a request from instagram that i'm posting here. buckle up, because this is a long one!

Punctuation is like the very last thing I actively think about when writing something (what's the point of fixing the punctuation of a sentence you'll end up taking out or editing anyway?) but it is still an important step!

Having proper punctuation increases your credibility and the overall quality of your work. Also, it’s doubly important in professional work, emails, and resumes. With that, let’s get into it!

Commas

We use them all the time. We get them wrong all the time. There are six rules for where you can use commas:

Use to separate items in a list or series:

The book was long, tedious, and painful.

The comma after tedious is called the Oxford’s comma. Feel free to debate if you need it in the reblogs, but you won’t get in trouble professionally if you use it or leave it out (in most cases.) It always comes before ‘and’ in a list to prevent confusion of the items:

I ran into my mother, my best friend and a scientist. (1 person?)

Is very different from

I ran into my mother, my best friend, and a scientist. (3 people)

2. Use to separate independent clauses, with a coordinating conjunction.

An independent clause is just a sentence that makes sense on its own.

A coordinating conjunction is: and, but, or so.

Miley had a ton of work to do, so she set her alarm early.

3. Use after an introductory statement.

Introductory statements begin with many different words, but typically: Before, after, when, while, as soon as, etc.

Before her first class, Stacy looked up her prof on Rate Your Teacher.

Main point about this, “Before her first class” is not an independent clause, it needs a second part.

4. Use to surround info in a sentence

This info is not essential to the sense-making of the sentence, but it should be relevant.

Parents, no matter how skilled, cannot function at 100% all the time.

5. Addresses and Dates

6. And with direct quotes

Important for essay writing.

Casey said, “I hate this house!”

Colons:

Introduce a list after a complete sentence:

I have three favourite foods: spaghetti, chowder, and garlic bread.

2. Use after ‘the following’ or ‘as follows’

Please provide the following information: your date of birth, full name, and address.

3. Don't use with sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is an unfinished sentence (that doesn’t make sense on its own).

My favourite foods are: spaghetti, chowder, and garlic bread.

This is wrong because, “My favourite foods are.” Isn’t an independent clause.

4. Introduce an explanation

My parents ask one thing of me: that I try my hardest.

5. Introduce a quotation

Mom always quoted the bible: “The truth will set you free.”

6. And times (12:00)

Semi-Colon:

Not super common, but makes you look good if you can use it properly.

Separate two related independent clauses

I never drink Starbucks; it tastes burnt.

2. Similar, but with conjunctions: however, moreover, therefore, nevertheless, etc.

I don’t like Starbucks; however, it does the job.

Agatha didn’t witness anything; nevertheless, she was called in to court.

3. Use to avoid misreading in a series

The invited guests are the club leader; the treasurer; the new member, Jason Tanner; and Wanda Johnson, the investor.

Semicolons clarify the separation between the four people. Had it been, “The club leader, the treasurer, The new member, Jason Tanner…” it would seem that the new member and Jason Tanner are two different people.

Apostrophes – Possessive

‘s shows possession of a singular noun

The girl’s parents were quite rich.

2. S’ shows possession of a plural noun

The students’ books were all over the place. (there are multiple students who have books)

3. ‘s to singular words ending in s, and nouns that are plural

My boss’s office My children’s toys

Apostrophes – Contractions

Use to combine two words (they are, he is, there is, etc.)

there’s a very good encouraging post (cannot currently find it) about how ao3 kudos don’t correspond to writing quality, which is true.

but if you don’t know WHY that is, it sounds like meaningless pat-on-the-back “keep your chin up, champ!” stuff.

it’s not.

kudos on ao3 are a marketing game.  i’m gonna use my own ao3 works to make my case bc that’s a lot easier (and Significantly Less Asshole-ish) than analyzing the marketability of other people’s ao3 fic

my two main fandoms over the past 8 years are homestuck and the raven cycle/dreamer trilogy verse.

my most popular homestuck fanfiction is vacation.  it’s a johndave fic i wrote when i was 16, and as of writing this post, it has 2,974 kudos.

