Which famous author is it who wrote that literature is all about 'conflict'? Conflict, yes, is interesting, but what is 'behind' that conflict? It would be truer to say that literature is all about 'motivation'. The protagonist has to 'feel' something, and we have to feel what they feel in order for us to care.
I've just reviewed a novel is set during the English Revolution of 1642-1651 in which the protagonist, head of the king's secret service, is occupied in uncovering a plot to restore the king. This is a major plot flaw. Much more believable would have been a search for Parliamentary plots, or to have had the protagonist be one of Cromwell's spies.
We don't need to 'agree' with what the hero wants--they could be a horrid mass murderer if you like--but we need to 'feel' it. It needs to be believable according to the hero's point of view.

I'd like to say something about repetition and variation.
Repetition is one of the principles of design, and it adds balance to your work. Beginning with a certain phrase, idea or piece of dialogue and ending with a repetition of that same element is one good way to structure a short story. If you've used a certain expression--eg 'you know what?'--later in your story saying 'you know what?' about something else can pull your theme together.
Of course, we all know the principle of 'Chekhov's Gun'--if there is a gun on the wall in Act I, by Act III someone needs to have shot someone with it. The idea is you don't want to fill your work with extraneous details that don't matter. (I have a BIG problem with this in my writing; I just can't resist passing on to readers all the dinky details I've come across in my research) Referring back to earlier elements has an added advantage in creating balance.
If your protagonist crosses a bridge, contrast your antagonist by having them cross a different bridge. Or create a sense of journey and purpose by, later, having your protagonist go back over that same bridge from the other direction.
Having said that, it's boring to use the same words all the time. I edited a novel whose author consistantly used 'as' to begin her subordinate clauses--eg She swung her sword in the air, as she jumped off her horse'. Nothing wrong with that, but there are so many other ways you can say it. Swinging her sword, she jumped off her horse. She swung her sword, then jumped off her horse. She swung her sword; she jumped off her horse.
For, as, since, therefore, hence, consequently, though, due to, provided that, because, unless, once, while, when, whenever, where, wherever, before, and after. Any of these would do, and varying it up a bit adds spice to your style.
The same goes for vocabulary. If I used 'spectacular', I would not use that same word within the same paragraph or within nearby paragraphs, instead using a different word, such as 'remarkable'.
So, as I began this piece (what is it? a tweet? a mini-essay? a blogpost?) by mentioning repetition and variation. I'll end with it, too. Repetition adds balance to your work, and variation spices it up.

Today's blogpost, for all you imaginary readers out there, is about editing. It is essential, and furthermore, is really not that difficult.
I just finished reviewing a book in which the author made so many basic editing mistakes that it was hindering my reading. I started keeping track, and over about 350 pages, he made 192 editing errors. This is unacceptable.
You can hire an editor on Reedsy for a few 100 pounds, and you're going to spend 100s publishing your novel, anyway; why not do it right? Personally, I am a professional editor, but even I hired a third-party editor for my novel. I've spent over £2000 publishing and promoting my novel. A lot of it I regret, but I don't regret this expenditure. My editor was also a historian, and she caught me out in so many embarrassing anachronisms.
But hey, y'all, Word's Spelling and Grammar Check is free! And why make stupid mistakes with foreign words and phrases when Google Translate is a few finger clicks away? In Word, you can see little dots where the spaces are, so how can you miss those extra spaces that make your lines all stretched out? In case you do miss some, a simple Find double-space Replace All single-space catches them. "If quotes are complete sentences, punctuation goes inside;" if "it's not", outside. 'It is' is contracted as 'it's'; the possessive form of 'it' is 'its'. It's not 1960's or tomato's; it's 1960s, tomatoes.
Be consistant in style. If you capitalise one job title, capitalise them all. If, when someone quotes from a letter, it's in italics, then always put letters in caps. If 'well-known' has a hyphen, always use a hyphen. Compile yourself a Stylesheet, or refer to the Guardian Style Guide, to help you always use the same style in your writing. If your manuscript looks messy, it detracts and distracts from your work.
I recommend, after you've clicked Save: Step 1: Spelling and Grammar Check Step 2. Find and Replace double spaces Step 3. Find and Replace single quotation marks, Step 4. Find and Replace double quotation marks, as if you're copying from a Microsoft docment, your quotation marks will look like this: "" when you want this: “”. Step 5. Read it through again, either print it out hard copyand look at it, and/or read it out loud to yourself. I also do Wordcount and not the time I started and finished so I can track how fast I can process text.
Don't make your readers look at all your stupid mistakes. Take your time going through your manuscript, and you won't make any.

Hey, supposedly I have 3 followers, but I don't know how this works so I don't know how to find out who you are nor what do with you once I've found you.
But, in case you'd like to know my thoughts on 'writing family sagas', here you go:
I've recently reviewed two novels, both of which are family sagas, ie the tale of Protagonist's parents, and their parents and their parents.
The first used the structure you'd expect: Part I dealt with Protagonist's father and his parents and grandparents; Part II dealt with Protagonist's mother and her parents and grandparents; Part III dealt with present day Protagonist and spouse.
It was predicated on Protagonist finding a document in her mother's things after her death, prompting her to go in search of family secrets.
There are two problems with this structure. 1. When you're deeply immersed in the tale of Protagonist's parents, you find yourself thinking, 'hey, who the xxx was Protagonist, now? I forgot all about her.' 2. You end up with a structure consisting of: 'in 1939 they did this; in 1940 they did that', which may not be the most interesting thing we want to read.
The structure problem might be dealt by having more going on in the present day lives of Protagonist and spouse, to be interwoven into the family history revelations. The meaning problem is a bigger one.
The second novel I reviewed had a more complex structure, moving not chronologically, but thematically. So, she discusses her grandfather's suicide, then proceeds to discuss the suicides of other people in the story.
This is much harder to do, but she accomplishes it by finding links connecting one theme to the next. When she needs to jump to a new theme and doesn't have a link, she jumps by including a quote, from St Paul, Shakespeare, her father's ex-colleague.
The thematic structure is more satisfying to read, as you get to grips with a broader subject matter instead of jumping from person to person or date to date. It also results in a richer understanding of the characters than if we had simply read ‘in 1938 they did that, in 1939 they did that’.
There is a risk of 'mission creep', though. We begin the book thinking it's going to be a family saga, we end up understanding that it's mostly about some theme that was of great importance to her father.

Hello followers,
I am ecstatic to announce that The Lost Wisdom of the Magi: the memoirs of Sophia Zealotes is the 2021 Winner of the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical.