Advanced Brilliant Writing: Make Your Plots Wider and Your Characters Deeper (Go! Write Something Brilliant) Read Online Free
Author: Susan May Warren
Tags: General Fiction, Reference, Writing, Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, Writing Skills, Publishing & Books
isn’t greater than the cost.
(Although, something inside me compels me to return to the courts every summer. I think that’s called faith. )
Now that you’ve brought your character to their first attempt and failure, and given them a glimpse of what it will cost them to succeed, then you need to give them a reward for succeeding.
Your character has to see past the Costs to the Rewards . And, they have to believe that it’s possible. Or at least, that it could be. Seeing the Costs and the Rewards will make them look inside, to ask why that Reward is worth fighting for. (Later, they’ll discover what it is inside them that stands in the way.) But for now they have to believe that their attempt and cost is worth the battle.
So, how do you give them a reward? Here are some ideas:
Give them a hero. Someone who has been the course, and fought the good fight, who knows the Reward. Like Jean Villeneuve, the French Commander who befriends Benjamin Martin, who has lost his daughters and wife to the British, but has fought with honor. And, Gabriel, Benjamin’s oldest son who fights with compassion. He believes that others have kept their character and goodness intact . . . perhaps he can also. Other heroes are Obe-Wan-Kenobi, who was the Jedi master, and Luke’s mentor. Or, in Sleepless in Seattle , Annie’s parents, who had a long-lasting true love.
Give them a glimpse of the darkness. Up the ante by adding into the mix the “what if we do nothing” question. Give them a glimpse of what could happen if they don’t fight the good fight. For, example, at the end of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and gang fight Mordor’s creepy army, and they realize just how evil Sauron is. They know destruction will overrun the land if they don’t stop it.
Give them a cause. Kidnap their sidekick, make them fall in love with the princess, save a kingdom – anything to make them realize that if they give up, they’ll lose what they love. Titanic is a classic example (I can’t think of that movie without hearing—“Jack, Jack! Come back!”) Falling in love makes them realize what they have to live for! In Eagle Eye , Jerry Shaw is bound by honor—the life of the son of the woman whose fate is tied with his is at risk.
The Reward has to be at least as vivid, as compelling, as tangible as the cost. Or frankly, they’ll end up taking the beginner’s class, year after year, after year.
Book Therapy Question
Have you given your character a glimpse of the reward that awaits change, and victory?
Giving them a Hero?
Showing them the alternative?
Giving them another cause to fight for?
Character Change: Creating Desire
(from the Caldron of Cost and Reward) What do you really want?
How much are you willing to pay for your freedom? To achieve a goal or dream? To save a loved one? To win love?
Every story we write has an arc, a journey, driven by the protagonist. But what drives the protagonist?
What is he or she after? Why? Does the reward justify the cost? In other words, why is it worth it?
When you put the cost against the reward, and stir it together, you discover the crux of the heroes’ journey: their true desire.
In Braveheart , William Wallace considers the cost of war and the lives of Scotland's men worth the reward of freedom. But when he looks deeper in his heart, he's fighting for justice and to avenge the death of his wife.
We talk a lot about "Why?" in My Book Therapy. Why does the character want to do this or that, why is it worth the fight, the loss?
At some point in the huddle, the characters are going to say, “Why are we doing this? Sure, we see a state title within our grasp, and we’re angry that our quarterback has just been sidelined by a late hit and we’re playing the team that beat us last year in the finals—but why?”
This is where true change begins to take place. It’s not about the fears or rewards . . . it’s about the people they want to be. When a character
(Although, something inside me compels me to return to the courts every summer. I think that’s called faith. )
Now that you’ve brought your character to their first attempt and failure, and given them a glimpse of what it will cost them to succeed, then you need to give them a reward for succeeding.
Your character has to see past the Costs to the Rewards . And, they have to believe that it’s possible. Or at least, that it could be. Seeing the Costs and the Rewards will make them look inside, to ask why that Reward is worth fighting for. (Later, they’ll discover what it is inside them that stands in the way.) But for now they have to believe that their attempt and cost is worth the battle.
So, how do you give them a reward? Here are some ideas:
Give them a hero. Someone who has been the course, and fought the good fight, who knows the Reward. Like Jean Villeneuve, the French Commander who befriends Benjamin Martin, who has lost his daughters and wife to the British, but has fought with honor. And, Gabriel, Benjamin’s oldest son who fights with compassion. He believes that others have kept their character and goodness intact . . . perhaps he can also. Other heroes are Obe-Wan-Kenobi, who was the Jedi master, and Luke’s mentor. Or, in Sleepless in Seattle , Annie’s parents, who had a long-lasting true love.
Give them a glimpse of the darkness. Up the ante by adding into the mix the “what if we do nothing” question. Give them a glimpse of what could happen if they don’t fight the good fight. For, example, at the end of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and gang fight Mordor’s creepy army, and they realize just how evil Sauron is. They know destruction will overrun the land if they don’t stop it.
Give them a cause. Kidnap their sidekick, make them fall in love with the princess, save a kingdom – anything to make them realize that if they give up, they’ll lose what they love. Titanic is a classic example (I can’t think of that movie without hearing—“Jack, Jack! Come back!”) Falling in love makes them realize what they have to live for! In Eagle Eye , Jerry Shaw is bound by honor—the life of the son of the woman whose fate is tied with his is at risk.
The Reward has to be at least as vivid, as compelling, as tangible as the cost. Or frankly, they’ll end up taking the beginner’s class, year after year, after year.
Book Therapy Question
Have you given your character a glimpse of the reward that awaits change, and victory?
Giving them a Hero?
Showing them the alternative?
Giving them another cause to fight for?
Character Change: Creating Desire
(from the Caldron of Cost and Reward) What do you really want?
How much are you willing to pay for your freedom? To achieve a goal or dream? To save a loved one? To win love?
Every story we write has an arc, a journey, driven by the protagonist. But what drives the protagonist?
What is he or she after? Why? Does the reward justify the cost? In other words, why is it worth it?
When you put the cost against the reward, and stir it together, you discover the crux of the heroes’ journey: their true desire.
In Braveheart , William Wallace considers the cost of war and the lives of Scotland's men worth the reward of freedom. But when he looks deeper in his heart, he's fighting for justice and to avenge the death of his wife.
We talk a lot about "Why?" in My Book Therapy. Why does the character want to do this or that, why is it worth the fight, the loss?
At some point in the huddle, the characters are going to say, “Why are we doing this? Sure, we see a state title within our grasp, and we’re angry that our quarterback has just been sidelined by a late hit and we’re playing the team that beat us last year in the finals—but why?”
This is where true change begins to take place. It’s not about the fears or rewards . . . it’s about the people they want to be. When a character
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