by comparison, there’s breathe on the ashes.  this is an ancestor fic similar in length and chapter count to vacation.  it has 268 kudos - an encouraging readership for sure, but less than 1/10th of the engagement of vacation.  it has less than 1/20th the amount of hits.

quality-wise, breathe on the ashes is SIGNIFICANTLY better than vacation (though there’s a LOT about it i’d do differently if i wrote it today).  i wrote it when i was 19.  it has better characterization, more thoughtful character arcs, more compelling plotting, better twists, and a significantly more fulfilling resolution.

so why is vacation so much more popular?

a great deal of it is luck - it was the first (i believe?) mainstream mermaid AU in the homestuck fandom, and it inspired a LOT of fanart that brought readers in.  it was written in 2012-2013, at the height of the homestuck fandom’s engagement w/ fanworks

it also combines a popular AU concept with the most popular fandom ship at the time.  i have multiple very short, badly written johndave oneshots from 2012 that ALSO have significantly more kudos than breathe on the ashes.

breathe on the ashes, by comparison, is about the homestuck ancestors, who get almost no screen time in canon and have no canon personalities.  it’s plot-heavy rather than ship-heavy.  it’s dense, and at some times very dark.

much of its readership is tumblr mutuals and people who started following my writing for johndave.  but also, a significant part of its readership is people reading for the tagged relationships and the promised adventure story. that’s why it has over 200 kudos instead of, like, 10.

now let’s compare two series i’ve written for the raven cycle/dreamer trilogy fandom: the most self-indulgent vampire AU of all time and unbecoming jordan hennessy.

unbecoming jordan hennessy is my newest series, so it hasn’t had years to gain a readership.  but none of the fics have more than 70 hits, which is unusual for my profile.  in fact, only the first fic has more than 10 kudos.  by comparison, the vampire AU has 73 series bookmarks, 3,500 hits on the first installment, and nearly 450 kudos on the first installment.

that’s because i knew the jordan hennessy series had little potential readership going in and made no effort to mitigate that.  it’s an extremely dark dead dove series that has basically every available content warning and then some.  it focuses on a dreamer trilogy character (so, already a smaller fandom than the raven cycle) who gets very little fandom attention, and character spinoffs who get even LESS attention.  most didn’t even have ao3 tags of their own until i wrote them.  it’s all genfic, and it’s all gruesome and gutwrenching and awful.

meanwhile i DID take steps to encourage vampire AU readership, even as i continued writing what i want.  the main characters are in a polycule, but poly fic is rarely interacted with in this fandom.  so several installments focus chiefly on the main fandom pairing (pynch) with the polyamory as a background.  that way there was already a readership when i started exploring adansey, bronan, etc.

i wrote the vampire AU with fan-favorite tropes (i mean…. it’s a vampire AU).  i wrote it to be self-indulgent and fun.  i wrote it ENTIRELY as a series where I Do What I Want, but i also marketed it in ways that drive reader engagement.  i used tags that people often search on ao3.  i used popular & humorous title formats.  i used short, snappy summaries that told people what to expect from the fic.

both of these series are undeniably good.  i’m a good writer.  but only one was written With The Consumption Of Others In Mind, and it’s reflected 100% in the stats.  in fact, if i didn’t have tumblr mutuals who’d shared jordan hennessy, NO ONE would have read it.  

i’m not sore about people not reading jordan hennessy.  i wrote it for myself, like most of my writing is for myself, and i published it for maybe 3 or 4 mutuals who care about the content as much as i do.  i knew it wasn’t going to be mass devoured by the fandom.

(i have well over a million words of fiction that i’ve written for myself that no one else has ever seen.  unbecoming jordan hennessy is the closest public window into what most of that content looks like.)

so.

here’s how to market a fic to get kudos:

pick a large fandom.  raven cycle is a pretty big YA fandom, homestuck is a giant internet fandom.  if i cared to write for fandoms like the MCU, i could almost definitely surpass vacation’s success

pick the most popular pairing.  or a very popular pairing, if there are several in your fandom.

