Over the past six or so years of providing plot consultations to writers, I rarely have had a cancelation. When one happens, the occurrence tends to give me pause. When it happens twice with the same writer, I can’t help but speculate why. Always, my imagination settles on one degree or another of writer’s fear.
Years ago, I heard Maya Angelou say that a character trait most important in life is courage.Â
This is so true for both the protagonist of a story and for the writer, too. Having worked with writers of all genres and all ages, I appreciate and honor the courage and fortitude it takes to continue to keep at it, to keep showing up, to face antagonist after antagonist, pick yourself and your characters off the ground over and over again, dust yourselves off, and start again, to believe in yourself and your story and the transformative nature of creating something out of nothing.
Here’s hoping the writer in question remembers there is nothing to fear in life but fear itself… Naw… How about this? I’m not that scary. The process is intense but truly is nothing to fear.Â
Like your protagonist, face your greatest antagonist / fear and you, too, become the star of your own life.
Excellent post. Courage is very much underrated and we need it every step of the writing journey. Thanks so much!
Nice!
What a great reminder to think about courage being a number one trait for each of us – and our characters – to possess. It made me think of the fairly recent movie based on Judi Barrett's book, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." In the movie, I loved how not just the main character, but SEVERAL of the characters grew and changed. A LOT of the characters had courage. I loved it. Thanks for the post.