An unforgettable character needs two things that are mutually-incompatible. And they need them desperately. In fact, they absolutely believe they could not live without them. Both of them. Always and forever. In the romance genre, the protagonist needs some sort of survival—usually a job, friendship, home or family—and also romantic sexual love. In the thriller genre, the protagonist needs justice—usually social justice, what society considers just—and also to survive the villain.
This is why romance and thriller are the top-selling genres : easy math. In all other stories, the protagonist needs their love for something— what we want- —and also justice— what we know is right.
This makes the climax of your story the point at which your character must choose between their two conflicting needs. Romeo and Juliet must choose between their families and their passion. Pip must choose between his loyalty to the convict who spared his life as a child and death at the hands of that very convict. Elizabeth must, when confronted by the terrifying aunt Catherine, choose between Darcy what she wants and honesty what she knows is right.
The more you plug into the impossibility of choosing between these needs, the more powerful your story becomes. And the more unforgettable your character. We readers love these impossible choices because we all live—every single day—our own lives of impossible choice.
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NID 6 months This cookie is used to a profile based on user's interest and display personalized ads to the users. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. When I could read blinker, Scotty, while dictating, kept alert to hear any clicking of the bridge signal light. Every night, after dictating and studying new words, Scotty left me to write stories while he made his circuit of the ship. One night he returned towing a big, rawboned youngster from Ohio, who was red-eyed and upset.
Nervously, the seaman handed me a pink envelope. Here I set on a ship full of five-hundred-pound bombs in a ocean full of subs and sharks. I bet you grabbed some disanimated 4-F. When the Murzim put into Brisbane, mail call was held. Each night now, Scotty brought two to four young clients into the pantry. To my astonishment, he had marked lyric passages from my rejected love stories. What will they do without your letters? All morning he worried. Bind up different copies in folders.
Them kids can pick stuff they like and write in they own hands. It worked fine. Nightly, clients clustered about mess-hall tables, shuffling through twelve binders. Selecting passages they liked, they wrote furiously. Scotty steamed around inspecting them as he once had my typing. Finally orders came for our second stop in Brisbane. Three cheers for the old sea dog rang out regularly.
Scotty was fit to split with bliss. The next afternoon, a messboy telephoned me on the bridge where I spent all my spare time with the signalmen. I rushed below, wondering.
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