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Want to know how to fix a boring story? Here’s the brutal truth. Your mom, your best friend, and even your writing group probably won’t tell you your story is boring, even if they thought it was.

Instead, they’ll say something like, "It was great. I liked it." But when literary agents review your book or readers buy it, they won’t be so forgiving. If they get bored, they’ll put it down and never pick it up again.

As the author, it’s hard to tell whether your story is interesting or not. That’s why today I’m showing you how to fix a boring story by breaking down the seven most common problems and the solutions that will keep readers engaged.

1. Your Protagonist Doesn’t Want Anything (The #1 Reason Stories Are Boring)

This is the biggest culprit of a boring story, and it’s something I see in many of the manuscripts I edit: your protagonist doesn’t want anything. In reality, we all want something—to find love, to get a dream job, to build a family. So when writing your story, your protagonist should want something, too. And they should want it badly.

The most interesting protagonists in fiction have clear desires that drive the story. Katniss wants to survive the Hunger Games and protect her family. Jay Gatsby wants to win Daisy back. And Jon Snow wants to defend the realm from the army of the dead.

Your protagonist’s desire should be as concrete and specific as possible so we can clearly track whether they achieve it over the course of the story. But if your protagonist just wanders aimlessly from scene to scene, reacting to whatever comes at them without actively pursuing anything, we’ll lose a sense of what we’re reading for—and that’s a surefire way to make your story boring.

I was discussing this issue with a client who said, "Well, my protagonist is just passive. That's their personality." And that's totally fine, but they should still want something even if they aren't voicing that desire aloud to others. We as readers should know what that desire is.

So if you haven't done so yet, right now I want you to define a clear, concrete objective for your protagonist. What is it that they want more than anything? Don’t say something vague like “to find purpose in life.” What would having purpose look like tangibly to them? Now make sure your reader knows about their objective from the beginning. This alone can fix a boring story and make it engaging right from the jump.

2. The Conflict Fizzles Out (How to Fix a Boring Plot)

Let's say your protagonist does have a clear goal—that's great! But this next issue might still be making your story boring: the conflict fizzles out.

Conflict is the fuel that keeps your plot engine running, and when it runs too low, your story will slow to a stop. Your book shouldn't feel like a series of mildly interesting anecdotes but a carefully, intentionally crafted narrative that grips us and puts us on the edge of our seat, wanting more.

To achieve that propulsive quality, you need conflict. Look out in your manuscript for moments where things are totally resolved, because those tend to signal a boring story. Your protagonist has achieved their objective, and they're totally happy and content. These are the moments where the reader will wonder, "Why am I still reading? Hasn't everything been solved?” There should still be some kind of conflict left lingering to keep the reader engaged.

Remember, there are two distinct types of conflict, and a compelling story needs both.

External conflict includes tangible obstacles that stand in the way of your protagonist achieving their goal. That could be a villain, a natural disaster, or a fight with a loved one.
Internal conflict encompasses the emotional and psychological battles that your character is facing within their own mind, their own fears, insecurities, regrets, and moral dilemmas.

Most plots have some kind of external conflict, but many lack robust internal conflict. Think about how you can layer in internal struggles that complement your protagonist's external battles. Maybe they need to travel abroad to meet a long-lost relative, but their biggest fear their entire life has been flying, and now, they have to confront that fear.

Layering external and internal conflict is one of the most effective ways to fix a boring story. It keeps the narrative interesting and makes the emotional payoff of seeing your protagonist achieve their objective so much more powerful.

3. There’s No Central Mystery to Drive the Story

Even with a strong goal and meaningful conflict, your story can still feel boring. This next issue is something many writers overlook—there’s no central mystery. No, I don’t mean you need a dead body or a criminal investigation (though I do love thrillers). No matter the genre, every story needs suspense. That’s what keeps your reader eagerly turning the pages.

To create suspense, you need to craft a central mystery. This is a compelling question that readers want to see answered, and that's what's going to keep them invested and engaged in the story. If there's no question, there's no curiosity, and the reader will put your book down.

In a romance, the question could be, "Will the two love interests end up together?" In a thriller, it could be, "Who is the killer?" In a coming-of-age novel, it could be, "Will the protagonist find where they belong?" This central mystery often relates to the protagonist's objective, but it's not always the same thing.

Even if your story explores multiple POV characters and storylines, there should still be one central mystery that unites them and drives the story forward. So how do you fix a boring story that doesn’t have a clear central mystery? Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean your story is doomed.

As a developmental editor, I’ve seen this issue more often than you might think. The good news is you can reverse engineer your central mystery to make your plot so much more propulsive.

Try this exercise—pinpoint the moment in your story where readers will feel the strongest sense of emotional payoff. For example, that could be the moment where your character goes to the mailbox and opens the admissions letter from their dream college. Now, think about what central question would lead up to that moment. In this case, it would be, “will the character get into their dream college?” This question should be hovering over the entire story leading up to that moment.

