The Fifth Cliche

"Make the apocalypse personal for them. Not just the overarching apocalypse, but what is the personal tragedy that has happened or will happen if they don't succeed at x, y, z and survive?" "Bring their personal goals and fears and dreams into the mix as well because it's going to affect every character differently," she says. 'If you're finding that your protagonist could be like replaced with any of the other characters and it would be the same story then you need to go back to the drawing board'