DO NOT write relationship-less genfic.  even if the fic itself is pretty genficcy, tag it with a popular relationship.  (use & relationship tags if there absolutely is no romance or it’s focused on familial bonding.)

DO NOT go overboard with relationship tags or with general tags.  do not write a summary that’s a million words long.

write a popular AU.  high school, college, supernatural, coffee shop, office workers, soulmates, whatever.

write a popular relationship trope.  fake relationship, enemies to lovers, there was only one bed, and they were roommates etc.

write a popular subgenre.  sickfic, slow burn, married shenanigans, plotless fluff, angst with a happy ending, etc.

write a oneshot or keep chapter lengths somewhere from 2,000 to 4,000 words.

profit.

does any of that have to do with the writing quality? no.  

it has to do with what people are searching for on ao3, what they’re likely to read, and how to reach the largest market possible in your fandom of choice.

but like, actually examining my works through the lense of kudos also shows the other filter besides just novelty: i wrote a huge range of lengths and subjects and pairings and tones, and what actually Became A Hit was pretty much all the Normal Shit. the redrom. the strider manpain. the ornate aus with lovely outfits. the palatable stuff that almost anyone liked.

your best work probably won’t (and probably shouldn’t!) be your most popular, because quality is a function of passion and experience and experimentation and originality. popularity is about working with averages. stuff most people like well enough. there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. but you need to keep that in mind if you want to be an unrepentant freak who writes for the unhinged joy of it.

Hi frens - a recent conversation with one of my fave mutuals brought steered us to a conversation about writers being gatekeepers for how they make their content or what resources they use for their stories etc. etc. and it just got me thinking how I literally never want to gatekeep anything I used to write my stories. Below is a list of resources / websites that I often use when world building or trying to find some inspiration for fics (largely fantasy). I will definitely plan on updating this as I find re-sources and will additionally add writing tools - I will also link this post in my FAQ so it lives somewhere findable.

If you're a writer and you also use a tool or writing resource that you find helpful and want to share with the world - pls respond to this thread or send me a message and I will add it! My goal is to share as many tools as possible, even if it's how-tos like how to make a master list, how to make a banner etc!!

WORLD BUILDING TOOLS:

These websites are free and though they are limited, you don't necessarily need to use the actual world building as much as you can just use the questions and formatting. These sites will ask you EVERYTHING you might need to know about your world.

world anvil | kanka |

MYTHOLOGICAL RESOURCES:

These are websites that store mass amounts of mythological and theological stories and histories of multiple cultures.

god checker | pantheon | mythopedia |

MASTERLIST TOOLS:

→ If you mainly manage a masterlist on a computer and don't have an Apple interface where you can quickly use keys for emojis for keys and navigations, use: emojipedia

→ If you are someone who doesn't have a lot of skill in graphic design but you don't have someone to ask for a banner / don't feel comfortable asking for a banner, most Canva templates are free but also Photo Pea is essentially a free version of Photoshop and has the same tools!

→ If you have a Tumblr theme / layout that does not let you but your masterlist links in your bio that show up on mobile, here is how.

FREE WORD PROCESSORS IF YOU DO NOT HAVE MICROSOFT WORD:

Google Docs | LibreOffice | WPS Office

FREE FILE TRANSFERS IF YOU ARE SENDING DOCS BACK AND FORTH FROM COMPUTERS:

As a Writer it’s my goal to help and uplift other writers and future Authors alike so here’s a Masterlist of resources I’ve compiled for you to use for your writing!

If you know any sites or have any recommendations for me to add, my asks/submissions are open!!

I’ll update these as I further my journey & research into becoming an Author one day, please reblog this to help your fellow writers!

Organization, Advice, and Research

Hiveword - A website with multiple writing resources available such as planning, index cards, articles with advice, name and character generators, and research capabilities. The free account offers the essentials such as scenes, characters, and plotlines.

Storyteller’s Roadmap - A website that helps you plan, write, and revise a story thoroughly. It including guides to write specific descriptions along with a thesaurus, templates and worksheets, an Idea Generator and more.

