Potential elements of a coming-of-age arc:

Identity: Learning who you are outside of the family structure

Responsibility: Taking care of other people instead of being taken care of; making your own choices and taking the consequences upon yourself

Values: Deciding which values you will live your life by--holding onto the values of childhood or taking up new values--and using these to inform your adult decisions

Wisdom: Overcoming a childish misconception of reality and coming to a more realistic understanding of how the world works, so you can use this new knowledge to inform your decisions

Wow I miss them*

*OCs that only exist in my brain at all times and nowhere else

When editing your work, ask yourself after each scene:

cosmic horror (god loves you too much and keeps resurrecting you)

this actually is rewiring my brain as we speak

In the best movie ever made, The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan Wook, a lot of the script is symmetrical. Most everything that is said in the first half of the film is said again in the second half with greater context. Its fucking brilliant. It makes the plot so juicy and so fun to watch over and over again with every queer friend you have because every queer person needs to watch this goddamn film.

Anyways, I want parts of my book to be symmetrical. Specifically Vanita and Helianthus. They were made from the beginning to be mirrors of each other. Helianthus is an immortal golden boy. Vanita is an endless black pit on the verge of death. Helianthus is incredibly physical. Vanita forgets that she has a body. I'm thinking their dialogue would be mirrored too. Dialogue for Helianthus is already difficult because his most reliable form of communication is sign language anyways, but wouldn't it be interesting if, after ages of trying and failing to communicate with this ancient mystery, we finally see him speak for himself and he says what Vanita had already said three chapters before, but upside down and backwards? Maybe it's just the printer in me talking.

Do you ever feel like any of your characters have “stupid” backstories or premises? Do you fully embrace the resulting quirks, or do you ever get embarrassed if you explain their origins?

If they needed to act like an entirely different person for some reason (espionage, cosplay, theatre, etc.), how well would your character do? What kind of personality would they be the best at pretending to have?

Alphara would absolutely fail it. No questions asked. This girl can't lie to save her life AND she's mega-famous.

Omegon would also absolutely fail it- she can't keep her snark to herself for any amount of time. She does have the advantage of already being anonymous from the public eye but still. . .

Hayes has exactly one other personality that he can engage in besides his usual "battle grandpa" and that's "1930s Noir Detective". It works pretty well. If he wears a large enough hood to hide his face (he is a pretty famous historical figure), he can pass himself off as a generic battle-hardened combat vet.

Father is. . . complicated. He's a master of illusions, and can therefore look and sound like anybody, but He also has a very distinct and regal feel to Him that no disguise can really shake. He's no actor, basically.

The purpose of child hero stories is not "this universe is abusive toward children and no one has child age labor laws" it is that they are stories written for children so that they can see themselves overcoming challenges and defeating monsters.

You're right and you should say it

stories like these have probably helped countless kids out there

Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.

C.S. Lewis

“Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.”

G.K. Chesterton

I experienced homelessness as a child and spent a lot of time in public libraries with my family, because it was one of the few public indoor spaces that didn’t cost any money and was good for us. I read these types of stories constantly.

Because of these child hero stories, I never lost hope when I was young. I eventually became the first doctor in my family and now spend my career providing free healthcare to disadvantaged people like me.

Writers never doubt that your work is vital and that it saves lives. Authors told me that I could slay dragons and I never questioned it.

This, this, this this, this is so important

There was a blog I used to follow (and recently blocked because I was fed up with them) where they would frequently make points that went like "well this trope would be problematic in real life so this work of fiction in a fictional not realistic world should either depict the trope as problematic or do away with it altogether"

Particularly with stories involving child protagonists

Child heroes are, first and foremost, fighting a battle against malice, indifference and greed. They defeat all of them through compassion, caring, courage, trust and selflessness. These enemies might appear in the story as an evil wizard, a gluttonous cat, a terrible dragon or an ancient god, it doesn't matter. The message is, no matter what form they take, they can all be defeated through compassion, caring, courage, trust and selflessness. If you erase the child hero, you tell our children, "you need to be big, you need to be strong, so you can punch that thing in the face, there is no other way to deal with stuff."

And that would be our undoing.

I cannot stress enough the importance of transformations that are not necessarily redemptive.

- Cold and misanthropic villains who learn to care for the people close to them

- Coerced villains/minions running away–not to help the heroes, but to help themselves

- Villains who have dedicated their life and existence to The Cause who develop agency, who begin making their own decisions for their own reasons, whether or not they are GoodTM decisions 

- Bigoted villains who learn to stop being a dick in that specific area

- Villains otherwise driven by hate who reevaluate their motives if not their purpose

- Heroes so dedicated to The Cause that they stop caring for the people around them

- Heroes who stop caring in a healthy way, who become jealous or excessively competitive 

- Characters on all sides with trust issues who learn to trust, if only one or two individuals

- Selfish characters who learn self-sacrifice, even if it's only for fellow team members instead of a hero team or a Noble CauseTM 

- Characters who stand up to their abusers/refuse to be taken advantage of anymore in their interpersonal relationships outside the context of switching sides

There seems to be a growing expectation and even demand in fandom that villains be redeemed/redeemable, that heroes only become more GoodTM, and that anything else is somehow shortsighted or glorifying bad behavior. But people don't only grow in one direction, and personal progress doesn't have moral requirememts. Personal change doesn't have moral requirements. 

People can learn to love, to trust, to grow, to think for themselves without experiencing a major paradigm shift, and people don't always experience major paradigm shifts for the better. The fight for GoodTM and its necessity can actually be highlighted by a hero who goes bad and must then be defeated by former allies. Agency can actually be more profound if it doesn't conform to expectations or tropes within the story, because it becomes twofold: the character in question liberates themselves not only from the restrictions imposed on them by their circumstances/leaders but from those imposed by the reader/viewer as well.

Reader: omg I’m so excited to read what happens next

Panster: me too

10 Tips for The Middle of Your Story

Is the middle of your story slow, confusing or unclear? Here are 10 quick things to consider when writing your story’s middle:

1) Have your character(s) try and fail. Progress and setbacks create a story. Wrap your reader in the suspense of if your protagonist will actually reach their end goal.

2) Weave in your subplots. Subplots should not only run parallel with your main plot, but also intertwine within it. Don’t forget or neglect them! Choose subplots that compliment or contrast your main story.

3) Make sure your protagonist has a clear goal that powers the plot. Don’t forget about your side characters, either. Giving them goals can add realism to their character while also impacting the story.

4) More, more, MORE obstacles. This could include:

- Physical obstacles (terrain, actions of the antagonist, wounds) - Mental obstacles (self-doubt, flaws, emotions) - Relationship obstacles (arguing, fighting, betrayals)

5) Do NOT make things easy for your protagonist. The middle is the time for struggles and drama, but also fun and games. This is essentially the heart of your story. When one conflict is solved, an even bigger one arises. Your protagonist must fall and get back up. Torture them, reward them and watch them grow.

6) Strengthen existing characters and introduce new ones. New characters can bring conflict, drama, solutions to the story. Overall, they make your readers curious about who they are and if they’re here to stay.

7) Show your character’s flaw in action. Put them in situations where their flaw only worsens the scenes. Overtime, they begin to realize their faults and will develop (positively or negatively) as you near the end.

8) Don’t forget about your theme. To keep your story consistent, never lose sight of your themes. 

9) Consider adding a ‘false’ climax towards the end of the middle. This is an event that imitates the real climax, but instead of things going well for your protagonist, they end up failing. This can be followed by your character’s “darkest hour”, where they give up all hope before regaining it and proceeding to the real climax.

10) Consider adding a Mac Guffin. An object, item or idea that motivates your characters. They need to obtain this object to reach their goals. Finding a key to open the door, piecing together a map to get to the treasure, etc.

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I love that writing feeling where a story starts going in a very different direction than the one you initially intended, but somehow this new direction actually achieves your desired goals way better than the original plan would have done.

in other words—

being a plantser like

[Image description: The "If nobody got me" meme, edited so it says "If nobody got me, I know my subconscious got me. Can I get an amen?" /End ID]

Probably the single hardest lesson for me to internalize in writing was that you don’t design a character you design a character arc.

One reason you as a writer might end up stuck with a flat or boring character, or one that just isn’t doing the things you need to create a vibrant plot, despite working out all the details of their life for hours, is because you’ve made the mistake I always do. You’ve made a character who is a blend of all the characteristics you envision for them, rather than saving some characteristics for the end of their journey. 

What do I mean by this? Maybe you envision a character who is a handsome prince, honest, brave, and true. In your plot, though, he’s going to be an antagonist for a bit but you don’t really want him to be seen as a bad guy, necessarily. But when you drop him into your story, he’s just… there. Being honest, brave, and true. 

That’s because the prince has no character arc. He is a static figure, a cardboard cutout. 

Let’s go a little deeper with a great example of one of the best character arcs in YA animation: Prince Zuko. He is, objectively, honest, brave, and true (to his cause of finding the Avatar) from the outset. But he’s also a dick. He’s a privileged, imperialist brat, who is rude to his uncle and vicious to our protagonists. 

By the end of the series, though, Prince Zuko is still honest, brave, and true, but he’s also a good person who has learned many lessons over the course of his trials and obstacles. He has failed over and over again at his initial goal of capturing the Avatar. He has failed at winning his father’s regard. He has failed at numerous smaller goals of day to day adventures. He has learned from all of these. We have seen his journey. But, if you started your vision of how to write Zuko from who he ends up being, he’s got nowhere to go as a character. 

It’s not just about what flaws he has corrected though. It’s about what lessons about life he has internalized. What flawed views of the world he has corrected and how. 

Rather than saying, “The character starts out a dick and learns to be nice,” be more specific. “This character starts out believing the empire he is loyal to is morally in the right for its conquests, but over the course of working for that empire’s ruler and seeing his cruelty first hand, not to mention fighting the empire’s enemies and mingling with its civilian victims, he becomes a better person and learns the error of his ways.” 

Already, right there, you have more than a cardboard character. You have a character who has an arc that molds to your plot.