A short and sweet article over at The Huffington Post, by Jennie Nash, on what it means to write a “big book”.

As in the example she gave, “big” doesn’t always mean “eipc”. When you “think big” you should be thinking about character development, before the development of a big story. When the characters are solid, the story will follow.

Epic stories about fighting off death and destruction aren’t always the powerhouses in the literary world. Small stories about small people with “big” problems will grip the reader. “Big” problems such as, an affair, loss of interest in a job or relationship, what to cook for a big dinner party tonight (and they haven’t even begun the preparations!). “Less is more” as the adage says. However, it is the power you pack into the “less” which will give you “more”.

Readers can definitely tell when an author has poorly copy and pasted a conventional idea of what a “big book” is. They can spot the knock-offs and the overuse of predictable plots.

Surprise them with an epic story about a plain, everyday occurrence.

Check out the article here.

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