character and desire Archives -

Wants, Whys, Lies,& Ghosts: Use these vital story elements to reveal your characters!

February 25th, 2021Sarah Lovett0 Comments

What do characters want?! Spend an hour with other writers or take a writing class and you will hear this advice: Figure out what your protagonist wants! Variations phrased as questions include: What does your hero desire? What does he yearn for? What does she lust for? What is her story goal? Easy Peasy Sounds easy enough, right? Your intelligence operative wants to stop an imminent terrorist attack. Your detective wants to solve the crime. Your au pair wants to fall in love. Your corporate V.P. wants to finally earn the damn promotion! Your archaeologist wants to dig up the treasure after decades of searching! Want something? …

The Big Nothing, Small Deaths, and How a Dilemma is Vital for Storytellers

February 4th, 2019Sarah Lovett2 Comments

Recently I had a ‘New Year’ conversation with a good friend. Our talk turned to Noam Chomsky and his film, Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?, an animated documentary on the life of the linguist, philosopher, and political activist by French filmmaker Michel Gondry. (It is, btw, a delightful and provocative film.) Chomsky had been an early influence in my friend’s academic life. We touched briefly on Chomsky’s atheism and his belief in (I paraphrase) the “big nothing” that follows death. The topic of what comes after—nothing or something—tugged at me more than usual, due I think, to winter’s dark days and …

Coaching Questions to Keep You and Your Story and Your Life on Course

September 28th, 2018Sarah Lovett0 Comments

As a writing coach and mentor, I work with writers to become conscious of their writing process, to become accountable to their writing spirit, and to identify and deal with resistance so it does not stop them from writing. I encourage my clients to name, clarify, and hone their goals. I also ask them to identify the meaning they attach to reaching those goals. I ask myself those same questions. When we understand what we want and why we want it, and answer truthfully, we don’t lose our way. We can use what we know to stay on course for …

Opposing Forces

December 21st, 2015Sarah Lovett2 Comments

You must open your story to duality and opposition. You must explore all sides of the dramatic question through your characters, search all nooks and crannies for the elixir–your protagonist is only as strong as the forces of opposition.

Character Arc Transformation-Get to the Heart of Your Story

November 22nd, 2015Sarah Lovett0 Comments

Get to the heart of your story: character arc transformation This simple exercise provides you with a powerful tool whether you are just beginning to understand your story, you’ve written a full draft, or you are somewhere in between. Take a picture Imagine your protagonist at the beginning of the story, just as it opens. Take a virtual photo of her/him–and carefully observe and study the details: expression, posture, clothing, surroundings. Is she alone? Is she surrounded by others? Is she smiling? Is she looking away from the camera? If so, what is she seeing? What is she hearing? Is she holding something in …

#NaNoWriMo2015–Get to the Heart of Your Story (writing tip #19)

November 20th, 2015Sarah Lovett0 Comments

Okay, for today’s tip, here I go again, talking about staying curious about what your protagonist wants. And, remember, our fictional heroes are extreme–they go after what they want with an intensity that can be frightening and invigorating and freeing. They are bigger than life and we can watch them slip and slide and struggle and push and yearn and obsess to the extreme, whether their story is a tragedy or a comedy. So back to the want. I wrote a very personal blog post a few years ago about going through the death of my marriage and how the …

#NaNoWriMo2015–Get to the Heart of Your Story (writing tip #14)

November 15th, 2015Sarah Lovett0 Comments

When it comes to understanding the story you are writing, teachers stress the importance of knowing what your hero desires, yearns for, desperately wants! They will probably remind you that her goal (want) is something that can be measured externally, in the world. It’s also a very good idea, they say, to know the meaning your hero attaches to getting what she wants. This meaning is internal, having to do with her most vulnerable emotional wounds. Example: She will do almost anything to get that promotion because then she’ll feel validated and successful (instead of feeling like the failure in her …

#NaNoWriMo2015–Get to the Heart of Your Story (writing tip #11)

November 12th, 2015Sarah Lovett1 Comment

How well do you know your significant other? Do you know where and when your best friend went to middle school? Do you know your sibling’s deepest secrets? Do you know if your mother had a first love before she met your father? Or if your older cousin dropped out of sight and out of touch for several years? We are often attracted to people because they hold some mystery for us and we find that challenging, frustrating, and alluring.So, you ask, how does that apply to my novel? Don’t aim to or pretend to know everything about your main …

#NaNoWriMo2015–Get to the Heart of Your Story (writing tip #5)

November 6th, 2015Sarah Lovett1 Comment

It’s National Novel Writing Month and many writers around the world are in gear and cranking out pages! Yesterday, my tip was about writing in drafts–and the quick (and shitty) first draft aligns with getting your novel done in 30 days (although even when I’m fast, I’m not that fast!). Today my tip is for those moments when you feel you might be veering off track, stumbling into deep water, and all the other cliches that basically mean you feel lost and disconnected from your story. Don’t panic, this counts as a normal part of first-drafting. When you feel you …

#NaNoWriMo2015–Get to the Heart of Your Story (writing tip #3)

November 4th, 2015Sarah Lovett0 Comments

Make it easy on yourself–keep your characters in action and in relationship. Physical interaction and dialogue between two (or three) characters is one of the easiest ways to reveal deep traits. When we witness your hero counseling a 12-year-old runaway we will judge your hero’s level of compassion and concern, we will probably get a glimpse of her past and the wound that leaves her vulnerable, and depending upon the 12-year-old’s responses, we’ll know if she is street savvy or naive–in our eyes and in the eyes of the ‘tween. When you begin writing the scene, you will likely identify …