Oftentimes the central mystery is already in your draft, but it's too buried. So bring it to the surface by having your protagonist actively think about it or discuss it with others. After all, if we see your protagonist actively wanting an answer, we are naturally going to want that answer as well.

4. Your Writing Feels Bland (How to Fix Boring Prose)

Even if you've nailed the plot elements, your story can still feel boring if the actual writing doesn't hold up. So, let's talk about when your writing feels bland. To show you what I mean, let's look at an example.

The man walked into the dark forest. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked around with wide eyes. The air was thick with tension, and he felt like he couldn't breathe. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he sensed that the wolf was watching him. He clenched his fists, ready for whatever might happen next.

Is this an interesting passage to you? When we objectively describe this scene, a man confronting a wolf in a dark forest, it sounds intense and interesting, right? But on the page, it falls flat for a few reasons.

First, the sentences are all around the same length and all start with a noun phrase, which makes them read as formulaic and robotic. After hearing the same beats and rhythms over and over, the brain starts to tune out. That's why strong writing varies the sentence structure and length.
Second, the writing leans on a ton of cliches here, like "heart pounded in his chest,” “the air was thick with tension,” “a cold shiver ran down his spine,” and “he clenched his fists.”

When readers encounter the same tired, cliché language they've read a thousand times before, the writing will feel boring, even if the scene itself is unique.

To fix boring story writing on a line level, make your descriptions more specific to the character’s individual experience. In this moment, what does the man fear happening to him when he encounters the wolf? What does he smell, taste, and hear in the forest? What observations or thoughts cross his mind? Those details bring us closer into his particular experience and make the scene feel unique and alive.

5. Your Characters Are One-Dimensional (Boring Characters = Boring Story)

If your characters are boring, your book will be boring. It's as simple as that. The most boring characters are the ones who are superficial and thinly developed. They're all one thing and nothing else.

That could be a hero character who's always doing the right thing, like helping the elderly and saving kittens from trees. Or it could be the villain who's always doing evil things, like maniacally laughing about how he's going to take over the world. These characters are on opposite ends of the moral spectrum, but both are equally boring.

To deepen your characters, give each one contradictions and surprises. Give them traits that totally clash with each other. For example, a military commander who secretly writes poetry, or an evil dictator who's grieving the loss of their pet cat, or a shy bookworm who once got suspended for causing a fight at school.

Real people are flawed, complicated, and layered, and so are the best characters. Don’t feel like you need to make your protagonist likable and therefore give them no depth. The same goes for your villain—don’t make them totally evil either. Adding depth to your characters is one of the simplest ways to fix a boring story.

6. The Plot Veers Off Course (A Wandering Story Is a Boring Story)

Previously, when I mentioned the central mystery, that question that your entire story revolves around? If your story suddenly takes a left turn into something that has nothing to do with the central mystery, readers will feel like the story has lost itself. Make sure every single scene relates back to that central mystery and earns its place in the story. Each scene should enhance the reader's experience, not detract from it.

If you're not sure whether a scene belongs or not, ask yourself: how does this scene get us closer to solving the central mystery? If you can't answer that clearly, the scene should probably be cut. This is where many writers have to learn the tough writing lesson of killing their darlings.

I'm not saying eliminate all subplots. Subplots are great for adding texture to the narrative and deepening your story's themes, but the problem is when they don't relate at all to the main mystery and take our attention away from what matters. That's when readers will start to wonder, "Wait, what happened to the thing I actually care about? When are we going to return to that?"

The bottom line: if your story wanders, your reader’s mind will wander, too. Knowing how to fix a boring story means knowing when to cut scenes that don’t serve the central mystery.

7. Nothing Is at Stake (The Most Important Fix for a Boring Story)

This final issue is the most important when it comes to learning how to fix a boring story. It’s something most writers don’t think about until it’s too late—nothing is at stake. Stakes are what make us care about seeing what happens in the story.

Think of stakes as the why behind the story. Stakes answer the question, “So what?” When you're writing, you might not actively be thinking about the stakes. This is a big issue because your story might be beautifully written, but it won't land emotionally because your readers won't care about it.

To identify the stakes in your story, answer these three key questions.

If my protagonist fails in their objective, what will they lose?
If they succeed, what will they gain?
Why does it matter to them right now?

I recently edited a novel that followed a private investigator in Las Vegas who was hired by a man who wanted to see if his wife was cheating on him. The setup was interesting, sure, but ultimately this was just another job for the private investigator.

I asked the author, "Why does he care about this specific client?" Then she said, "Well, the client works at the same company as the private investigator's ex-wife, and he thinks that by doing this job, he'll get more intel on his ex-wife and potentially win her back."

That wasn't in the manuscript at all. Once she brought the why forward in the story, it became so much more urgent and propulsive because we knew why the character cared and what he stood to gain; we cared.

When nothing is at stake, readers will have no reason to keep turning the pages, and they'll put the book down. That's how critical the stakes are.

Now you know exactly how to fix a boring story. Rest assured that most of the manuscripts I edit make some of these mistakes in early drafts. Once you spot them, make the changes, and watch your story come alive.