I’m late in writing this, but after watching House of the Dragon and (parts of) Rings of Power, I have to comment on Top Gun: Maverick.
Most people who know me well would call me picky.
But I think my standards are pretty damn tame.
I try not to throw my weight around as a writer, not because it’s pretentious and alienating, but because you don’t have to be a writer to appreciate good storytelling.
The thing is, in an age where Disney owns just about all content and media, pumping out one piece of Marvel drivel after another, it’s so fucking refreshing to watch a movie that’s actually about something.
Don’t get me wrong – I love a good Tom Cruise vehicle. But the first Top Gun was essentially a glorified music video (no hate, just saying).
I love Miles Teller. I love Tom Cruise. I love jets. What could go wrong? I figured it’d be a fun action romp to round out my weekend.
What I didn’t expect when I walked into the theatre was to spend the next two hours picking at my lip and tearing up over what has certainly been one of the top three movies of 2022.
The thing about Top Gun: Maverick is that it goes so much further than its predecessor without having to be louder, crazier, or more explosive.
Yes, this installment features an actual mission as opposed to just a few training exercises. And yes, there’s naturally more tension as a result.
But this sequel isn’t about war or commenting on American politics. It’s about the universal fear and subsequent reality of becoming obsolete.
I could go on all day about the expert character development, as Mav bears the brunt of Rooster’s loss to preserve the latter’s relationship with his widowed mother, or the relationship between Mav and Ice Man that seems to have aged like a great scotch, but what really gets me is the message at the center of it all:
It’s time to let go.
This sentence, uttered by Ice Man via his text-to-voice assistant, was so powerful I burst into tears.
Beyond the planes and the missions, and the great lines, and the beach football, this is a movie about the anguish and beauty of passing the torch to the next generation. It’s about finding the courage to let go.
And What a Refresher It Is
Not to shit on Marvel too much (but yes to shit on Marvel, because I fucking hate that god-forsaken franchise), but I don’t remember the last time I was moved by the superhero sideshow the way I was during Top Gun: Maverick.
It’s a rare thing these days to see a movie that knows when to be quiet – let alone a Tom Cruise flick. And while Top Gun has no shortage of seat-gripping tension, it’s all centered around a weight that leaves you feeling grounded rather than heavy.
This is what I mean when I say I’m craving substance.
Stories don’t have to be sad to have meat. But the modern action film so often forgets how to be small – how to be human, rather.
Maverick is, in many ways, an utterly unrelatable character in that he can always back up his bluster with raw talent and skill. But Cruise makes him so damn real and likable, you end up walking out of the theatre feeling like Mav is an old friend.
But I Digress
If there’s a point to this post, it is to say that there ought to be more movies like Top Gun: Maverick.
What if, instead of packing everything so full of social commentary that it loses all sense of shape or purpose…
What if we told more stories about being human?
What if we told more stories about loss and love and struggle?
What if we didn’t have to spend 2 hours trying to collectively prove how socially conscious we are?
I’m not saying my millennial teenage years were perfect, but there’s something to be said for simplicity.
And I sincerely hope, once the well of kickass women who have no other personality traits – and superheroes who care more about social politics than the philosophical nature of the savior complex – has FINALLY run dry…
That we may see a return to stories that actually have something to say.
A stellar cast, a beautiful story, and killer stunts.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that an Enneagram 4, in possession of a deep love or fandom, must be in want of a quote board.
So when I couldn’t find what I was looking for in stores or online, I turned to my own devices. And I’m proud to announce that after many burns, intense neck pain, and more than a few headaches, I am THRILLED with the results. It’s everything I could have asked for and more, and I must say I’m inspired to write every time I look at it.
In fact, I enjoyed the process so much, I’ve decided to make some more! If you, like me, have an obsession with fandom, movies, quotes – anything, really – I can design a board you love as much as I love mine. Check it out:
Anyone who knows me would agree that I tend to get REALLY into my fandoms. Honestly, I’ve developed something of a complex about it, but that’s a topic for another time. In my humble opinion, there is nothing better than being carried away by a good story. So when I found myself in need of some inspiration last year, I decided to put my eccentric love of book and movie quotes to use.
If there’s one thing I look for in my decor, it’s that unnamable feeling in your gut that says I need this. It’s never been enough for me to look at a piece of art and say “oh that’s pretty,” and slap it in my space. No, if I’m going to put something in my office, my bedroom, or even my car, it has to speak to me on a soul-deep level. It’s been one of the great annoyances of my life – I’m not sure how many of us there are out there, but wherever you are, if you agonize over every single decorative item you buy and whether it’s the right choice for you, I see you.
Why A Quote Board?
Simply put, I believe in the power of words. It’s something I thought everybody shared. Growing up I was constantly quoting movies and TV shows with my brothers. It wasn’t until I got to college that I found out not everyone can name every single actor during the trailer for an animated movie. I have to say I was disappointed when I found out that deep quoting is considered obnoxious, because it’s one of my favorite things to do.
So I’m looking for the rest of you out there – the people like me who are moved to tears by quotes and stories (and I’m not even talking about sad stuff). I know they must be out there because I’ve seen the memes.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Deep-quoting aside, I think most everyone has a quote or two rolling around in their head that inspires them. It doesn’t matter if it’s scripture, fiction, or wise words from an old friend. Any way you slice it, humans are moved by language. Pardon me but that whole sticks and stones thing is bullshit. Words can create and destroy, they can rally or divide, and they can give us peace when nothing else seems to do the trick.
So anyway, back to the quote board.
The Process
I knew I wanted it to be big. But I must say when I brought home a 2′ by 4′ board at Home Depot, I was intimidated. So I started with what I knew. It all came down to categorizing the stories that were most important to my personal development. Obviously, I started with the big ones: Avatar, the Last Airbender, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, you get the gist.
To my surprise and delight, I ended up with more room on the board than I originally planned. Turns out you can fit a lot of stuff into eight square feet of space. I was able to cram so many of my favorite things, though I know I’ll have to add to it as I consume more stories.
Here’s a little taste of my process to get you inspired for your own board:
Start With the Images
I knew I wanted Uncle Iroh beneath the tree, and I knew it was an image I wanted to dominate the board. I could have been satisfied by any ATLA character, but that scene with Iroh, along with the general symbolism of trees, captured the wisdom, patience, and love that I aspire too, while also punching me right in the feels.
Likewise, I knew I wanted the text of The One Ring. What a powerful symbol, one that has graced my phone and computer wallpapers more than a few times. I could have chosen the White Tree, but I already picked my tree
It seems a small thing, but I also knew I wanted the silhouette of Toothless. How to Train Your Dragon is a trilogy so well planned and so beautifully told that walking out of the theatre felt like coming back down to earth.
And of course, I had to include The Witcher, because it was the first story in a long time to really get under my skin. There’s something about Geralt and Yennefer’s exploration of all things grey that is not only entertaining, but incredibly thought-provoking.
Once I had my images in mind, I moved on to the quotes.
Gather Your Favorite Quotes
I wrote down the titles of my favorite stories, and within each of those titles I scribbled the quotes that most inspired me:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” -Jane Austen, who was one of my earliest inspirations on the path to becoming a writer.
“The stories we tell have power, of course. But the stories that go untold have just as much power.” – Sabaa Tahir, who masterfully tricked me into reading an exciting YA fantasy that turned out to be an opus on the nature of suffering.
