Right now, I’m in one of those dreaded doldroms which often plague us as writers. All I want to do is write something, but that’s kind of hard considering I don’t have anything good to write. I just end up sitting around on my bed thinking “Gee, I should probably write something,” and then I fall asleep. For the third time that day.
The way I usually come about making a story is to find a central idea or theme that I want to get across, but as of now, I’m trying a different method for story generation. I’m trying to grow the protagonist organically rather than force her to fit the framework of my story. Characters are the most integral part of a story, and character development happens to be something that I am good at and enjoy immensely. But trying to make a character who will then prove to be the seed for the sprawling plant that will be the story is difficult, not only for me, but for him. The process lends itself well to the whole “The whole wide world is faling on his shoulders” sort of responsibility that protagonists usually wield.
But if I’m going to be spending an entire story with this character, most likely inside his head, he should be the best character I can make him, right? He should be strong and fast and larger than life?
Somewhat.
A protagonist in the purest sense is the character whose actions drive the story the most, who provides the impetus for the story, whose eyes are borrowed by the reader in order for them to experience the story. The last piece is particularly important because it means that the reader spends a lot of time merged, in a way, with that character. This means that he should be generally likeable and interesting but also relatable. Never should a protagonist be straight-up-and-down perfect, unless it’s to prove a point or for some comedic purpose.
It is so difficult to start writing, for me anyway, because I usually base the entire story off of a single facet- a character or an idea. I’m also a perfectionist, so if it’s not perfectly outlined or thought-out, I’ll refuse to start because the story’ll end up flopping around like a dying trout rather than gliding fluidly as a swordfish. All’s I need to do is put aside all of that and just write, I know, but it’s hard. It’s hard. Poor me.
I guess I shouldn’t be holding out for my hero; I should take the initiative and create him. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll try that right now. There’s a hammock and some beautiful weather with my name on them, so I’ll just force myself to sit down with a pen and pad and see what comes up.
Thanks for reading,
Josh.