Helping Writers become Authors - A website in a blog style format with multiple articles and resources including writing mistakes, novel outlining, story structures, as well as character arcs and many more.

UK resources for writers - A website with resources for learning how to write with free and paid courses, writing opportunities, and more for writers in the UK.

Creative Writers Academy - A website with free classes guiding a step by step through the publication process.

Reedsy - A blog style website that includes Articles about publication and centered around learning how to publish a book with many tools and generators for writing.

Poets and Writers - A website for Writers and poets with resources like publishing your writing, finding your community and more.

Research Links for Writers - An HTML site with multiple links and resources for writers spanning upon multiple genres, subject matters, and history.

The internet public library - A website encyclopedia for essays and academic papers.

Writing realistic Injuries - A website with a list of different types of injuries and how to write them out including, impacts, and the effects of them.

RanGen - A website for writers with writing challenges, resources, and generators for things like personalities, characters, poisons, writing prompts, etc.

Ivy Tech Library - A library database website with a lot of resources for research including folklore and by region.

How to write a story by Creativepromptsforwriting on Tumblr - A different Masterlist with many more resources about writing, staying motivated, certain plots, etc.

Self Publishing

A step-by-step Video about Self Publishing - A video by Gilliain Perkins explaining her process of how she self published her Best Seller Novel.

How to format your book yourself through word - A video by Natalia Leigh with a step-by-step process on how she formats her manuscript. Her video covers: Page Size, Margins, Line spacing, Indentation, Chapter Styles, Page Numbers, and Headers.

Strategies for Marketing your book - A video made by iWriterly she explains 34 different strategies that can be used to market a book (while marketing her book lol!) and includes a downloadable checklist of these strategies

Masterclass How to copyright a book in 7 steps - An article guiding step by step how to properly copyright a self published book.

Fiverr - A freelancing website where you can find someone to make your illustrations, covers, and even get editors as well as someone to voice or make an audiobook for you.

Up Work - A freelancing website  where you can find someone to make your illustrations, covers, and even get editors as well as someone to voice or make an audiobook for you.

Beta Books - A website for Beta Readers can read your book and return their feedback. It lets you sort and filter your feedback by reader, chapter, or keyword, to get your book done.

Docucopies - A printing service website with a short guide about self publishing, buying copyright, and ISBN references and sites, all while including printing services (10% off of orders over 350$)

The Book Patch - A book printing service which includes Print-On-Demand services or cheap printing services allowing for smaller quantities. The Book Patch does not offer expensive publishing package, and keeps book publishing costs to a minimum.

Affordable Book Printing - A website with book publishing services including printing books but also formatting e-books, Cover Design, as well as Marketing and more

Generators & AUs

Random AU Generator - A website that generates AUs randomly.

Fantasy Name/Realm Generator - A website that generates random fantasy names.

Random Name Generator - A website that generates random names based on the options chosen with the ability to choose by region and gender.

Service Scape Writing Prompt Generator - A website that generates in depth writing prompts as chosen by the genre selected.

Writing Plot Generator - A website that generates plots based upon your selections of genre, title, etc.

a mildly extensive list of writing stuff/info

Starts undercut

Thsnk you.

Sure:

When humans get a relatively minor injury, after an initial amount of time where the injury is very painful, the pain kind of dies off.

This is because humans produce chemicals (enkephalin and endorphin) that suppress pain in the brain. Once you know you're hurt, you really don't need to keep knowing about it, and it might actually be evolutionary advantageous if the pain reduces enough to, say, run away from the tiger that just bit you or be able to walk back to your camp/other humans for help.

Now, these chemicals work by binding to opioid receptors in the brain, which tells the brain to stop feeling the pain as much. Humans, being the smarticle particles that we are, found out that some plants produce chemicals that also bond to those opioid receptors. If you prepare these plants in a certain way and consume them, they reduce pain on command- you don't have to rely on the body itself making it's own endorphins and enkephalins, you can just throw some at them whenever- and that feels good even if there's no pain to reduce.

