I find it amusing that I, of all people, am about to write a blog about writing outlines. Guys, I am not the most…put together person, and that can translate over into my writing life. Yet, I can’t overlook the importance of an outline. It doesn’t matter the type of story you’re writing, or the length, an outline can be the most important part of any piece of writing. The basic foundation of any story is to have a beginning, middle, and an end. But, along the way, there are various plot points that need to be hit in order to get to that end. Admittedly, I am really not the best person for this. Or maybe I am the best person. I’ve not been the biggest user of outlines in the past, but let me just say, they will save your life. Not literally. I mean, if they could that would be really cool. But in the writing world, a good outline can make writing so much easier when putting your ideas on paper. Isn’t that the point of it all? I could easily pretend I write outlines for my blogs…but I’m not going to lie to you guys. I’m going to be completely honest when I say, I am still learning to use outlines. Irony, right?

Trust me, I see the irony. In school we’re taught to outline our papers, and for me with a writing degree you’d think I’d be an expert at them by now. While I’m preaching the use of them, I really am trying to get myself to make them. An outline is just that. You go step by step of what you want to happen and then magically, you’re following it and then you have this beautiful written piece. For some reason, it’s almost daunting to start making an outline. But then again, isn’t it just as hard to start a story? With longer pieces, such as a novel, there’s so much going on that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of. I’ve come across a lot of novels with little accidents.

Say something happens early on in the novel that might be important for later, but when writing it, it gets written wrong, or differently. It happens. We’re writers, we make mistakes. Hell, I’ve been correcting a lot of things in here as I go along, and probably have repeated myself quite frequently.  Yet, in a blog, these mistakes aren’t as big a deal as they are in a novel. It can throw a reader off; so, the outline's purpose is to basically safe guard us writers from forgetting what we were going for. Details can make or break a story, and if you have a writer that’s not being consistent with what their writing, you can lose the reader's attention in no time. An outline can be as vague or as detailed as you want it to be. For me, I need details. Why? Because I often forget the littlest of things and strive to ensure everything I do is connected, concise, and consistent with what I want. And yet, I still have the hardest time starting an outline. Is it possible to outline an outline?

I’m not sure. I just know that it’s important to consider using one when writing a story. I do strongly advocate them, even if I’m not the best at them. Some may say there’s a defined system in place that has to be used a certain way. But, let’s face it things don’t always go as cookie cutter into places as we want them to. It’s all a matter of preference, and what you feel is right for your writing. My outlines are often grandiose and all over the place. I’m a chaotic person that way, though, and within my cluttered mess of chaotic outlines is a streamlined view of what I want happening, when. Some plot points are very time sensitive, and while I would like to think that sitting and just writing with no direction is a great idea, it can lead to lengthy exposition and clunky plot chunks that have my readers wondering what possessed me to even try writing that.

In any case, whatever length you chose for your story, an outline is an almost must. Some people really don’t need them, but for the majority of writers they’re helpful and kind of awesome. It’s almost like baking a cake. With the recipe, you can make beautiful things.

In the world of writing character development is one of the most important things, at least to me it is. If your character doesn’t grow and change in some way, then what’s the point? We’re supposed to relate to characters and go on journeys with them. However, there are many instances in writing where a character doesn’t change or adapt at all. A character who doesn’t develop is, to me, a waste of time.

Once Upon a Time was a great show. I enjoyed watching it, but it has some flaws with its characters. I originally watched up until the end of season two, and just gave up on it. Why? I felt that any character development that happened, quickly was undone. A character can struggle with change, that’s fine. However, when a character changes and then immediately reverts? That’s utterly frustrating to me. It happened with Regina one too many times, so I stepped away from the show. I’ll admit to not watching any of season 3. I did come back for the first half of season 4 and I loved it. But all the constant back and forth that kept happening with the characters finally motivated me to walk away from the series, to the point where I didn’t even watch the finale.

It just gets stagnant. A character who does not change, grow, or evolve in any way that sticks is hard as a reader, and well, a viewer. We want to see them change. We want to see characters deal with the issues that are thrown at them. A character that is the same, start to finish, Static Characters, are really not my cup of tea. I’m not sure I’ve met someone who has ever said they love static characters. Characters are complex, sometimes simple, but always people we manage to love, or hate, or even love to hate. They’re supposed to captivate our attention and become a friend that we vicariously live through.

Sometimes, character development doesn’t happen in such a flashy way. The Walking Dead is a fantastic example of how their characters develop in such a short amount of time. Carol, for example, is a character that has seem some incredible growth during her time on the series, and she’s managed to show us bits of her life and how much she’s changed by way of a few quiet, little, short scenes. That’s the magic of writing. A character can grow in as little as a sentence and show a true change with only the barest of hints to the audience.

