The Things Every Writer Needs to Hear

@LaurenLuu

I've always been a vigorous writer, even from a young age, and it's taught me a few things. You know the phrase, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me' ? That phrase has been mentioned time and time again, but it always gets me thinking about the meaning it has with writing. We all know that words can hurt people, but in writing, is that always a bad thing? Look at some of the greatest books you've ever read and the moments when they made you laugh and, more importantly, when they've made you cry. Isn't it amazing that people can create something like that? When I feel upset because of a book, when it takes me hours to get over something that's happened, it makes me feel so much more connected to the author. Why? Because they had the power to draw that type of emotion out of me. That is truly amazing.

Now here is the question; how do you make people feel these emotions? Characters. Characters, characters, characters. Characters are the one thing that carry your story through until the very end. Relationships with other characters, make their deaths so much more tragic. Empathy for characters, because of the hard life that they've lived, is just the same. So my word of advice? Never give your character what they want. Never. Sure, they can have their moments of accomplishment, when something has gone right in their life, but it always has to be taken away again. This is what us writers like to call conflict, and by making sure your main character has to keep pushing for what they want, you'll have a convincing story and thus, a convincing conflict. The only possible time for your character to feel really, REALLY happy, is at the end. When things have all worked out. I like those types of endings anyway. Don't you?