Unfortunately, if too many of the available opioid receptors are blocked, you get the side effect of the brain essentially forgetting to breathe (called respiratory depression). You're really never going to get to this point with just the endorphins and enkaphalins, but if you're throwing a lot of outside (exogenous) opioids at those receptors, it is a pretty significant risk. Since you need air to live, an opioid overdose can be deadly if not handled immediately.

To correct the overdose, you first correct the problem of not breathing- you do this first, because that's what's going to cause the most damage (usually to the brain) if not immediately addressed. This is generally done with rescue breaths.

If you have it, you also administer naloxone. Naloxone binds a lot more strongly to opioid receptors in the brain than most opioids, but since doesn't cause the respiratory depression, it can pretty much kick the opioid molecules off the receptors and sit on them, which has the effect of causing the person to come to and start breathing again.

BUT- it doesn't last all that long- pretty much just 30-60 minutes. You really have to keep monitoring the patient and administering naloxone every time they nod off.

In an emergency department setting, if the person experienced a "simple" overdose (where they stopped breathing and required naloxone, but no brain damage was immediately apparent from the lack of oxygen) and has been given naloxone, you'd typically want to watch them at least 6 hours before allowing them to leave. At that point it is reasonably certain that they are not going to slip back into overdose once the naloxone has worn off. In the emergency department setting they may administer activated charcoal if they knew the overdose was ingested orally, but they wouldn't necessarily remove anything from the stomach.

If they do nod off again and stop breathing, the emergency department staff will usually set up something called a naloxone drip. This is IV naloxone given at a steady rate- usually about 2/3 of the original dose that the person needed to wake up again, given over the course of an hour, every hour, until the person is out of danger of re-overdosing. Usually the person who requires the drip will be kept in the emergency department, an observation unit, or on a regular nursing floor for about 23 hours (23 specifically is due to insurance reasons, but is close to when all known opioids would have worn off)

CW: discussions of non-con drugging, spiking food, medical whump, overdosing, drug abuse, addiction, death, brief BBU-mention

Using drugs as a whump method is pretty common, and rightly so! As one of my favorite tropes, it was interesting to think about how they could affect the Whumpee after the act itself, be it physical or mental.

That's why I made a little compilation (for me and you), if you feel like agonizing your Whumpee even further. There are also some examples in between, for your entertainment!

The research is mostly relating to any downers, meaning any drug that makes you calm or fall asleep, so anesthetics, hypnotics or sedatives. Examples include ketamine, Rohypnol, GBL, propofol and heroin.

Uppers on the other hand have the opposite effect in stimulating the human nervous system. Some of the effects that are noted below are applicable to both kinds of drugs, but keep in mind that stimulants are more of an afterthought in this list. I'm going to recap the effects of both at the end.

I'm not a pharmacist by any means, but as far as reliable research for creative writing goes, this should suffice. No one is going to fact-check your whump fic, bestie 🤍

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

By method:

Ingestion (forcing them to take pills, spiking their food)

→ General indigestion, nausea, dry mouth

Injections via syringe or continuous administration through an IV drip (e.g. in medical settings)

-> Swelling/tenderness/infection/bruising of the injection side

-> High fever (even days after the injection)

→ Anaphylaxis: skin rash, chest tightness, dizziness, nausea, facial swelling

Anaphylaxis is an all-body allergic reaction that can cause mild to severe and even deadly symptoms (shock or coma). It can escalate and should be immediately treated with a shot of adrenaline. This kind of reaction could be detrimental to Whumper's plans, especially if they intend to keep Whumpee alive for the foreseeable future. So it would be helpful for them to always carry an EpiPen, just in case...

An overdose is essentially what happens when someone overindulges in drugs or surpasses a dose leading to health problems that could endanger life.

Remember, somebody loves you. Stay safe, stay clean and keep fighting.

