Writing Excuses 10.29: Why Should My Characters Fail Spectacularly?
We’re past the middle of the Season 10 Master Class, but we’re still in the middle of our month on middles. Perhaps some spectacular failures will help us all enjoy the middle a bit more as we write our way past it.
(Filed under: “I see what you did there.”)
(Filed also under: “spectacular failure.”)
Character failure is a big part of making the middle of a story work. We talk about why, and we provide some tips about how to make this work well for you.
Homework: “Yes, but/no, and…” Think of the smartest thing your character can do. Now have them fail with either “yes, but” (they technically succeed, but something else has gone wrong) or “no, and” (they fail, and the failure deepens the mess.)
Thing of the week: The Edge of the World: Terra Incognita, Book 1, by Kevin J. Anderson, narrated by Scott Brick.
Powered by RedCircle