Last time, I went into depth on the part of the antagonist, this time, let’s talk about the protagonist. After all, 90% of the time, the protagonist is the main character of a story and boy do they sure do their jobs. Or do they? We connect with some better than others, and while we may not always like the protagonist, they do end up being iconic in some sense of the word. I will be the first to admit there are many protagonists out there that I do not care for. When writing, we want to remember that our main character has to be flawed in some way, has to be seen as human, and above all, has to be relatable to the reader. This is probably a bad time to say that I cannot stand Daredevil as a character. Yes, he fits all of the above, and I do like his brutal style of dealing with things, but he just bothers me. Blind as he may be seeing through sound waves strikes a nerve with me that I cannot seem to get past. Still, he is a great protagonist for some and I’ll go into why characters like him are important another time.

In the meantime, let's figure out how to make the perfect protagonist. Plot is a huge driving factor in what the protagonist does throughout the story, but that means nothing unless they have motivation. Whatever drives our protagonist to do something has to be seen by us readers and felt with the characterization of our main character. If the character's motivations are not strong enough, I, personally, as a reader lose interest. Much like the antagonist, the protagonist needs to believe in what they’re doing in order to achieve their goals. And if they believe it, I believe it. Plot is a great device for a story, and much needed, but there is only so much it can do. A protagonist needs to do a lot of this work themselves. Make the decision to go on that adventure, stick to their virtues, and above all, stay the hero of the story we want them to be.

Having a weak protagonist that is purely pushed along by the plot is not going to make for a very interesting story. In fact, a weak protagonist can ruin an entire story. There have been many stories where the protagonist is purely a plot device. While I am a total lover of side characters, they aren’t meant to draw the entire focus of a story. I’ll use Harry Potter as my example. Before everyone gets their pitch forks, hear me out. It is a fantastic story; it starts strong with a great plot and fantastic characters. I even do think Harry is a great protagonist. However, over the series of his story, Harry stops being a protagonist, for me, and becomes something more of a plot device. I’m more interested in other characters than I am Harry’s struggles. Yes, this is all subjective, however he stops striving for what his original goal was. If a protagonist doesn’t have character development than they are as good as a bag of cheese.

The whole point of the stories we read is to relate to the main character and grow with them. Well, a character that doesn’t grow is pretty useless. Which all goes back to their internal motivations. If written well, we should be able to see their growths, changes, and be with them through struggles. A good protagonist is supposed to make us feel that we know them as well as we know our best friend(s). By the end of it…we should feel a sense of closure or a desire to see more of their story, it all depends on how good of a job they did connecting with us.

​One of the most important characters in writing any fictional piece, and one of my personal favorites, is the antagonist. It’s easy to hate an antagonist. In many stories, they are indeed the bad guy, but not all bad guys are antagonists and not all antagonists are bad guys. Confusing as that might very well be, I present to you the concept of perspective. 

Is it possible to have the protagonist really be the antagonist? I say, why not. Telling a story from an antagonist's point of view doesn’t always change the perspective of it. Yet, it somewhat does. The two go hand in hand and you can’t really tell a story without one or the other. In many cases, the antagonist is the bad guy, and this gives the name a bit of a bad reputation.

I like the antagonist for many reasons. They’re versatile, have their own struggles, and it’s fascinating to see just what made them into what they are. Character development is a rather important part of storytelling, and this is likely why the antagonist is easily one of my favorites. They have their side of a story too. While we don’t always get the full background. If the story is well rounded enough, we will get enough of the antagonist to understand his/her motives. Often enough, I love it when we don’t get the whole story, but we understand why the antagonist is doing what they’re doing.

Conviction in one's actions is the strongest part of the antagonist. Much like our protagonist, they have to believe in what they’re doing, otherwise what’s the point? While often seen as a villain, that isn’t always the case. Antagonists are just those that hinder the protagonist or are against them. It’s easy to have an antagonist that isn’t even seen as one. Yet, taking a look at the classic antagonist role, we see many of them are villains. Some we love dearly, such as Loki. The movie Wreck-It-Ralph is perhaps one of my all-time favorites. What I love best about this flick is how our protagonist is actually the antagonist of his own game. It’s from his perspective, and really, the only thing that makes him more protagonistic is that we have a list of other antagonists hindering his path.

This movie is just a good study of characters in many ways. Still, the antagonist has their own past and future, development, and so on. How we view them is really our own perspective. There are evil antagonists, and good ones; those we love to hate, and hate to love; and those who down right steal our hearts.
 

In my many years as a writer, I have learned a great deal about the craft. None, however, are as important as the death of a character. It’s easy to say certain characters should be killed off, or even decide to do so in your own writing. However, one thing remains true, character death is never easy. Be it the writer's choice, or a pivotal plot device, a character should die to serve a purpose. I’ve read many a story where a character has died, and I’ve felt nothing or even joy. I’ve also read stories where a character dying has destroyed me emotionally.

