delsion'lyyrs

There's something so painful in that line to me.

Because, Derek is essentially saying "How can you die for someone you don't even know? How can you die for a stranger?"

And while it may seem like Derek is being a bit of a hypocrite---considering he only met Avery a few hours ago, he really isn't.

Because Avery isn't a stranger to him.

He knows Avery. Infinite knowledge let him showed him who Avery was. He knew Avery's name. He probably knew Avery's favorite color and his favorite food. He could literally identify a fake (seemingly identical) Avery.

Derek knew everything about Avery.

Avery wasn't a stranger to Derek.

There's something so painful in that line to me.

Because, Derek is essentially saying "How can you die for someone you don't even know? How can you die for a stranger?"

And while it may seem like Derek is being a bit of a hypocrite---considering he only met Avery a few hours ago, he really isn't.

Because Avery isn't a stranger to him.

He knows Avery. Infinite knowledge let him showed him who Avery was. He knew Avery's name. He probably knew Avery's favorite color and his favorite food. He could literally identify a fake (seemingly identical) Avery.

Derek knew everything about Avery.

Avery wasn't a stranger to Derek.

I wish I'd known so many things as a beginning fiction writer. . . . 

Recently, I was teaching and mentoring at the Storymakers Conference, and I got into a conversation with a fellow editor and writer about such things, and I've sort of been thinking about them off and on ever since. Thus, this post. But I'll keep this intro brief. . . . 

Here are seven things I wish I'd known when attempting to write my first novel.

1. Nearly Every Scene Needs a Goal

I consider goals to be the first element of plot. Without a goal, you can't have a true antagonist--because the antagonist is what opposes the goal. And without that, you can't have conflict. Or consequences. Or a true story.

But not only does your protagonist need an overarching goal for the act or whole narrative arc, but there should almost always be a little goal for nearly any scene. Often what happens, is the big goal will be broken up into scene-level goals. So, while Katniss's overarching goal is to win The Hunger Games, her scene-level goals may be to impress the Gamemakers, nail her interview with Caesar, or find Peeta in the arena. And of course, if there are multiple plotlines, as is often the case, there may be goals related to other plotlines beyond the main external one.

Admittedly (and unfortunately) though, even if someone had told me that 10+ years ago, I would have been very skeptical, and my mind would have immediately gone searching for scenes where there isn't a goal present.

I now realize, I had a very narrow view of what a goal was. See, when I heard the word "goal," I only thought of obtaining something. Thankfully, that is only one type of goal. Avoiding something can be a goal. And wanting to maintain things as they currently are can also be a goal--it just needs an antagonistic force (just as they all do).

So, at the most basic level, there are three types of goals: obtain, avoid, or maintain.

The goal can change. It can even be achieved or abandoned. In which case, a new goal needs to come into play.

Some scenes don't start with a goal, but usually one comes in as the scene progresses, and goals may not be a big component of sequel scenes.

There are, of course, some rare situations where there isn't really a goal at all, but when that happens, there is often still directionality--a sense of where the story is going.

Goals help tighten up the story by giving the audience a sense of direction, and if you don't have a goal in play, then you need to come up with another way to do that, such as playing with dramatic irony (the audience senses that the direction the story is going, is that the characters will eventually figure out what they already know).

Until a goal is in play, the audience can't really measure if what is happening is progress or a setback, and they can't get a strong sense of why what is happening matters (because the characters aren't trying to get anywhere specific). 

Goals are super important in the overarching plot. They are equally important, if not even more important, within scenes.

2. Scenes and Acts Should Follow Basic Structure

Most of us are probably familiar with basic story structure: rising action, climax, falling action.

But many of us weren't taught that this is also the basic structure of acts and scenes.

The difference, is that, in acts and scenes, it's smaller and less impactful.

This shape is a fractal that repeats itself within the narrative arc. It's like a Russian nesting doll, with the smaller structures of it fitting into the larger ones.

This means most of your scenes should actually have a climactic turning point.

This also means that the story should have changed at least a little because of the scene. How the story was at the beginning of the scene, should be at least a little different from what it is at the end of the scene. If it's not, the scene is probably just exposition and/or filler.

There are, of course, some exceptions to this. For example, sometimes the point of the scene is to show how things haven't or aren't changing. But if most of your scenes don't follow this structure and aren't changing the story at least a little, they probably aren't progressing the story, and are just filler (unfortunately!).

3. Know Your 4 Basic Character Arcs and Which You are Writing

Some writing advice doesn't work well for all stories, and that can be especially true when you get into character arcs. There are four basic types of character arcs: positive change, negative change, positive steadfast, negative steadfast. Any other character arc should fit into one of these four.

In brief, a change-arc protagonist will do, more or less, a 180-degree flip about a belief system or worldview. They go through a big change or transformation. If this is positive, the protagonist flips from an inaccurate worldview to an accurate one. If negative, the protagonist flips from an accurate worldview to an inaccurate one.

In a steadfast arc (also called a flat arc), the protagonist will stay, more or less, the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning of the story. They will uphold the same worldview. A steadfast story is about the protagonist holding true to who he was in the beginning, despite other forces testing or tempting him to bend or quit. If this is positive, the protagonist is holding steadfast to an accurate worldview. If negative, the protagonist is holding stubbornly to an inaccurate worldview.

Of the four types, the most popular one is the positive change protagonist, which means there is a lot of great advice for that type. Unfortunately, that advice doesn't always translate well into the other three types.

This is where I ran into one of my biggest stumbling blocks when I was a "beginner" storyteller. I  wanted to write a flat-arc/steadfast protagonist story, but I didn't know about those terms and I couldn't articulate what I was trying to do nor find resources to help me do it. I kept trying to apply change arc advice to a steadfast protagonist. It didn't work well and caused somany problems! Eventually, and unfortunately, I turned my steadfast protagonist into a change-arc protagonist in the process. Yikes.

While positive change arc protagonists are the most popular, they aren't the only type, and you don't have to write that type. So know what type you are writing and be discerning about what advice does and does not apply to it.

4. Character Agency Actually Makes the Character More Sympathetic

*Hisses aggressively like a cat* NO NO DAMN IT! I want to shoot mysel- oh I see it now

Sooooo....should I be concerned...???

On an entirely unrelated note:

Cale watching Venion's torture with Raon was so significant.

Like yes Cale was by Raon's side but like

I thought about it and Cale remembers everything

Cale stood by Raon's side and watched intently knowing that he would remember every gory detail there is in that moment

That scene wasn't just Raon's revenge and having his family now

Imagine everyone just shouting in shock when he drops a cookie and immediately squats down, looks at it for 2 seconds, and then pops it into his mouth.

After that??? They watch him like hawks because he's basically a toddler putting random things into his mouth... Like you can't tell me his old habits wouldn't kick in sometimes and he wouldn't dig up some random wild carrot or smth and just smack some dirt off before taking a bite. Ron would literally have to take it away.. and you know the little kid thing where the parents dust the dirt off the kids hands and stuff?? That.

Cale: I don't get why you guys are so against leaving me alone??? I'm grown .

Also Cale: (eating random bread off the ground)

Beacrox just , having a mental break down over how dirty it is and how many germs Cale must've ingested ...