How Overdosing Occurs

Overdosing can occur both accidentally or on purpose. Common occurences happenwhen the participant has no idea how strong the dose is, takes a regular dose after tolerance has lowered (usually when an addict stays clean after a period and then takes up the habit again), taking a larger dose than accustomed to or combining substances of abuse or intends to harm themselves

Kinds of Drugs

Dissociative drugs: Dissociative drugs alter perception leaving the participant feeling a disconnection with the world around them. Examples: Ketamine and nitrous oxide

Depressants: Or sedatives calm the participant, slowing the breathing and reaction of the participants. Examples, GHB and benzodiazepines

Stimulants: Stimulants are the opposites of sedatives, perking up and hypering the participant. Examples: Cocaine and amphetamines

Psychedlics: Are an 'Hallucinogenic' drug. They cause changes in perception, thought, emotion and consciousness, altering yhr mind. Example: LSD, Mushrooms

Opioids: Are made of extracts of poppy or opium. They decrease pain and sensation in the participant. Example: heroin, morphine, codeine, heroin and methadone. They are classed as narcotic analgesics - meaning they decrease pain reaction and sensation.

Handling an Overdose in your Characters

Opioid Overdose

Signs: lethargy, bluish tinge to fingers and lips, pinpointed pupils, unresponsive, unconsciousness, trouble with breathing (such as shallow breathing) or lack of breathing.

Response: Remove impediments that could further injure, try rouse the person (if they wake, keep them talking), check airways and perform CPR if needed, wait for ambulance to escort patient to hospital (where Naloxone will be administered to the patient)

Stimulant Overdose

Signs: Elevated heart rate, chest pain, shaking/seizures, hyperness, sweating, flushed skin, disorientation, elevated breathing, irritability.

Response: Remove dangers such as needles and anything of a danger, reassure patient if awake and disoriented, loosen clothing, put in recovery position

Psychedelic Overdose

Signs: Erractic Behaviour, signs of distress, excessive sweating, dilated pupils, numbness, spasms, anxiety, paranoia

Response: Remove them from dangerous environments, avoid sensory overload, you have have to keep them from others.

Dissociative Overdose

Signs: Spasms, Respiratory troubles, stupor,

Response: Remove needles or other harms from the patient, reassure patient if awake and disoriented, loosen clothing, put in recovery position and call ambulance

Depressants Overdose

Signs: Unconsciousness, incoherency, sweating, vomiting, irregular or shallow breathing, spasms, elevated heartrate, breathing problems,

Steadfast/flat-arc characters are characters who don’t drastically change their worldviews over the course of the story. In contrast, a change character will do largely a 180 flip in worldview from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

For example, in the fable of the Little Red Hen, the Little Red Hen never changes her worldview about hard work. But in A Christmas Carol, Scrooge completely changes his worldview from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

In the writing community, there are a lot of misconceptions of the steadfast/flat-arc character (at least from my experience), which I’m going to talk about, debunk, and clarify today in this article. This information will still be useful to writers who have no interest in writing a steadfast protagonist–because nearly every successful story features a key character who is steadfast.

irst, though, we need to visit our familiar pit stop on writing terminology. The most common term for this character is the “flat-arc” character. But it is not the only term. This character has also been called the “steadfast” character, which is what Dramatica Theory calls it. While “flat-arc” is more common, I prefer “steadfast” for a few reasons:

- It conveys that the character must struggle to hold onto something (after all, one is only “steadfast” when there is opposition)

- “Flat-arc” sorta sounds like there isn’t really any growth or movement, which isn’t exactly accurate.

- For much of my experience in the writing world, protagonists who don’t have much of an arc have been frowned upon or treated as “lesser.” The term “flat-arc” reminds me of that.

This is completely preference. You may use whichever term you want. Today, I’ll be switching between the two.

Now, you can have positive and negative steadfast characters. A positive one will hold onto a true worldview throughout the story, while a negative one will hold onto an inaccurate worldview. For the sake of this article, I will be focusing on the positive one, which is more common, and may do a future article that focuses more on the negative version.

Now, let’s talk about some of the misunderstandings and myths about the positive steadfast character.

My (Helpful) Personal History with Steadfast, Flat-arc Characters

Despite wanting to work in the writing industry since I was seven, I entered the writing world like anyone else: naive.