“I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you,” – J. R. R. Tolkien, with whom I have my share of disagreements, but without whom the world would surely be a darker place.
It’s like my own personal stock of blatant callouts and easter eggs, and I didn’t have to compromise on a single point.
And thus the point of my quote board was found: The Stories that Built Me.
What better way to pay homage to some of the stories that made me the writer – nay, the person, that I am today, than to immortalize them on my wall?
Fandom is the Great Equalizer
I spend a lot of time lamenting my decision to get an English degree. And don’t get me wrong, it was the most foolish decision I ever made. That said, it was also one of the best decisions of my life.
See, as an Enneagram 4, I have a tendency to believe that I am uniquely outcasted. More on that later. But what I learned at UVU was that fandom is the great equalizer. Count up all the things that separate us: race, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and you’ll notice that one of the few things that can bridge that gap is fandom.
In college I connected with people I might never have become friends with (being a horribly anti-social introvert with trust issues). And all because in spite of the quirks that make us different, we all know how to fall in love with stories. And when we meet people who share that sacredness, we can’t help but love them, too.
Got Any Ideas?
I hope this post has got your ideas flowing! Whether you’ve got a specific vision or just a mess of ideas you’d like help making sense of, I’d love to work with you. Together I know we can create a design you absolutely love, and I’m so excited to bring it to life. These projects are time-intensive so I can only take on a couple at a time. Order today to get your spot!
This is a guest post from Becoming Unbendable, another site I write with my brother. I wrote the post, so ordinarily I would never double-up. But this one fit both blogs so well that I couldn’t decide which one to write for. So since I own both sites, I’m taking a selfish.
The older I get, the more I learn that virtually everything in life comes down to a question of power. Brace yourselves, because this post is heavy on history and philosophy. But bear with me, because there’s a really cool question at the heart of it all.
I recently finished watching Medici on Netflix with my family, and as it was my second run through the show I was able to spend a lot of time philosophizing while we watched.
Now, Medici is not 100% accurate, but there’s a surprising amount of historical accuracy throughout the show–and the rest I looked up on my own. The accomplishments of this family raise important philosophical questions about the nature of power and the cost of progress.
Background of Medici Power
Medici: The Magnificent, Netflix
I’ll try not to say anything to spoil the show, but it’s important to know at least a little bit about the family for the sake of this post.
Essentially, the Medici family played an integral part in the Italian Renaissance. It all began with Giovanni de’ Medici who worked his way up from being a wool merchant to becoming a successful banker.
Giovanni’s son, Cosimo de’ Medici (portrayed by Richard Madden in the Netflix Original show), became the de facto monarch of Florence in 1434 and set in motion the Medici dynasty that would continue to influence Europe until the 1700’s.
Political giants, the Medici family quite literally changed the face of the city, turning the Medici bank into the richest and most respected financial institution in Europe at the time.
But their primary influence, aside from politics, was that they served as devoted patrons of the arts. They actively supported artists like Brunelleschi, Donatello, Boticelli, Michaelangelo, and Leonardo Da Vinci. As a result, they were hated by many higher-ups of the Catholic church, as well as those who considered themselves too pious for art and science and therefore openly rebelled against the renaissance.
The gist of it is that, thanks to the Medici, Florence became the cultural center of Europe.
Powerful Leaders Make Powerful Enemies
As you might expect, the vast influence of the Medici family brought out a whole host of enemies, including most notably the Pazzi family and Pope Sixtus IV.
A popular sentiment among the Medici men, and the central concept at the heart of the show, is that it is sometimes necessary to do bad in order to do good.
And They Did Do Some Unthinkable Things
It is sometimes necessary to do some bad in order to achieve a much greater good. For the new leaders to rise the old must fall. All men are capable of murder! Given the right circumstances.
Giovanni de’ Medici, Medici: The Magnificent, Netflix.
It is often said to justify something awful that one of the Medici men has done. But when we look at history, the Medici truly did change Florence, and Europe, for the better as much as they harmed it. The Renaissance was an unprecedented time of knowledge, art, and exploration following the Middle Ages, and it would not have been possible without the Medici.
So, in effect, it seems Giovanni is right. In order to bring about all the good that they did, it was often necessary for the Medici to do bad first. But the question asked by the show in the final season is at what cost?
Shifting Power From Nobility
Florence, Italy
Surely there is something to be said for long-term goals. Had the Medici not had such ambition, there is every chance the Middle Ages would have persisted. It was a time when people were reluctant to change, and the truth of progress is that it requires great sacrifice.
The cool thing about the Medici is that it started with Giovanni the wool merchant. Because he came from nothing, rising up during the mercantile period, he was more or less a man of the people. The Medici family sought to distribute power out of the hands of the nobles and into the hands of regular people, as they had been.
The trouble is, in order to take power away from the nobles, the Medici had to claim it for themselves. And the one thing we all know about power is that it corrupts.
The Burden of Power
It is the nature of living things to trend towards some kind of power structure. As a result, history has shown us a never-ending cycle of people clambering for the top of the pyramid.
Many of us love to fantasize about characters like Aragorn, the unwilling king who leads his people with humility and grace specifically because he does not lust after power. It’s one of my favorite tropes in fiction, because that’s the ideal, isn’t it? We’d all love to believe there’s someone out there who can rule without corruption.
But Medici is based on history, not fiction. Nothing was as simple for this family as it is in fairytales. It is easy to be an idealist when it comes to stories. But stories with morally burdened kings always end when they take the throne.
What about what comes next? What happens when the right course, historically speaking, demands an act of corruption? It’s a question the Medici face time and time again as they interfere with the Pope, the Signoria, and everything in between.
Can Power Ever be Moral?
It would be too simplistic to say you should always do the right thing no matter the cost. After all, the “right” thing varies greatly depending on your definition. Ethical dilemmas have proven this time and again both in literature and throughout history.
This is why I love the show so much, as it seems to have an intimate understanding of the problem with progress. And instead of picking a firm side on whether or not the Medici were good or bad in the whole scheme of things, the show begs important questions such as is it worth it, and what does it mean to be good?
There is no Ready Answer
I’m so impressed with the show because it was made in a time when so many storytellers are eager to push an opinion or an agenda instead of posing questions designed to do what I believe all stories should do, which is to make the audience think.
It is better for a good man to do a bad thing in order to stop a bad man from doing a hundred bad things. But at what point does the good man become a bad man in doing the bad thing, even if it is done in the service of something good?
It’s one of those questions that philosophy can’t really answer, as the deeper you dive, the more complex it gets. The Medici, like anyone who had a hand in carving history, did a lot of shady (and even vastly immoral) things in order to stay in power. And since they are the victors of the story, we can assume there’s even more filth behind the curtain that only an eyewitness could provide.
One thing is for certain: at least for a time, the Medici prevented worse people from taking/remaining in charge. Whether or not they were worth it is another question entirely.
What’s the Point?
The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore was completed thanks to the genius mind of Brunelleschi and the patronage of Cosimo de’ Medici
In true philosophical fashion, I am left with more questions than answers. Part of me wants to believe that the more unsavory aspects of the Medici are outweighed by the vast good they achieved through the Renaissance. Another part believes the cost, both of the family and those they influenced, was too great to justify.
I mean, can achievement really act as a substitute for morality? And yet, if they hadn’t been willing to get their hands dirty, there is every chance a much greater amount of evil might have been committed. Keyword being might.
