-most-spectacular-abandoned-places-in-the-world/

Worth a look even if you don't want to write a horror story! 

Hemingway on how to practice to be a good writer

Ernest Hemingway had this advice on how to practice to be a good writer when you're not actually at your desk writing:

"When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe.

You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling. Try that for practice.

When you’re in town, stand outside the theater and see how the people differ in the way they get out of taxis or motor cars. There are a thousand ways to practice.

And always think of other people."

I like to do something similar, using glimpses. Apart from the people we work with or live with, we catch only glimpses of the lives others. Use that glimpse to imagine what is going on in their lives at the moment--and figure out what was about them that led you in that direction.

Was it what they wore?

The expression on their face?

Their body language?

The way they moved? 

These also are the kinds of clues you can give your readers about what your characters are like, without spelling it out. 

(You can get writing advice from the best writers of all time in the book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

Fixing weak character voice

A reader emailed me to say that her novel had been rejected and the editor in question had scribbled on the cover sheet that the problem is "weak character voice." She asked me what that is and how to fix it.

Weak character voice means that your character, usually your protagonist, doesn't stand out enough to capture the interest of the reader. It can apply to stories written in the first person or the third person. Your character doesn't have to be grotesque or overly quirky but there has to be something about them that makes us want to keep reading.

It may be that your concept of the character is strong but that doesn't translate to the page. When I was reading screenplays for a production company sometimes the authors would send along a page of character descriptions (which is not necessary or even recommended). Often the description would say something like "Ramona is a feisty, independent woman who will go to extremes to have her way"...but in the actual screenplay there would be little evidence of those traits.

What makes a character reveal what he or she reallhy is about? A challenge. The need to cope with circumstances that are new and/or stressful. A situation that calls for her to make a decision--not always between good and bad, but between good and good (or bad and bad). 

It doesn't mean that the character has to express himself strongly via dialogue. It's much more effective to let us learn about the character by what he does, not just what he says or what others say about him.

How to fix it? A good place to start is to ask these questions:

* What does this person care about the most? Does your story force him to defend it?

* What is your character most afraid of? Does your story force her to confront it?

* What does your character not want to reveal? Does your story put him in danger of having to reveal it?

In rewriting, sometimes this means you have to tell a different story or a different aspect of the same story, but you'll end up with a character interesting enough for readers to care about.

(There are loads of useful, practical tips in my book, Your Writing Coach, and you can get it from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)