- No signature. What did the protagonist want? What obstacle was in her way? How did she (or did she not) overcome it? What is the overarching goal that unites the short-term goals?
- Tension is stated, not shown. Don’t talk about being stressed. Show it.
- No depth to the backstory that would cause the protagonist pain or inner turmoil.
- All scenes must have something at stake. Every scene should show the character acting toward her desire (move the story forward). Every scene must have a goal.
- Too many secondary characters with no special personality. Reader shouldn’t need a scorecard.
- Important secondary characters fade in and out causing the reader to forget about them and then be surprised when they show up again.
- Not enough foreshadowing of the climatic moments. Build tension and then set off the bomb.