Perhaps it is the burden of a great leader to endure a certain amount of filth in order to protect the next generation. Or perhaps that line of thinking is simply another in a long line of justifications used by dastardly folks to escape responsibility.
So What is There to Do?
In any case, I think we ought to study history a whole lot more. Everything I learned about the Medici family in my research helped me to understand why the world works the way that it does and how their influence lives on even today. As for the show itself, there is often far more value in questions than in answers, and so I consider it a huge success.
In terms of a more hopeful solution, I believe we should keep telling stories about idealistic rulers. And more than that, I believe we should strive to be those people. But the simple fact is the answer is never simple. It is equally necessary to study history and accept the realities of how easily power corrupts even those with the greatest intentions. We will spend our lives chasing the ideal, and likely never reach it.
The point, as far as I’m concerned, is that it’s impossible to say whether the Medici were good or bad. Such is the nature of power. It will always be necessary to walk the line between leadership and corruption. Perhaps the best we can do is learn what we can from the past and hope to do better in the future.
Hello friends! It’s been quite a week—and quite a year for that matter—so I thought I’d take a few minutes today to write about the power of hope. With any luck, you’ve all found a little time to do something you love during your busy schedules. Maybe you’ve even had time to do a little reading!
Anyway, back to the subject of hope. It goes without saying that 2020 has been…intense. On top of the big news and headlines, we’re still dealing with the usual upsets and roadblocks we’d have even in a less turbulent year. Many of my friends and family have faced big challenges and changes over the last few months, and I’m feeling a little heavy-hearted this week. So instead of dwelling, I wanted to take some time to think about something inspiring.
If you feel like you’ve oscillated a lot lately between manic hope and crushing depression, you’re not alone. I’m right there with you, but today I’m in a fighting mood (think Rocky, not Fight Club). There’s no better time than an election year to stand up, brush ourselves off, and get back in the ring. But I often find myself in need of a little help, which brings me to one of my favorite topics: The Lord of the Rings.
New Line Cinema
Here’s the Skinny
The Lord of the Rings is one of the best stories that’s ever been told, but I realize that not everyone is a fan. If you’re not familiar with the story, here’s what you need to know for the sake of this post:
Way back when, a scary dude named Sauron created a bunch of rings (nineteen to be exact) and handed them out to the races of Middle Earth. But surprise! He made one uber-powerful ring to rule them all and it was pretty much the worst so a bunch of guys teamed up to take him down. They won the battle but failed to destroy the ring (huge mistake) and now Sauron’s spirit is trying to come back and rule the world. Not cool, man.
Cut to Frodo and Sam, a couple of hobbits who get caught up in this hot mess because Frodo’s uncle couldn’t keep his hands to himself (ahem, Bilbo, we’re looking at you). Eventually, Frodo volunteers to take the scary magic ring to Mount Doom where it can finally be destroyed, and like the ride-or-die he is, Sam volunteers to go with him. Oh, and hobbits are pretty much the smallest and weakest dudes in Middle Earth. Got it? Good.
If that doesn’t make you want to read/watch The Lord of the Rings, I don’t know what more I can do. But anyway, back to Sam.
Now, Samwise Gamgee is the true hero of LOTR because my boy is literallyalways hopeful. And it’s not the fairytale version of hope where he’s constantly happy and singing. No, Sam carries with him a particular brand of actionable hope that sustains him and his friends in their darkest moments.
Hope is More Than Something You Feel
The task set before Frodo is quite literally impossible. He’s up against insurmountable odds with the fate of Middle Earth weighing on his shoulders—not to mention the physical toll that comes from carrying the ring. For most of the story, he is weak and tired and often mean to Sam as a result of his unbearable burden, but Sam never wavers. He has such unfailing hope for the world and for his friend that he knows there is always a way forward, even when all seems lost.
Now, for my writer folks out there, you know that Act II of any story is supposed to be the darkest act of the plot. Tolkien does this very well in The Two Towers when Frodo and Sam wind up in the middle of a war zone where Sauron’s minions nearly capture the ring (thanks, Faramir). Quick reminder here, if Sauron gets the ring back he’ll dominate the world and ruin everybody’s vibe. So the stakes are high and Frodo and Sam have no allies in their immediate vicinity.
The hobbits are bloody and bruised and far from home, and Frodo is at his breaking point. Then this happens:
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
The Power of Hope Lies in the Ability to Move Forward
Okay. Some things to notice here: Sam doesn’t stand idly by hoping Frodo will get away. He straight tackles him to the ground, risking his own life in the process. And then he gives Frodo one of the most inspiring speeches ever put on screen.
Hope is powerful. It is the thing that carries us through the darkest times, and it spreads to the people around us. Every time the hobbits are faced with an unwinnable scenario, Sam chooses hope. He finds a way forward. And so can you.
There’s a reason Tolkien chose to tell a story about Frodo and Sam rather than centering on the other, more powerful characters. Power is found in all kinds of things, but sometimes the most potent form of power comes from ideas. Sam takes on foes far greater and more terrifying than he has any right to face—did I mention he was a gardener before all this?—and he does it all through the power of hope.
New Line Cinema
To be perfectly honest, I’ve got some concerns about the future of this country. Freedom is so painfully fought for and so easily lost. More immediately, I have a lot of fear about my own future. But Sam gives me hope. There’s some good in this world. And it’s worth fighting for.
Middle Earth couldn’t be saved in a day. It took a series of courageous acts from two of the world’s most ill-equipped heroes to bring peace to a world wracked in chaos. And at the end of the line, when all seems truly lost, it’s not Aragorn who shows up to destroy the ring (although Aragorn is bae and we love him). In the penultimate moment of the whole trilogy, who comes in clutch? Samwise freaking Gamgee.
Spoilers ahead and all that, but it’s been almost 20 years so you had your chance. Here’s the best moment in cinema history:
Ah, this is the thing that made me want to be a writer. Stories are the raddest, am I right? These movies literally changed my life.
You Gotta Watch it, Guys
Whether you’re a fan of the trilogy or you’ve yet to partake of this glorious tale, you’ve gotta watch it. I wasn’t going to push it because live and let live and all that, but after writing this post I can’t help it. You gotta.
I can’t promise that 2020 will suddenly get less stressful, or that 2021 is going to be breezy. Life is filled with obstacles no matter your circumstances. But what I can say is that even when you’re standing on a volcano in the middle of hell with a magic ring that’s trying to kill you and no reason to believe you’ll succeed, hope is the thing that can propel you up the mountain.
New Line Cinema
If you’re feeling stuck these days, do one little thing that can move you forward. Find your courage and do something today that will benefit you tomorrow. Maybe it’s as simple as taking ten minutes to be mindful and take some conscious breaths. Like a hobbit, your will is mighty even when it’s small.
I wish all of you good luck as we head into the weekend, and I sincerely hope you have a Sam in your life to keep your spirits up. And don’t forget that someone you know might need you to carry them, too.
Have an amazing day. I’m gonna go watch The Lord of the Rings
Don’t Go Just Yet!
I’m super stoked to announce that I’ve started an email list! It’s hard to keep in touch on social media because your feed is never constant, but I really want to build a community here at Misfit Writer and this is a great way to stay on top of my latest posts. Plus, you’ll get some sweet coupons and offers if you subscribe. Fill out the form below so you never miss a post.