I had an idea for a story I wanted to write, with a protagonist that drew inspiration from some of my all-time favorite protagonists.

What I didn’t know, and what no one could explain to me, was that all these protagonists were steadfast/flat-arc characters. And that’s what I wanted to write.

I took writing classes, went to conferences, read books, and tried to soak up any piece of advice anyone could give me. But for some reason, some of the information didn’t seem to work into my story or apply to the favorite stories I was drawing inspiration from.

This led to a lot of questioning and challenging of “writing rules” on my part (though that was mostly internal). I was told over and over again (if not in these words) that I needed to have a change arc protagonist. It was implied, over and over again, that protagonists who didn’t have change arcs were static, simple, lacking depth and dimension, and were just boring. Of course, there was always the occasional acknowledgment that 007 or Indiana Jones were successful. But I didn’t want to write 007 or Indiana Jones. I still wanted to go deep into character.

Well, over the years, I unwittingly switched my protagonist from a steadfast protagonist to a change protagonist. I’ve only fully realized this recently when reviewing some of those favorite protagonists from years ago.

Not to be dramatic, but I feel a little cheated and let down by the writing world because of that. Even recently I went looking for resources on steadfast/flat-arc protagonists, and frankly, found very little. And of what I did find, 95% pulled from the same source material. I mean, it’s great, but we are obviously lacking with this.

I tell this story, not for therapeutic reasons (okay, let’s be honest, some of it is totally therapeutic!), but because I know there is someone out there who is struggling like I was. Someone who can’t get their story to work because they are trying to apply change-arc advice to a flat-arc protagonist. This doesn’t work. But you can’t see that, because the people you are learning from (who have sincere intentions), don’t fully understand or acknowledge steadfast protagonists.

For example, a writing book that has been making waves (that I looove and definitely recommend) is Story Genius by Lisa Cron. This book is amazing! And so helpful!

If you are writing a positive change protagonist.

It will not help you nail down your steadfast protagonist. Because its principles are founded on the protagonist changing.

So if you are trying to apply it to the wrong type of protagonist, you are going to get frustrated… . or switch your protagonist’s type.

Unfortunately, I myself have been guilty of perpetuating some inaccurate advice, but only because (like most people), I didn’t know better. This also tends to happen because by far the most common protagonist type is the positive change protagonist. There are lots of resources on it. There are lots of people writing it.

But this doesn’t mean that the steadfast protagonist is wrong. It actually doesn’t even mean that he is boring, static, or one-dimensional, nor that he doesn’t grow, struggle, doubt, or change at all. He just doesn’t do a direct flip in worldview. Instead, he proves his worldview true (the thematic statement).

Let’s debunk some myths I’ve heard in the decade or so of being in the writing world.

Myth #1: Flat-arc Characters Don’t Grow

The most common myth you are likely to run into, is that steadfast characters don’t grow. This is inaccurate. The steadfast character doesn’t drastically change her worldview. The positive steadfast protagonist has a worldview that will be proven true by the end of the story, which creates the theme. (In contrast, a negative steadfast protagonist has a worldview that will be proven untrue.)

This doesn’t mean the character doesn’t grow in some way.

For example, you may have a flat-arc character who becomes more competent. Maybe he learns to become a great marksman. Or maybe she learns how to navigate law school (Legally Blonde). A steadfast protagonist can gain any kind of skill, even some that are less obvious, such as learning the art of manipulation. In Moana, Moana must learn how to sail.

You may have a steadfast character who learns to become more proactive/assertive. It’s not exactly unusual for a flat-arc character to not want to get involved in the main conflict in the beginning. He may be a reluctant hero. He may need to learn to not stand by but to stand up for what he believes in, by confronting the antagonist directly. In Disney’s live-action Cinderella, Ella must become more assertive to fully thwart her wicked stepmother.

A steadfast character may grow in experience and wisdom. In Wonder Woman, Diana must experience and understand the real world in order to fully wield her truth against the antagonist.

A steadfast character can grow in pretty much any way that doesn’t totally flip his or her worldview.

Certainly, there are flat-arc characters who don’t grow at all, like 007, and that is fine, and you can write successful characters like that. But that doesn’t mean that none of them grow whatsoever.

Myth #2: Steadfast Characters’ Worldviews Remain Completely Static

Explained most simply, a positive steadfast character has an accurate worldview–understands the true thematic statement–from the beginning. This doesn’t necessarily mean she has a perfect understanding of it.

The character’s worldview may need some refining. It may not be whole or complete. Or, as mentioned, above, it may need more wisdom (discernment) behind it.

These things can only be realized with real-world experience–in other words, the tests and trials of the middle of the story.

While this concept may overlap with the prior, it’s slightly different, as not every way a steadfast character grows will be linked to his or her worldview. They may be two completely separate things. But they can also go hand in hand.

For example, while Cinderella knows kindness will help her through trials (the thematic statement), her worldview needs some refining. She must realize one shouldn’t let others take advantage of that kindness. She needs to stand up and be assertive with her stepmother.

In Arrival, Louise Banks knows that communication can help us understand another perspective, which enables us to avoid confrontation. However, through the story, she gains a greater, deeper, more complete understanding of that, as she learns the heptapods’ language–which has the power to unit humanity and species across time.

In Wonder Woman, Diana knows from the beginning that we should fight for the world that we believe in. However, she gains more wisdom in that regard, after experiencing the gray moral complexities of humanity–does humankind deserve a better world? Only after she comes to terms with this, is she able to embrace the true thematic statement with eyes wide open.

Sure, some steadfast characters have completely static worldviews, but many of them don’t.

This concept can become all the more complex when we consider secondary themes.

First, as a quick recap, the positive steadfast character has an accurate worldview–the “truth,” as some like to call it–this is also the primary thematic statement. This is the truth the story is arguing. The positive steadfast character starts the story with this.

In contrast, a positive change character will start with an inaccurate worldview–the “lie,” as some like to call it–this is basically the “anti-theme”–the opposing argument to the “truth.” The positive change character will change to the “truth,” the accurate worldview, the true thematic statement at the end.

However, many stories have more than one theme. Many stories have secondary themes.

Because of this, it’s possible for the positive steadfast character to be steadfast in the primary theme, but be a change character in the secondary theme.

For example, Diana is steadfast in the primary theme, which is the argument that we should fight for the world we believe in (as opposed to the argument that we should allow humans to suffer the world they “deserve.”)

However, in the secondary theme, she is a change character. The secondary theme is about whether humankind is innately black and white or whether they are innately gray. Diana begins the story believing they are innately black and white (innately good, if not for the antagonist), but learns the truth: humankind is innately gray. This is an arc of disillusionment. This feeds into the primary arc and primary theme.

I have an article on secondary themes in the works, but it’s not complete yet. For now, know this:

Many stories have multiple themes. A steadfast protagonist may or may not be steadfast for every theme (or “worldview” if you prefer). But by definition, they must be steadfast for the primary theme (obviously).

Again, more on that in the future. However, this is why you may see writers argue over whether a particular character has a change or flat arc, and why the same character may get categorized differently–it depends entirely on what thematic thread the person is pulling. One may, in fact, argue Diana is a change character, because she arcs in disillusionment, while another may argue she has a flat arc, because she believes the primary thematic statement from beginning to end.

No worries if it sounds a little confusing. In short, a positive steadfast character’s view may grow or shift in some way, but it never does a 180 flip in the primary arc and theme.

Myth #3: Flat-arc Characters Always Stand Firm

Just because the steadfast character has an accurate worldview and belief system (knows the “truth”), doesn’t mean she never wavers or has doubts about it.

In most flat-arc protagonist stories, the character will have her beliefs tested through the conflicts of the middle. As the antagonistic force gets stronger, the character may experience doubts and powerful temptations (which may include conflicting wants). At some point, it may even seem that her worldview might be wrong. This, along with the cost of adhering to the truth, is almost always the meat of her internal journey. If you want your steadfast character to have a rich inner journey, this is where it’s at.