One of the most common problems I encounter as a developmental editor is something I call author blind spots. These happen when writers know their characters, worlds, and stories so intimately that they forget how much of that knowledge never actually makes it onto the page.
Sometimes, the author simply knows too much.
They know their characters' childhood traumas, their complicated family histories, and the exact moment a friendship turned into a rivalry. They know the political structure of their fantasy kingdom, why two neighboring countries have been at war for centuries, and what really happened to the protagonist's missing mother.
They know things that never even make it into the manuscript. And that's where the trouble begins.
Because while the author has spent months, sometimes years, living inside this world, the reader is arriving for the first time. They don't have access to the character biographies, the elaborate timelines, or the dozens of conversations the author has imagined but never written.
They only have what's on the page. And sometimes, what's on the page isn't quite enough.
When Knowing Too Much Creates Author Blind Spots
One of the most common issues I encounter during developmental edits is a character whose behavior makes perfect sense to the author but leaves the reader scratching their head.
Perhaps a protagonist refuses to trust someone who has repeatedly demonstrated loyalty. Or a character reacts with disproportionate anger to an otherwise innocent comment. Maybe a romantic relationship shifts from antagonism to affection without the emotional groundwork necessary to make that transition believable.
When I flag these moments, the author often has an immediate explanation.
"Well, she's afraid of abandonment because her father left when she was seven."
Or, "He doesn't trust her because she reminds him of someone who betrayed him years ago."
Those are perfectly reasonable explanations. There's just one problem. None of that information is in the book.
The author has been writing with the benefit of knowledge the reader doesn't possess. What feels like a natural progression to the person creating the story can feel abrupt, confusing, or even contradictory to the person reading it.
And readers can't connect the dots they haven't been given.
The Difference Between Mystery and Missing Information
This is where things get tricky, particularly for writers working in fantasy, mystery, and other genres where withholding information is part of the storytelling.
You absolutely do not need to explain everything. In fact, you shouldn't.
Readers enjoy uncertainty. They want to speculate about motives, question loyalties, and discover secrets alongside the characters. A little confusion can create wonderful tension.
But there's a difference between making readers wonder why something happened and leaving them unable to understand what is happening.
Consider two scenarios
In the first, a character refuses to enter a particular room. Their hands tremble whenever they pass the doorway, and they become visibly uncomfortable when someone mentions the room's former occupant.
The reader doesn't know why, but they recognize that something important is happening. The mystery is intentional, and the author has given them enough context to become curious.
In the second scenario, a character refuses to enter the same room, but there's no hesitation, no emotional reaction, and no indication that the refusal matters. Three chapters later, their unwillingness becomes central to a major confrontation.
The author knows exactly why the character avoided the room. The reader, however, may feel as though an important piece of the story has been left out. They are pulled out of the story trying to wonder what they are missing.
The difference isn't how much information the author reveals. It's whether the reader has enough information to understand the significance of what's happening.
You can withhold answers without withholding context.
When the Author Knows Too Much About Their World
This problem isn't limited to character development. Fantasy and science fiction writers are particularly vulnerable because worldbuilding often involves creating far more information than will ever appear in the finished novel.
And that's a good thing. A well-developed world should feel larger than the story taking place inside it.
But sometimes writers become so familiar with their world's rules that they forget those rules aren't obvious to everyone else.
A character might make a dangerous bargain with a supernatural creature, for example. The author understands that breaking such a bargain carries terrible consequences because they've established an entire magical system around these agreements.
But if the reader hasn't been shown or told enough about those consequences, the character's fear may feel exaggerated.
The opposite can happen, too. A character uses magic to solve a seemingly impossible problem, and the author knows the ability has existed all along. Unfortunately, the reader has never encountered it before.
Instead of feeling impressed by a clever solution, they may feel cheated.
The solution isn't to dump three pages of magical history into the opening chapter. It's to establish the information readers need before they need it. A warning from another character. A small demonstration of a magical limitation. A seemingly inconsequential consequence that becomes much more important later.
Often, a few carefully placed details can accomplish more than an entire paragraph of explanation.
How to Recognize Your Own Author Blind Spots
The difficult part is that these gaps are often invisible to the author. You've read the manuscript countless times. You know what's coming. You remember scenes that existed in earlier drafts, even if you've since removed them. You may even remember conversations between characters that happened entirely in your imagination.
Your brain automatically fills in the missing information. Unfortunately, your reader's brain can't.
Here are a few ways to catch those author blind spots before they become problems.
1. Question the motivations behind major decisions.
When a character makes an important choice, ask yourself what the reader knows at that exact moment. Not what they'll learn five chapters later, and not what you know from your character notes.
What information is actually available to them?
If the decision depends on knowledge they don't have, consider whether you've provided enough emotional or situational context to make the choice believable.
2. Look closely at emotional transitions.
Relationships rarely change overnight without a reason.
If two characters go from distrust to friendship, or attraction to love, look for the moments that earn that progression. Sometimes authors have imagined an entire relationship developing between scenes, only to discover that the reader has witnessed very little of it.
You don't need to document every interaction, but the important shifts need to happen where readers can experience them.
3. Pay attention to what your critique partners ask.
If a beta reader asks why a character did something, resist the urge to immediately explain it. Instead, ask yourself why the answer wasn't apparent from the manuscript.
That doesn't necessarily mean you need to spell everything out. Sometimes the reader has overlooked a detail. Other times, the explanation exists only in your head.
The distinction matters.
4. Watch for explanations that begin with "Well, what happened was..."
This is one I encounter frequently during developmental edits. I'll question a character's reaction or a plot development, and the author will respond with a wonderfully detailed explanation of the circumstances leading up to it.
Sometimes that explanation is more compelling than what's actually on the page.
When that happens, I encourage the author to look at how some of that missing context might be incorporated into the story itself. Not all of it. Just enough to give the reader the same opportunity to understand the character that the author already has.
Knowing Too Much Isn't the Problem. Forgetting What Readers Don't Know Is.
The goal of developmental editing isn't to make every motivation explicit, eliminate ambiguity, or explain away every mystery. It's to make sure the story provides readers with what they need to remain invested. Sometimes that means adding a line of dialogue. Sometimes it means moving a revelation earlier. Sometimes it means strengthening a character interaction so an emotional shift feels earned.
And sometimes it means recognizing that a brilliant piece of backstory you've been carrying around for three years never actually made it into the manuscript.
Writers should know more about their stories than their readers do. That's part of what gives fictional worlds depth and characters complexity. The trick is remembering that readers can only experience the story you've written, not the one you've imagined.
So beware of your author blind spots when you're writing.
So, writers, have you ever had a critique partner or beta reader tell you about an author blind spot?
About Jenn Windrow
Jenn Windrow once attempted to write a “normal” book—and promptly bored herself into a coma. So now she sticks to what she does best: writing snarky, kick-butt heroines, broody supernatural men, and more sexual tension than a vampire in a blood bank.
She’s the award-winning author of the Alexis Black novels and the Redeeming Cupid series, where the undead never sparkle and the drama is always delicious. Jenn moonlights as a developmental editor, helping other writers wrangle their wild plots and tangle-free prose.
When not arguing with her characters or muttering about Oxford commas, she can be found binge-watching trash TV, wrangling the slew of animals that live in her house (husband and teenagers included), or telling herself she’ll only have one more cookie.
You can find her at jennwindrow.com or lurking on social media where she pretends to be an extrovert.
Photo by Serge Taeymans on Unsplash