Well hello there! I know it’s been a while, and I’m sorry for the radio silence. Whenever something big happens, there’s a lot of pressure to weigh in immediately. But I didn’t want to blurt out my knee-jerk reaction and I didn’t feel comfortable posting my usual content given the explosive social issues of late. For a long time, I wasn’t sure what to say. But I’ve reached the same conclusion I always seem to come back to: we don’t need better policies. We need better people.
Before everyone freaks out, I don’t mean we shouldn’t reform laws, systems, or organizations. Reform is a necessary part of progress. All I’m saying is that you can’t legislate morality. And social programs are not the answer to morally based questions.
I want to be extremely clear here, lest my thoughts be taken as an attack on anyone. So let’s get a few things out of the way:
Racism and prejudice are real
Responsible reform is a good thing and we should keep seeking it
Equality should be fought for, especially by those who have the voice to fight for it
This is not an anti-BLM post. I firmly believe that black lives matter. I also believe that social reform is a flawed attempt to solve an issue that is in desparate need of something far more painful: personal responsibilty.
So what I’m going to do is throw a little English analysis at you. Because this is a complex problem with nuanced arguments and it is necessary to pull it apart in order to understand the full complexity of what is at stake. Here goes nothing.
The Problem
The problems going on right now are fairly obvious, but I want to talk about the problem with the problem. And the 3 big problems I see are:
Political interference
Failure to listen
Looking for resources in the wrong places
Political Interference
This is a biggie, and I have to start with it to frame the rest of my argument. That said, this is not about to be a political debate. I’m just calling things as I see them. Trump v. Hilary was an incredibly divisive election. It wasn’t the first in America’s history, and it certainly won’t be the last. But if you do a little historical research (or pay attention to the current political conversation), you’ll see that the strategies each side is using are nothing new. Here’s a basic breakdown of what I mean:
The point is, each party has an agenda. And neither agenda has anything to do with improving the lives of American citizens—whether they are black or not. Division is a powerful tactic for politicians because it keeps the public squabbling over social issues while they are free to rise to power.
Since this is a story-focused blog, take the Star Wars prequels. Senator Palpatine essentially starts a war and intentionally divides the republic in order to create the ideal conditions for a Ceaser-esque power grab. He literally starts, funds, and ends this war in order to seize power, and thus the Empire is born. Sound familiar? It should. It’s happened several times in history.
The point is, politicians are reveling in the distraction of social politics because emotional people are easy to manipulate. And #blacklivesmatter is an extremely emotional topic no matter which side you stand on. You may think you’re accepting a little evil in exchange for a lot of good when you support politicians who “want to make a difference.” But make no mistake: no matter which party you align with, they’re not on your side. Politics are about power. Plain and simple.
Failure to Listen
This is by far the most common problem in any conversation. Both sides are so concerned with being heard, they fail to listen. This is especially true when politics are mixed in—particularly in a bi-partisan system.
Imagine a fictional person—we’ll call them Taylor. Taylor leans conservative on gun control and economic policy but is also vehemently pro-choice and thinks that taxes should be raised for the rich. Which party should they choose? Which values are they supposed to sacrifice?
This quandary gets even more complicated as you continue to add social problems to the list. As a result you have a lot of people forced onto one side or the other even if they don’t totally agree with the party they’re defending. Thus political involvement becomes the death of conversation. When discourse ceases to be about progress and is only about winning, everybody loses.
The only way to open a conversation to real and lasting progress is to allow people to say the wrong thing without being “cancelled” for it. That’s what free speech means. We have to allow people to have complex opinions and give them time to talk through that conflict. And when someone has mistaken ideas or can’t see the full picture, we need to respond with education and patience instead of condescension and character judgment. Hence the reason we need better people, not policies.
Looking to the Wrong Resources
In college, I took a class called Writing for Social Change. It was a decent class with a lot of discussion about how to make the world a better place, but I felt completely out of place in it. I was expected to come up with ideas for conventions, programs, and/or policies that could make the world better, but in my mind, there was no policy that could make up for integrity. There was no program that could change a person’s soul.
Before there can be any real change, there has to be personal responsibility. But people don’t like talking about personal responsibility because they want instant gratification. They want a list of uncomplicated, actionable relief that can be instated right now.
Such relief does not exist. Change takes place on an internal basis and an external one. Try to have one without the other and you will fail every time.
It’s Complicated
I really wish people would stop boiling this issue down to who’s racist and who’s not. This conversation, like most, is vastly more complicated than social media will admit. Racism is undoubtedly real, but it’s not the only thing—or even the main thing—at play with #blacklivesmatter.
Whenever you involve private interest in social problems, the message gets complicated. On one side you have political interference, but on the other side, you run into hidden agendas. BLM is a great example of this because it’s not just a hashtag or a sentiment, but a full-blown organization. And while the general public may think the message is simple and united, there’s a lot more going on with BLM than meets the eye.
I believe that black lives matter. I would submit that most people do. But BLM (as in the organization, not the sentiment) is openly Marxist, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. Their mission is a lot bigger than increasing the protection and quality of life for black Americans. So while I believe that we are all created equal and that racism and prejudice are both 100% real and 100% unacceptable, I will not be donating to BLM or using the hashtag in connection with the organization. Instead, I will seek other ways to promote equality.
I am ALL IN on reform. I believe that people should be in constant pursuit of progress. But all the social programs we can make will be a waste of time if we don’t start working on ourselves first.
We can—and we should—reform the police because any amount of power is going to breed corruption. That said, police reform and social programs can only go so far. A reformed police force can keep reasonably good people from becoming criminals, and it can punish bad cops for breaking the law. What it can’t do is prevent all bad cops from entering the force in the first place or predict which cops are going to abuse their power after they get there.
The Solution
I’m not interested in presenting problems without proposing solutions, so here’s my favorite part of this post. But I imagine that, like my teacher and classmates in Writing for Social Change, many of you will be disappointed with my advice.
People don’t like to talk about personal responsibility because it doesn’t sound actionable. They want clear solutions to simple problems, and they want an outside entity to carry out punishment when perceived needs aren’t met. But as difficult as it is to legislate morality, it’s impossible to legislate thought. People are allowed to think racist thoughts even if they’re not allowed to act on them. And if people are racist at heart, the problem will persist through any laws or programs we put in place.
So what do we do? Simple. We need to protect free speech and foster a culture of education, forgiveness, and thought reform. At the end of the day, it’s not just a better solution. It’s the only solution.
Help Each Other be Better
What if instead of jumping straight to “you’re a racist,” we took the time to explain a complex issue to someone who might not have the full story? Take a look at what happens when you allow for conversation without accusation:
Change is possible when we act rationally and responsibly. People have a desire to be good, and they’ll often surprise you. Give someone the right information under the right circumstances and suddenly barriers fall. Parents can teach their children to be better than the last generation, and we can each hold ourselves to higher standards by taking personal responsibility for the things we say, do, and think.
Read More Books
As I said, this is a story blog. So, of course, a huge part of my advice is to read more books. But it’s not as self-serving as it may seem. We don’t need policies that attempt to force people to live well. We need stories that inspire individuals to be better. Think of all the literature out there that inspires thought and compassion:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Literally thousands of other books waiting to inform and stretch your mind
The beauty of storytelling is that it gives us a chance to step into roles and situations we could never experience in real life. I dare you to read To Kill a Mockingbird and come out the other side rooting against Boo Radley or Atticus Finch. Books and stories not only teach empathy and compassion; they inspire us to take action. Tales of bravery are infectious and when we read them we take a little piece of that bravery with us. We endeavor to be more like the characters that made us feel like anything is possible.
