Dialogue and action help move your plot forward, but there’s another element that many writers overlook: clothes can define a character and help with the story’s trajectory. What the characters are wearing can tell us volumes about their means and motives. In this article Writer’s Relief found on LitHub.com, we learned writers should think like costume designers. The costume designer for a movie uses the color, texture, and fit of a garment to provide details about a character’s self-image, social position, and relationships to others in the story. Writers can also use clothes and fashion to define a character. And having the right facts about the clothing your characters are wearing is especially important when writing historical fiction!

Click here to read more about how to think like a costume designer when writing.