AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE - THE PROTAGONIST

AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE – THE PROTAGONIST

Through experience, I have learned that one of the most important things about your story is your protagonist. You can have a great plot-line, a great love interest, a supremely evil antagonist, and a super epic battle scene, but if you don't create yourself a good protagonist, it is all for naught.

In my opinion, a protagonist should have a good structure, a goal they're reaching towards, a personality, and a motive. Without these things, your protagonist is mud.

Consider your story – the protagonists to nearly all the stories I've read have a goal and a motive. In Harry Potter, Harry's main goal is to defeat Voldemort, and his motive is saving the Wizarding world and muggle world alike. In the How to Train Your Dragon books, Hiccup's main goal is to bring peace to the archipelago, and his motive for doing so is to stop slavery, slaughter, and death. If you look back and realize your main character has no goal and no motives, take a moment and reconsider.

Secondly, the structure of your protagonist is absolutely crucial – is your protagonist kind, or arrogant? Is your protagonist selfless, or prideful? A good foundation for your main character is always a good place to begin – make sure you know what personality your character has, and then, allow your readers to see it as well.

Protagonists are what really drive a story. If you can't create a protagonist with goals or motives or structure, you may disappoint your readers. Your protagonists are a crucial point – after all, it is their journey your readers will be seeing.

Thirdly: give your protagonist a personality. Give them a trait that your readers will remember – you can give them a sense of humor, make them sarcastic, stubborn, kind, selfless – those are only a few of the many traits your main character can have. Start by giving your protagonist a trait your readers will remember as positive.

And now comes another crucial point: give your protagonist a trait the readers will remember negatively. If your protagonist is human, they will make mistakes. They will be angry; they will act rashly; they will feel emotion; they will feel fear. A protagonist without mistakes is nothing short of a flawless Prince Charming who slays a dragon without any danger to himself to save the dazzling princess. Give your protagonists a negative trait – maybe they're short of patience. Maybe they're quick to anger. Maybe they're too sarcastic; too stubborn.

Give them a trait that makes them human, but NEVER one that makes your readers want to stop reading, such as child abuse or likewise. Make your protagonists likable, but at the same time, give them a flaw – it makes them more human, and it kindles a reader's interest.

The only exception to not giving your protagonist a personality is if you are doing it on purpose. If you have a stoic, seemingly emotionless protagonist on purpose, it's perfectly fine. Just make sure you aren't doing it on accident.

Your protagonists are the ones your readers are going to be seeing the most of. Your protagonist is driving the bandwagon; your readers are simply on-board for the ride. But if your protagonist has bad motives, no structure, no personality, no human traits, and no goal, your readers might hop off.

-Beyond

AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE: INTRODUCTION

AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE – INTRODUCTION

Hello, everyone! My pen-name is Beyond. I am fourteen years old and have been writing for most of my life; the first story I ever wrote was inspired by the movie "Racing Stripes", and titled "Go, Go, Go!", which included my own pictures and dialogue.

Looking back at my five-year-old self writing "Go, Go, Go!", I realize I have always felt compelled to write. Writing is my passion; it keeps me going when I have a bad day, and my characters are like imaginary friends. Like me, they live out their lives, have families, people they like, people they don't like – the only difference is, I have control of their lives. It is an honor and a privilege. 

But believe it or not, it is also a big responsibility.

I will admit, I am not experienced – I have never published a book in my life, I have never copywrited anything in my life, and I have never even thought about publishing any of my works until recent. But I hope that regardless of those things, you can find this blog helpful.

The first thing I have to say is this: if you have an idea, write it down! Even if it seems inadequate, silly, or simply "oh, this will never amount to anything," write it down anyway and save it – you never know what will happen.

The second thing I want to say is: save your work. All of it. Whatever you write on paper or type on the computer, save it, even if it seems meaningless.

The third thing I want to say, in conclusion, is: never stop writing. The more you write, the more experienced you become. One thing I would suggest: read. A lot. Read as much as you can, and then read more. Read mystery, fantasy, poetry, anything – the more you read, the better you write.

Trust me, this works. I learned from experience.

So, fellow readers and writers, this is it for my introduction, and if you want, stick around! :)

-Beyond