Who doesn’t want to be brave like Atticus? Compassionate like Huck? Unendingly positive and loving like Anne Frank? These characters, real or imagined, can make us look at the world in a new light. It’s why I wanted to be a writer in the first place, and it’s why I believe we could heal a significant amount of damage in the world simply by reading more books. If you need ideas, check out my Top Ten Books page for some recommendations.
Food For Thought
I promise I’m almost done, but I want to add one more thing to illustrate my point. Did you know that Black Americans enjoyed a period of prosperity and affluence after slavery? Having a father in the home was a huge part of that prosperity. But then social policy incentivized single motherhood and created negative conditions in cities like Chicago and Detroit where black Americans are most severely disadvantaged. Social policy is not only unhelpful in solving equality problems; oftentimes it is the direct cause.
A great example is affirmative action, a policy intended to help minority students gain entrance into good schools. There’s a ton of evidence to support the fact that affirmative action actually harms the minorities it was supposed to help. You can read more about it on The Atlantic here. In a nutshell, the problem is that affirmative action lowers the standards for prospective college students without raising the standards of the education that leads them there. The result is a high drop out rate and low quality of student life.
Social policy carries unforeseen consequences. It can’t fix this issue. But we can. With personal growth and accountability.
Listen to the people around you. Support equality in meaningful ways and continue to fight for the marginalized and oppressed. But please, stop simplifying complex issues. Stop looking to someone else to solve the problem and take some personal responsibility. Recognize evil in politics, social programs, and anywhere else it might be lurking.
And for the love of all that is holy, read a book.
When it comes to novel writing, there are two main kinds of writers: Plotters and Pantsers.
It’s more complicated than that, of course. There is a spectrum within each camp and some writers fall closer to the middle than others. But in my opinion, the two sides are not created equal.
Plotters outline their works to varying degrees, with the most serious plotters going so far as to write out detailed scenes throughout their plan. Some of the most intense outlines can stretch out for 30 or 40 pages.
Pantsers focus less on planning or plotting their novels, preferring to let their stories and characters play out organically with in-the-moment inspiration. In the most extreme cases, some pantsers will write their stories with no outline at all.
The Problem
Flexibility is important for a writer, and I think that the best authors can roll with a new plot idea or change their characters when they need to for the sake of their story. From this perspective, I think every writer should be a little bit of a pantser.
The problems crop up when writers have no plan and let their characters roam freely in a world without direction. Stories without a plan lose focus and betray their character arcs. It’s important for a book to follow the basic three-act structure to make sure all your story bases are covered. But the biggest problem I see in writing without a plan is that your characters will suffer.
The Characters Create Themselves
I hate this phrase. Every time a writer says their characters create themselves, I gag a little. Not only do I believe it’s a poor approach to character design, but it’s simply not true. Even when your character seems to come to life, they came from your head. They are not autonomous beings and they need your help and direction to thrive.
Here’s an example:
If you were a choir director, would you let your singers come in late or hold notes longer than they’re supposed to? Would you let one of your singers pick a new song in the middle of your performance because it felt right to them? The obvious answer is no. But hopefully you can see the parallels I’m drawing between choir and writing.
In the choir director analogy, the singers are the ones performing. They each have unique voices and talents, but it’s your job to take that talent and shape it into something meaningful for the performance. As the director, you can hear when one voice is too loud or when your singers of off-key. You can watch them from a distance and make sure they are all singing in unison and that the audience can understand the words.
As a writer, it’s your job to direct your characters. Like students, they depend on your vision to help them communicate whatever story you’re trying to tell. And the only way to get solid character arcs that complement and drive the plot is to plan them out.
Good Characters Feel Like Real People
I think what many writers mean when they say the characters write themselves is that sometimes a character is so fully realized that it feels like they are acting autonomously. But this is different than writing themselves. A character who is primarily motivated by their own self-interest will continually make selfish decisions, so it may seem like the choice was made before you got there as the writer when in reality, certain choices were taken off the table when you wrote a selfish character and there are only a few logical choices left.
My point here is that characters should feel like real people. But some pantsers go wrong in thinking that the key to a realistic character is to give them free rein of the page. But when you give your characters the ability to make any choice in any given moment instead of the ones that fit their motives, personality, and goals, you betray their arc and make them feel too random.
A certain amount of predictability in a story is a good thing. And predictability requires planning.
Pantsing Your Novel Can Lead to Plot Holes
The other obvious problem with not having an outline is that your plot is likely to suffer. One of your characters might show up in Chicago when last chapter they were in California and you simply forgot to arrange their travel plans. Or your villain’s major scheme could fall through because you forgot to account for something on the hero’s side.
Hopefully, you’ll catch these errors and the worst that will happen is you’ll waste time re-writing something that might have worked with a little more forethought. But chances are some of these plot holes will make it into your final product and embarrass you in front of your readers.
Building a sensible plot that delivers whatever message you’re trying to send is only the first step to writing an unforgettable story. If you want your readers to be hooked, shocked, or changed, you need to plan out the intricacies of your plot so you can see how everything fits together before you start writing. That ridiculous side quest in Star Wars Episode VIII might never have made it onscreen if someone had thought to say wait a minute. This doesn’t make sense.
Don’t let your story fall prey to plot holes because you weren’t interested in making sure your invention worked before you turned it on.
The Real Reason I Don’t Like Pantsers
My biggest problem with pantsers is that they don’t take into account their readers. Your book is not about fulfilling your dream or satisfying your own whims. It is about providing readers with an experience that can touch them, fulfill them, and transform them.
Fulfillment is a very simple concept: you make a promise and then follow through. Promises are made at the beginning of a novel. When you introduce a character, you introduce their problems:
What does your character lack?
What do they hope to find by the end of the novel?
Will they accomplish their goal?
These questions need answers, and when an audience reaches the end of a story and feels dissatisfied with the ending, more often than not it is because the author failed to plan accordingly. Reading is an investment, both of time and interest. Your readers trust you to take them on a journey and it’s not fair to have them board your bus when you have no clue where you’re going.
Unlike some other professions, writing does not provide readers with a product they can simply return if they don’t like it. Books can be returned, yes, but the reader’s time cannot. Neither can they take back the hope they placed in your characters when you introduced them. Unmet expectations cause more misery than anything else, and it is emotionally painful for your audience to be betrayed by your story. Just look at the outrage sparked by Game of Thrones.
Plan Your Story and You’ll Avoid Most of These Problems
Most problems in writing can be solved with a good plan. The more you write, the better your next plan will be because you’ll know what to expect. It takes a lot of practice, but you’ll find that if you write an outline, even if it’s just a quick one, your writing will improve faster and your books will be noticeably better with each draft.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, you don’t have to stick completely to one side or the other. I believe the best writers pick up all the strengths of plotters and pantsers to create stories that are both fulfilling. and surprising. Sometimes you’ll think of a new idea in the middle of writing your story and even if you had a plan it’s great to add in changes when they will improve the final product. Give yourself enough wiggle room to be flexible when the story calls for it, but have a plan so you know where you need to end up.
It’s all about finding a balance, and I hope you’ve read something today that made you think. Whether your agree or not, make sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments! I love connecting with my fellow writers. And don’t forget you can always reach out to me on Twitter. Happy writing!
