Advanced Brilliant Writing: Make Your Plots Wider and Your Characters Deeper (Go! Write Something Brilliant) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Susan May Warren
Tags: General Fiction, Reference, Writing, Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, Writing Skills, Publishing & Books
looks inward and asks, "What do I truly desire?" then we see true change.
Honor. Our football players are fighting for honor. For Manhood.
In Eagle Eye, Jerry Shaw has just about had it. He isn’t going to go a step further until . . . he finds out the son of the woman is in jeopardy. And, that his brother wasn’t a traitor . . . that in fact, he was a hero. And Jerry is given the chance to be a hero too, if he’ll stay the course. So, Jerry looks at the cost—losing his ho-hum life (and perhaps his life) and the reward (saving his country) and it requires him to ask what does he really want?
He wants to be a hero, like his brother.
It’s as simple as . . . when your character comes back to the huddle, asking, “What do you really want?”
In a lot in the manuscripts I read, the answer is love . He wants to find love.
Well, that's noble and universal, but why? Finding true love is a noble journey, but will not make for a very interesting book. How much does he want true love? Why is true love important?
Let's say our hero, let’s call him, Dragonslayer the Third, wakes up one morning, sees a beautiful day and says to his Man-in-Waiting, "Alfred, today I want to find true love."
Well, off we go. He spies his first Beautiful Damsel. He approaches. "You, there, gorgeous woman so fair. Hark, and come with me. I want to love you and make you my Queen."
"What? Fergetabboutit. You're too pretty for me."
Dragon turns to Alfred, "She turned me down. How rude!"
"My Lord, she must be a twit."
"Certainly, well, it's lunch. Shall we dine? And what fun shall I have for tomorrow?"
Dragonslayer has no reason to pursue true love the moment he faced his first obstacle. He needs a reason, and hopefully something beyond 1. True love is grand or 2. His mother abandoned him as a baby.
If you’re having trouble figuring out what your character truly wants, try this:
What was the one moment in his life that he was truly happy? (In Eagle Eye , we actually see a glimpse of this in Jerry’s memory, when he’s playing baseball with his brother, and he clearly adores him). Usually this moment reflects something of what your character truly desires. It’s this desire that is at the root of his motivation.
In the movie Titanic , Rose wants true love but she also wants freedom from her mother, from societal expectations. When she meets Jack, she discovers the courage to change her dreams. We see that this is her desire when she has the courage to stand on the bow, let Jack hold her, and she says that she is flying.
What about Lucy in While You Were Sleeping ? She falls in love with Jack, the other brother. But the family she's fallen in love with wants her to marry the responsible older brother Peter. If she confesses her feelings, the cost is almost too great. She'll lose this wonderful family because she lied. She'll lose the man she loves. But her happiest moments is when her father and her dreamed of going amazing places. She wants a man who will give her the world, not security.
Getting to the bottom of your character’s desire is the first step in creating true character change.
Book Therapist Question :
What is your character’s happiest memory?
What about that memory would he like to recreate or hold on to?
How can you turn that memory into his greatest desire?
How does that motivate him to pick himself back up and dive back into the fight?
Character Change: Attempt and Mini-Victory
Once is not enough!
So far, we've covered our hero's goal and desire, he's calculated cost versus reward and he's attempted to achieve his goal. And failed. Hopefully, miserably!
Now, we have to let him win. Something. One game. One touchdown. One completed pass. Enough for our character to feel like they’ve accomplished something.
My husband and I recently learned to swing dance. For a guy who claims he has no rhythm, he does a great job keeping the beat and leading me around the dance floor. I tried to tell him this, but
Honor. Our football players are fighting for honor. For Manhood.
In Eagle Eye, Jerry Shaw has just about had it. He isn’t going to go a step further until . . . he finds out the son of the woman is in jeopardy. And, that his brother wasn’t a traitor . . . that in fact, he was a hero. And Jerry is given the chance to be a hero too, if he’ll stay the course. So, Jerry looks at the cost—losing his ho-hum life (and perhaps his life) and the reward (saving his country) and it requires him to ask what does he really want?
He wants to be a hero, like his brother.
It’s as simple as . . . when your character comes back to the huddle, asking, “What do you really want?”
In a lot in the manuscripts I read, the answer is love . He wants to find love.
Well, that's noble and universal, but why? Finding true love is a noble journey, but will not make for a very interesting book. How much does he want true love? Why is true love important?
Let's say our hero, let’s call him, Dragonslayer the Third, wakes up one morning, sees a beautiful day and says to his Man-in-Waiting, "Alfred, today I want to find true love."
Well, off we go. He spies his first Beautiful Damsel. He approaches. "You, there, gorgeous woman so fair. Hark, and come with me. I want to love you and make you my Queen."
"What? Fergetabboutit. You're too pretty for me."
Dragon turns to Alfred, "She turned me down. How rude!"
"My Lord, she must be a twit."
"Certainly, well, it's lunch. Shall we dine? And what fun shall I have for tomorrow?"
Dragonslayer has no reason to pursue true love the moment he faced his first obstacle. He needs a reason, and hopefully something beyond 1. True love is grand or 2. His mother abandoned him as a baby.
If you’re having trouble figuring out what your character truly wants, try this:
What was the one moment in his life that he was truly happy? (In Eagle Eye , we actually see a glimpse of this in Jerry’s memory, when he’s playing baseball with his brother, and he clearly adores him). Usually this moment reflects something of what your character truly desires. It’s this desire that is at the root of his motivation.
In the movie Titanic , Rose wants true love but she also wants freedom from her mother, from societal expectations. When she meets Jack, she discovers the courage to change her dreams. We see that this is her desire when she has the courage to stand on the bow, let Jack hold her, and she says that she is flying.
What about Lucy in While You Were Sleeping ? She falls in love with Jack, the other brother. But the family she's fallen in love with wants her to marry the responsible older brother Peter. If she confesses her feelings, the cost is almost too great. She'll lose this wonderful family because she lied. She'll lose the man she loves. But her happiest moments is when her father and her dreamed of going amazing places. She wants a man who will give her the world, not security.
Getting to the bottom of your character’s desire is the first step in creating true character change.
Book Therapist Question :
What is your character’s happiest memory?
What about that memory would he like to recreate or hold on to?
How can you turn that memory into his greatest desire?
How does that motivate him to pick himself back up and dive back into the fight?
Character Change: Attempt and Mini-Victory
Once is not enough!
So far, we've covered our hero's goal and desire, he's calculated cost versus reward and he's attempted to achieve his goal. And failed. Hopefully, miserably!
Now, we have to let him win. Something. One game. One touchdown. One completed pass. Enough for our character to feel like they’ve accomplished something.
My husband and I recently learned to swing dance. For a guy who claims he has no rhythm, he does a great job keeping the beat and leading me around the dance floor. I tried to tell him this, but
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