Does YOUR MC hold a principle as part of who they are?

MAY IS HOSTED BY WRITING TIPS BY WRITERS, DONALD MAASS'  TWEETS ON CREATING THE PERFECT NOVEL ;)  & SECTIONS INSPIRED BY THESE:

“The single worst piece of writing advice I ever got was to stay away from the Internet because it would only waste my time and wouldn't help my writing. This advice was wrong creatively, professionally, artistically, and personally, but I know where the writer who doled it out was coming from.” ~ Cory Doctorow

DONALD MAASS WRITE TIP 80

List your cast. Give each an allegorical role: mother, destroyer, wanderer, sacrificial lamb etc. Make each more obvious. Make each character stand for a different principle but don’t tell your readers. Show it strongly once for each.

Prefect and perfect are like the same. The trouble is, when you sign up, no one tells you that a Prefect Badge can’t guarantee that anyone will listen to you. Wet floors. Swinging doors. Corners on folders. Could there be anywhere more dangerous in the whole world? I set a good example because if don’t then what kind of Prefect would I be? Sadly, behaviour in the corridor stamps on my ideal of organised until it’s all chaos. That adds cracks on my heart. I think some things age you… even if that’s not chronologically possible.

Which principle does YOUR MC hold as part of their identity? 

Does YOUR MC show counter-emotional reactions?

MAY IS HOSTED BY WRITING RULES BY WRITERS, DONALD MAASS'  TWEETS ON CREATING THE PERFECT NOVEL ;)  & SECTIONS INSPIRED BY THESE:

“Stop in the middle of a sentence, leaving a rough edge for you to start from the next day — that way, you can write three or five words without being “creative” and before you know it, you’re writing.” ~ Cory Doctorow

DONALD MAASS WRITE TIP 78

Find a scene that’s all action. Drop in an emotion that your protagonist doesn’t expect to feel.

An archer threw himself from a rocky outcrop and stabbed at her neck with a short sword. She blocked him with her shield and stunned him with the wild magic she harnessed from the powerful surge of fear that flooded the clearing. Mendia shrugged the man’s dead weight away her as she turned. From the red glow in the distance it seemed Ardac was channelling envy. Didn’t the magician who wielded his own emotion suffer recurring bile? She grinned. Then, forcing her wayward spell wider to enhance her protection, she slashed on towards Galan and the heart of the conflict.

How do you think a counter-emotional reaction from your protagonist would improve a scene?

How does the Big Problem affect YOUR MC?

MAY IS HOSTED BY WRITING RULES BY WRITERS, DONALD MAASS'  TWEETS ON CREATING THE PERFECT NOVEL ;)  & SECTIONS INSPIRED BY THESE:

“Write every day. Anything you do every day gets easier. If you’re insanely busy, make the amount that you write every day small (100 words? 250 words?) but do it every day.” ~ Cory Doctorow

DONALD MAASS WRITE TIP 75

Plot-driven WIP? How does the Big Problem affect your MC in ways that it doesn’t affect others? What’s the ultimate cost?

“Thank you, I appreciate the not being unconscious part you pointed out. And, I can tell you think this Welcome to my Space ship speech is going well – truly, I’m prepared to listen if the alternative is terminal – but, for decades, people from my town have been going missing: of the never-seen-again variety – so, mostly it's a Thanks but No, thanks from me. I’d be happy if you just pointed me towards the door.”

Are you writing plot-driven fiction? How does the Big Problem affect your MC in ways that it doesn’t affect anyone else?