There’s no way for this post not to sound self-serving, so I’ll get it out there right away:
I want you to care more about art. And as such, you need to care more about artists.
It’s an age-old song and I know that repetition can be grating, but in the midst of this COVID-19 nonsense (not taking a stand, I just believe the whole situation is unbelievable, therefore nonsense), we have the opportunity to reevaluate our lives. And what are people doing while stuck at home?
They’re engaging with art. They’re watching movies and reading books. They’re creating elaborate trick shots and song parodies for social media. They’re writing quippy lines and memes on Twitter. And yet, when things go back to whatever level of normal we try to reach, those things will disappear again. When we go back to work, we will forget the things that got us through the darkness. Why?
Because we’re way too busy. A 40-hour workweek, combined with commute times and mealtimes, leaves very little room for anything else. And that’s just the base level. Add in kids or elderly parents and you’ve got a whole new list of responsibilities. If you want to work out, you can add at least ninety minutes to your schedule. Tons of people don’t have ninety minutes to spare.
Did you know scientists have worked out that the average adult works way more now than they did as hunters and gatherers? Leisure time used to be a lot bigger. And it was often filled with art. The trouble is, artists don’t get much of the credit.
There’s a Face Behind Your Art
I was a freshman in high school when STEM really got big. And I cannot explain to you the sadness and fear I felt when I was told repeatedly that my goals were obsolete. That my contribution would be nothing if I chose a creative field, and that I was worthless if I could not conform.
I watched my favorite choir teacher walk away from a school that she loved because they kept cutting her classes. Because even when the principal took steps to make it better, even when my teacher took on other classes to make up the difference, they just kept cutting the arts. I cried for both of us the day she left. I cried again when I realized I couldn’t afford to take another choir class anyway because my other credit requirements did not leave enough time in my schedule.
Without fame, we are nothing
Artists largely go unseen because without notoriety they are not deemed as part of society. But whether it’s in the top ten or just some song you found on accident, somebody created it. Who wrote that book you read during the pandemic? Who painted the scene that gave you solace in your darkest hour? Who produced the TV shows and movies that you watch on a daily basis? Who wrote and/or sang the song you’re listening to?
No one thinks Stephen King is a waste of space. JK Rowling is an idol. Taylor Swift is treated like royalty. But when your friend, your neighbor, your child—or whoever, really—reveals that they want to be an artist, they are met with overwhelming doubt. And the longer they go without commercial success, the more judgment they receive.
When are you going to grow up?
When are you going to get a “real job?”
Don’t you want to contribute to the world?
These are all things I’ve heard firsthand. And I know that I am not alone.
I’m not trying to demonize anyone or say that artists have it worse than anyone else. This is simply a call to acknowledge, during a time when art has likely taken a bigger part on your life’s stage, the necessity of creative fields. And you cannot acknowledge the importance of art without acknowledging the importance of the artists themselves. There is a face behind your art. And they are in desperate need of your support.
STEM is Great, But it’s Not Enough
I love STEM. I love that students with a talent for science, technology engineering, and math have better opportunities to jumpstart their education as a result of STEM programs. But I hate the added assertion that these are the only fields worth entering.
As a Freshman in college, I read an essay from Harper’s Magazine titled “The Neoliberal Arts” that changed my life. In it, William Deresiewicz discusses the changing college landscape and the disappearance of programs deemed not to be commercially viable. Included in these is not just art, but theoretical math and physical science. Vocational fields are all that matter in terms of production value. I highly recommend the read—it’s pretty quick.
Deresiewicz, 26
Basically, Deresiewicz points out that the reason for the change is because all values have been reduced to money values. This means that even math and science are only valuable when they can turn a profit. It’s obvious that money makes life easier. The more you have, the less you’ve likely suffered during this pandemic. But money alone didn’t get you through it.
Science can create vaccines and search for treatments, but it cannot eradicate a virus. Math can tell you what the numbers are and offer you statistics, but it can’t bring your loved ones back to life. Technology and engineering can bring new advances to the way we practice medicine, but at the end of the day nothing can protect you from your own mortality.
We’ve seen it with the virus. When STEM failed to solve the problem, we turned to art to cope with it. Music, entertainment, and literature have been the lifeblood of the pandemic because while STEM can help to make life possible, art is typically what makes life worth living. We need both in order to thrive.
Show Your Artists a Little Love
This is the part where I should tell you to fight for more funding in. the arts, and you definitely should. But for now, all I’m asking is that you remember us as the world opens back up. Support the people close to you who want to create. Stand up for yourself if you are a creator, and stop letting the world tell you that your contribution is nothing.
We are all of us mortal. We need to appreciate what we have and encourage the things that make our lives valuable. So the next time you play a song, read a book, or watch TV, remember the people that gave it to you. Remember that there is more to life than survival, and we need diversity in our communities to make it happen.
We need vocational studies. We need mathematicians and doctors and engineers and pilots and economists. And we need artists, too.
Don’t forget to follow the blog for great weekly content. And make sure to join my Facebook page or follow me on social media to stay updated. Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next time!
Brace yourselves, because this post is mildly political. Today we remember the fallen members of the United States Armed Forces who gave their lives in pursuit of freedom. The sovereignty we enjoy here in America was not easily won, nor is it easily maintained. Stories like Pearl Harbor, Hacksaw Ridge, Lone Survivor, and so many others remind us of the brutality of war, but more importantly of the reality and power of human goodness.
So often we celebrate heroism without taking into consideration just how necessary it was. It’s easy to condemn war when we are faced with any amount of blood and terror. But freedom is still a relatively new concept in world history. Just 81 years ago the second world war broke out. Two years before that, Japan invaded China, spreading all manner of abuse and horror in Nanjing on their way to a new vision of Asia dominated by the Japanese.
North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and so many other countries are subjugated by tyrannical and terrible leaders who would see their people starve to death in pursuit of their own power. Inequality throughout the world stage increases violent crime and all the while, most of us in America enjoy a great deal of security because it has been paid for with the blood of our countrymen.
It’s Good to be in America, Even if You Count the Imperfections
Without intervention, freedom will wither. Germany enjoyed a season of economic gain and prosperity right before they plunged into genocide. In Venezuela, where leaders are “elected,” the threat of imprisonment and even death keeps candidates from running and keeps the polls from being anywhere near fair.
“Freedom” has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years, but at any given moment in America’s history, we have enjoyed more freedom and better chances at economic success than many other places in the world. And while we may live through presidents we didn’t vote for and leaders we do not agree with, we do not live in daily fear that our government will starve us or put us to death for speaking out against tyranny. We do not always appreciate what it is like to suffer because whatever hardship we endure in this country is part of a spectrum we rarely have to see.
This is not a political site, and I did not set out to write a political post. But writing never was non-partisan and I believe Americans would do well to remember on this day that freedom is not a given, even if it seems like the world at large is more civilized than ever before.
What Does This Have to do With Writing?
The stories I mentioned above are one of the only ways for non-soldiers to understand the depth and depravity of war. As a high school student I read The Things They Carried and it stuck with me for life. I have no love of gratuitous violence, but sometimes we have to look at horrible things to understand the cost of beauty.
Hearing about a soldier who refused to kill anyone in WWII is one thing, but watching Desmond T. Doss (played by Andrew Garfield) fight for his life and save both Japanese and American soldiers all while gruesome violence breaks out around him puts it into perspective.
Likewise, it’s hard to understand the extent of what Mohammad Gulab sacrificed to save Marcus Luttrell in Afghanistan in 2005 until you see it played out on screen or read it on the page. Of course movies and books might skew some of the details on occasion, but the resulting empathy is, at least in my opinion, very worth it.
Stories Connect Us to the Past and Prepare Us for the Future
Stories, even fictional ones, have the power to connect us to experiences outside our own. We can get a glimpse into the lives and minds of those who have fought so valiantly for the person standing next to them–and for millions of people they will never meet.
Authors throughout history have demonstrated that ideas are just as formidable as weapons. Look at George Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Diary of Anne Frank, and even The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Hitler’s greatest ally was not violence but propaganda. Ideas are powerful. Writers have the power to shape them and readers have the ability to be transformed by them.
We owe it to the people who fought (and continue to fight) for our freedom to keep fighting. Like anything in life, freedom can be taken. Privilege can be lost. And the easiest way to lose something is to forget its value.
Today, I challenge you to engage with a war story. Listen to your relatives, read a story online, watch a movie, or find a book. Forgotten cruelty is so much more likely to be repeated. Realize the power of stories, and don’t forget that information is one of the many freedoms you enjoy because someone else fought for it. Don’t let their stories die with them.
Happy Memorial Day. Thank you to the soldiers who got us here.
Writer’s block is a huge problem, even for professionals. But as a writer, you might be tempted to call it writer’s block even when it isn’t. Blocks happen when you just can’t find the perfect words or you’re feeling a little distracted from your work. But sometimes the problem is a lot deeper than that, and it requires a specific fix.
I’m writing this blog post this morning instead of writing my book, so trust me, I know where you’re coming from. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve let months go by without typing a word and it’s a terrible feeling. But if you’re struggling with it right now, there are things you can do to break through that wall.
Like me, you may be distracted by everything else you have to get done. Or you might be feeling off about your story and you’re not sure where to go. Even if you’re not a writer, this advice can help with your struggle.
You Need to Revisit Your Outline
If you feel like you’re banging your head against the wall when it comes to your book, there’s a good chance something in your story is broken. There have been many times when I wanted to write, but the words wouldn’t come. And it was bigger than writer’s block. I would stare at my screen for hours trying to figure out what to write next and it was like the writing gods had stayed my hand.
Almost every time this has happened to me, it turned out to be my own brain warning me that my story wasn’t right. Something about my plot was broken and I needed to fix it before I could keep writing.
Take a look at your outline
If you don’t have an outline, there’s your first mistake. Write one.
If you do have one, read through the whole thing. And don’t forget to make sure it lines up with the three-act structure. If it’s just writer’s block, you’ll probably feel a renewed connection to your plot and be able to continue. And if it’s something bigger, you’ll feel that warning in the back of your brain telling you that something needs to be adjusted.
In my case, it hardly ever comes as a spark of intuition where I know immediately what the problem is and how to fix it. It’s just a nagging feeling that won’t go away until I do. The bigger problem is, the longer you sit with something like this the more exhausted your mind is. You need a new stimulus to keep working on it and you won’t find it alone in your bedroom.
Talk your story through with someone else
When you run into a problem but you can’t see what it is, the best thing to do is to get input. Choose your advisors carefully, lest they lead you astray, but find someone you can bounce ideas off of. Often times you just need to talk through your problem to work it out. They’ll offer you advice, which you don’t have to take, but even that will help get your mind working on the problem again instead of drowning in the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Don’t force it, and take a break from your book if you have to. Unlike day-to-day writer’s block, these big issues can’t be fixed simply by working harder. Take a break and give your brain a chance to think about something else. Go experience the world around you and the chances are your solution will come when you least expect it (because you’ve finally given your brain the break it needs).
You Feel Pressured to Put it Off
There’s a lot going on in the world right now. People are working more hours than is strictly necessary and you have obligations, whether it’s just you or you’re supporting a family. With everything going on there’s a lot of pressure, both internal and external, to put off your writing.
I get it. I’ve been there. In fact, I’m there right now. But you need to take your writing seriously because it’s important to you. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t bother, because writing is seriously hard work. Don’t let your obligations take your writing away. Find a little time here and there to work on it, even if you can only manage an hour here and there.
Make a Schedule
If your obligations include other people, you need to set time for your writing and make sure the people in your life respect that boundary. Parents should give their kids some alone time (provided they’re old enough, of course) and let the kids know that mommy or daddy is working. It’s not neglectful to take time for yourself. And if you schedule your at-home time to include some me-time, you’ll still be able to fit in time to spend with your children. It’s all about balance.
Make sure you stand up for your time as well. Emergencies happen and sometimes you have to take care of your obligations before you can take that time to write. But do your best to make that time a priority and don’t be a pushover when others try to infringe on it.
The hard truth
Sometimes it’s a matter of standing up for yourself, even with the people you love. No matter how hard they try to be supportive, your loved ones will go through stages with your writing. The longer it takes you to finish, the harder it will be for them to wait. Give them a little grace when they get impatient, but don’t let it keep you from writing. Remind them that this is your passion and that it’s part of your work (yes, writing is a job), and you need time to focus on it.
In the worst case scenario, you might have to take a break from toxic relationships. If you find your friends are entirely unsupportive of your dreams, they’re not the friends you want to keep around. Be willing to distance yourself from negative influences.
You’re Afraid of Your Own Success
It sounds crazy, but it’s more common than you’d think, especially among writers. As introverts, writers tend to overanalyze everything. It can be a good trait to have, but it can also leave you crippled when you imagine what will happen if you do finish your manuscript. You spend so much time stressing over the next steps that you can’t bring yourself to finish the ones you’re on.
What you have to determine is where that fear is coming from. You might think it’s your fear of failure that keeps you from finishing your manuscript, but I suspect that you’re dealing with the opposite problem in large quantities. I’m not saying the fear of failure doesn’t apply, but it’s not the whole picture.
You’re afraid to let go
No one wants to put their soul into the world and have it rejected. But it goes deeper than that. You aren’t just afraid that you won’t get published. You’re afraid of what will happen if you do.
Seeing readers fall in love with your story is the dream, isn’t it? Why would anyone be afraid to achieve their dream?
I’ll tell you why: because if you finish your book, it will be over.
Sometimes you’re so in love with your characters or your world or your plot that you can’t imagine what you’d do without them. It’s scary to think of leaving it behind because you know as a perfectionist (and don’t even try to tell me you’re not one) your book will never truly be finished. You could spend a lifetime tweaking and improving it, but you have to let that impulse go.
Good things end so better things can fall into place. And you’re not writing your book for you, you’re writing it for readers. So as scary as it is to move on and leave one story behind, you have to learn that the life of a writer is one of loss. Eventually, you’ll have to close chapters so you can write new ones.
Keep Writing, But Don’t be Ignorant
Whatever the reason for your writer’s block, it can be very unhelpful to “just keep working.” You need to take a moment to analyze yourself and determine why you can’t seem to write so you can pick the right actions to solve it. When your story is broken, no amount of forced word count will fix it. Look at your story and learn to play doctor with yourself and your work. Ask yourself what’s really holding you back and you’ll have a much better time working through it.
Take a deep breath, accept your mortality, and finish your book. Let me know in the comments if this advice helped you, or if you have any more advice to share. Writers need support! And don’t forget to follow this blog right now for more helpful tips to keep you writing in the future.