Lately, in shows and movies, there has been a lot of character death. I’m always shocked when a character dies. More often than not, it’s always a character I have fallen in love with. Suddenly, they’re just…not there anymore. Sometimes that feels like the death of a family member or close friend. As a writer, I try very hard to make every character death count for something. It has to have a purpose and a meaning to serve not only the plot, but the development of my other characters. Death doesn’t just affect the fictional world but has an effect on the reader as well. Or viewer. In many cases, even in shows or movies, I’m always blindsided by the death of a beloved character. Which makes me often wonder why I ever used to watch shows like The Walking Dead…oh my sweet baby Glenn.

Knowing, expected, and even predicting the death of a character can either be a good or bad thing. From a writing perspective that can be just as hard to pull off as anything else. This is all a matter of perspective. Blind siding can be worse than leading into it slowly. I have the hardest time deciding if I want to let on to the upcoming death of a character, or if I want to just have it happen. It’s truly the writer’s personal opinion on the matter. Death can be a trigger issue for some, and for me, it’s just plain hard. Killing a character is like killing your child. Only, it’s not really murder...but it is. It can anger readers to the point of them not wanting to continue the story. Which was an issue for me in many a novel. I’m still not over the death of Sirius…or Glenn.

Whatever the circumstance, death is a powerful thing. Even in fictional worlds, death is a topic that many don’t want to address. It’s so final; so deep and dark. Death is a topic many are fascinated with. As a literary device, its powerful in ways we writers don’t always realize fully. Perhaps, like anything, it’s a cathartic way for us to heal…or share our pain…

If there’s one thing I’ve come to learn about writing myths as a whole, since I’ve spent the last few weeks talking about them with you fine people, it’s that sometimes, they transcend the craft and apply to greater notions in our life. Take for example the idea that we are all destined or pre-determined to fit a particular mold when it comes to our dream job. People really do believe that we are born to do something special in this life and whatever gift was given to us when the doctor spanked our bottom, is what we need to seek out and find and excel at in life. Now, this is dangerous territory to get into, because that could turn a writing blog in a massive rant about philosophy and religious beliefs, and really, I don’t want to get into that today.
 
Instead, what I want to really dive into, is a grand writing myth that comes out of this belief in that, creative people are somehow blessed with their respective talents (writing in this case) at birth and well, this is another myth that sadly I have to say, has no concrete evidence behind it. Sure, there are people that tend to take to writing like a fish to water, which honestly does help to fuel this particular myth since they are able to grasp onto story concepts and structure quickly, ergo, ‘The Natural’. But, let’s be honest, that’s rare, and some folks never know they are good at this skill set or plunge themselves into this craft, because they have another passion in life or a career that fulfills them on a regular basis. 
 
But really, what makes this myth irritating is that people want to believe in it, over understanding the fact that what makes a writer good, or great, is that they work hard to perfect their craft. In fact, it doesn’t matter who your favorite writer is, the first time they put a story to paper, it was likely the worst thing ever written. Heck, I remember the first screenplay I ever wrote was outright garbage, and the only existing copy is hidden away in my home because it’s terrible and I don’t want anyone to ever see it. But the point I’m trying to make is plain and simple; practice makes perfect. It takes hours of studying the craft and the three-act structure and what goes into building characters in order to become good at writing, and that studying only pays off when a writer, writes, and writes a lot.
 
Because they need to find their voice, and their prose and style, and they need to find their own rhythm when it comes to writing a novel, a short story or a screenplay and the only way to make that happen, is to write early, write often, write late and write, write and then write some more. One has to become an expert and if that sounds silly, well, don’t forget that it applies to just about every dream job/career out there. The best of the best are masters of their craft. Peyton Manning for example, was a talented athlete that many regarded as not having the arm strength of the greats that came before him. So, he perfected his throw through practice, learned how to dissect a defense and won two Super Bowls for his efforts. And the same applies to Stephen King and J.K. Rowling and any of your favorite writers. They worked, late into to the night and well into the dawn to perfect their craft and iconic stories are the end result of that kind of dedication.
 
Now, this does beg the question, well what about the folks that are naturals, how does hard work apply to them? Well, it applies the same. They don’t just magically create a story out of the blue. They still have to outline, or use index cards and learn the same things that make stories great, they just latch onto these concepts a heck of a lot quicker than the average joe, but they still practice and refine their work because that’s part of the game any way you slice it. So, if this blog seems a touch negative, I do apologize, but I don’t want to pull any punches here. I want people to understand this really is hard work, and that there is plenty of failure on the road to success. Because while talent is important, and being a natural is pretty awesome, what separates a pro from an amateur is dedication and blood and sweat and tears.
 
If anything, my hope is that the two types of people reading this piece, find something important here. For the person who is just now starting out and doesn’t think they have the chops or were never ‘gifted’ with the talent to write, I really do hope you think otherwise, and give creative writing a try and bust your hump while doing it, because you may fall in love with the craft and put something beautiful on paper as you learn and grow. And for the writer reading this who thinks they’ve made a mistake in doing this and don’t think they have enough talent to write, don’t stop what you’re doing. Write more, hone your voice and see this through to the end. Because the next story either of you write, might be the one that suddenly clicks and that might be the one that someone cuts you a check for.