Reddit reviews From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction

I just read Robert Olen Butler's "From Where You Dream"
https://www.amazon.com/Where-You-Dream-Process-Writing/dp/0802142575

I would highly recommend it just for the chapter on plotting a novel - basically he does these 'dreamstorming' sessions where he puts down sensory images on a legal pad, condenses them into scenes which are written on notecards, and then organizes all of the notecard scenes into a novel.

I'm paraphrasing Robert Olen Butler: When you read what you've written, listen to how it thrums. It's a sense thing. With enough practice you'll be able to read a passage and tell when it goes thrum thrum thrum thwack. That thwack is where you have to rewrite to make your message more rhythmic.

That didn't help at all, did it?

You need to know the characters on two different levels.

The first level is internal -- who they are and how they perceive the world. Thankfully, though culture shapes perception, people around the world experience the same desires and feelings. Losing your child to a tragic accident hurts for everyone. You need to dig down into your own well of emotion and use that to bring realism to your character's inner life. See Robert Olen Butler's Yearning Theory. Or read his book on writing craft -- it's great.

The second level is external -- where they live and what they do. Luckily, this level is in some ways easier. You just need to do enough research that you can convey it in a believable manner. But it isn't just facts about the environment, like how much bread costs or what's on the news that day. It's nailing the sensory experience of being there -- the sounds, smells, and just the vibe one gets from the environment. That can be a little harder. You have to have experienced many diverse places to do this part well, so that you can substitute one of your own close experiences. For example, Poland in winter during WWII. Few people still alive experienced that. But if you've experienced winter in the Northeastern U.S., you can probably let those sensory details stand in for the historic ones with relative success. Likewise for the sensory experience of being on a yacht, standing on a mountain, being in a confined space underground, feeling scared in the "bad part of town," feeling hot sand underfoot, the odor of pines in the summer, the cold bite of a spring river... and on and on.

In short, most of what you need to put yourself in someone else's shoes can be found within yourself if you learn to tap into universal experience. The rest just requires research.