Last night I watched The Town, starring (and directed by) Ben Affleck. It was a great film about a gang of armed robbers who terrorize the city of Charlestown until the main character falls for one of their victims. As I said, it’s a great movie and I highly recommend it. But it got me thinking: why do we root for the criminals?
Mind you, I’m not talking about the kinds of villains we can’t help but respect even as we condemn them. The Joker has had audiences fascinated since Heath Ledger’s immortalizing performance in The Dark Knight, but that’s a different breed of fascination.
I’m talking films like Baby Driver, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gone in 60 Seconds, etc. where our hero is a criminal. And while sometimes we watch as Baby tries to escape a life he got pulled into by accident, many times we watch Jack Sparrow pilfering his weasely black guts out and we actually want him to get away with it.
What is it about criminals?
So what is it that makes characters like Jack so exhilarating? Why do we, as functioning members of society in which stealing is considered wrong, root for the outlaws? I have a few theories, but all of them come back to the same core desire: freedom.
Throughout history, despotic governments have risen and been overthrown. Women have challenged the patriarchy and demanded the right to vote. The poor have risen up against the rich. People have an innate desire for freedom that cannot be rooted out, even in the best of circumstances.
It would be irresponsible not to point out here that there are many people in the world who still find themselves at the mercy of tyranny, corruption, and evil. And I would never lessen that reality by claiming freedom is a universal experience. But even in the happiest, most developed parts of the world, there is a constant churning in the underbelly of society—a wave building to its crest because humans are not designed to accept reality; we are born to challenge it.
For this reason, the heist story is a popular choice for viewers. And while we spend a lot of time justifying the actions of our favorite criminals, there is a part of our attraction that does not rely on justification at all. It’s undeniable; we are drawn to miscreants and outlaws. Explore with me for a moment, won’t you?
Why we Root for Criminals: Because we Feel Incomplete
Living in polite society requires certain sacrifices. While some of us yearn for the time of outlaws in the wild west, the fact is most of us have signed the social contract that says we will not simply take what we want. We will work for it. We will build communities and live in peace with our neighbors.
This is especially true in capitalism where citizens are promised equal return for their grueling input. I’m obviously writing from an American perspective, but capitalism or no, most of us have had to sacrifice our dreams for the sake of practicality. And the strange part is, we treat it like a joke.
But what’s so silly about wanting to be a pop star? What is so ridiculous about the kid who wants to be a superhero, only to grow up and find out that radioactive spiders don’t come around all that often? Bruce Wayne didn’t have any superpowers, and that never stopped him. Then again, few of us are billionaires.
But my point is, why is it so ridiculous to dream of something bigger than what the world would have us settle for? We surrender dreams of grandeur in search of something more practical. Why? Because our survival depends on it.
We may sign the social contract, but that doesn’t mean we don’t crave a little anarchy
Few of us choose the careers we find ourselves in, and even in those cases when we make it into our desired fields, we did not dream of sacrificing all our time and sanity for a job that was supposed to give us value.
The sad truth is, we do not always get out of things what we put into them. Sometimes you start in the mailroom and never work your way past middle management. More often than not, that fledgling business you try to start fails. Or, like me, you spend countless hours writing manuscripts only to have door after door slammed in your face. So we look to characters who also experience the unfairness of lost or unattainable dreams, of which there are many different kinds.
The Unwilling Participant
Often times our thief did not choose a life a crime; he/she stumbled into it accidentally. In Baby Driver, Baby doesn’t want to play get-away driver to a bunch of hardened criminals. He made a mistake when hew as young that sent him into a life he doesn’t know how to get out of. Sure, he spends his weekends fleeing from the police, but at home, he’s taking care of his deaf (former) caretaker. We are drawn to this type of criminal, perhaps because we too feel as though we have been forced into a life we didn’t fully get to choose.
Baby offers us a sympathetic look at the entrapment that creeps up on us as we sacrifice the impractical dreams of our youth for what is real, for what is attainable. And with his sympathy, he offers us the fantasy that we too can escape the monotony of our lives and get back to what we wanted to do in the first place: live.
The Righteous Theif
This is the one true Robin Hood. Fight me.
Sometimes the criminal is hardly a criminal at all, but that doesn’t make it less exciting. Robin Hood sees the corruption in the system and seeks to steal back the prosperity of the rich that was built on the backs of the poor. And when stealing from tyrannical leaders, it doesn’t seem so wrong. In fact, we want there to be someone out there taking back the power we have lost.
Benjamin Gates in National Treasure is similarly moral, except in this case we get the fantasy of high crime without any immorality at all. Ben has to steal The Declaration of Independence to protect it, and the treasure, from those who would seek to do harm. In this way, we get to live the ultimate dream of the heist without ever having to answer the moral question because the answer is almost universal; stealing cannot be wrong when done in the pursuit of something righteous.
In both cases, we get to feel all warm and fuzzy because it’s not really stealing, is it? A person who cares for the poor cannot truly be immoral. We are willing to bend the definition of justice instead of calling for mercy because deep down we don’t think Robin is justified in crime as much as we believe no crime has been committed.
I think it goes deeper than the fantasy of the heist. I think we have an unconscious desire to justify criminal activity for the characters we like, and characters like Robin and Ben simply make it easier for us.
The Lovable Outlaw
The most interesting case of rooting for the bad guy comes in the form of the outlaw who isn’t really a moral character at all. Sometimes our hero is a criminal through and through, but it doesn’t matter. And I suspect it never mattered in the first place.
The truth is, we like the fact that Robin Hood is in pursuit of the greater good. But we don’t need him to be. We would root for him all the same even if he kept the money for himself.
Enter Jack Sparrow. He’s a far less noble thief, though he certainly has his moments. But we root for him from the beginning and it has little to do with the morality of fighting off the East India Trading Company. Norrington, in the first film at least, is not a bad guy. He believes in honor and justice. He seeks to enforce it for a government he believes in. Yet we all feel that subtle unrest that wants to see him overthrown; we want Jack to get away.
But how can we root for thieves even when their moral compass is askew? How can we as viewers justify criminal activity in stories when we would be slower to do so in real life?
Because Jack is bigger than a few quippy one-liners and the inability to walk in a straight line. In the pirate’s own words, “It’s not just a keel and hull and a deck and sails. That’s what a ship needs. But what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom.”
This Jack Sparrow quandary is at the center of everything I believe about the attraction to outlaws. We can spend all day trying to justify otherwise criminal action because the character in question had no choice or believed in something bigger than himself. But at the end of the day, we all just want to be free.
Why we Root for Criminals: It’s Not About Right or Wrong
My point is not that people are full of unconscious evil desires. Quite the opposite, actually. The same desire that leads us to imagine stealing the gorgeous Audi in the parking lot at the gym has led people to do extraordinary things. Because of our innate, human desire for freedom, we seek to correct injustice, to liberate the poor, and to change the face of history. So, while I think our reasoning may be less than moral in a societal sense, I believe it stems from the incorruptible desire to act without the constraint of laws, policies, and beliefs that would see any man or group imprisoned.
In short, I think we should lean into whatever complex emotions lead us to root for outlaws.
Stories allow us to experience things the real world can’t. Society would collapse if everyone were like Jack Sparrow. But that doesn’t mean we can’t espouse the idea that all men are created equal. That on some level pirates, kings, outlaws, and rule-makers are all the same. Because underneath whatever pretenses we live in, we all desire the same thing:
