Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow: A DIY Manual for the Construction of Stories

the people I’m reading about (I don’t really think of them as characters) are behaving precisely as their motives dictate. Even the ones who act cruel and destructive have constructed a worldview in which their actions are justified, even heroic. The author’s job isn’t to absolve any of her major characters, but to reveal them in sufficient depth t

GETTING THE READER IN THE CAR

But most important of all is the structure of the incidents. For Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of an action and of life, and life consists in action, and its end is a mode of action, not a quality. Now character determines men’s qualities, but it is by their actions that they are happy or the reverse … If you string together a set of spe

alienation is not a natural human resting state; it’s a response to thwarted desire. Our duty as writers is not to erect lovely monuments to the lesser defense mechanisms but to dismantle them. Our characters must yearn and act upon their yearnings.

dayenu—it would have been enough.

THAT’S HOW IT WORKS with strong characterization: the character’s actions register as the inevitable outgrowth of their core identity. It’s important to emphasize the word actions here, because (as Aristotle reminds us) it is action that determines fate.

Plot, in other words, resides in establishing a clear chain of consequence. Not this happens and this happens and this happens. But: this happens, therefore that happens. And because that happened, this next thing happens. My scenes needed to expose hidden truths (Recognition), upend expectations (Reversal), escalate tension, and instigate further

This may be the most lucrative question we can ask when it comes to our characters: Where are they in conflict with themselves? More precisely: What are the dangers bound to their desires? Once you’ve figured that out, you have the link that connects character to plot.

IT’S INTIMIDATING TO ASK that we know our characters as well as we know our beloveds, but it’s the right aspiration. If a character is proving prickly on a first date, we should be open to considering anything that might help us understand why: romantic history, intimacy issues, the model of love learned from parents.