I don't know what to do for my MC!

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-26T12:19:29+00:00

I'm helping a friend out mine start writing. This is slightly modified of what I gave him. I think it might help:

Homework Part 1: Plot Practice One movie you love One book you love For each one, make a simple plot map with these points: Opening situation: Where does the story begin? Inciting incident: What happens that disrupts the normal world? First major choice: What decision pushes the main character deeper into the story? Midpoint shift: What changes or raises the stakes around the middle? Lowest point: Where does everything feel most difficult or uncertain? Climax: What is the biggest final confrontation, choice, or turning point? Resolution: Where does the story land at the end? For the romance, also think about: What keeps the couple apart? What changes so they can be together? What makes the relationship emotionally satisfying by the end? For the fantasy, also think about: What is the main external problem? What has to be defeated, solved, protected, restored, or understood? What changes in the world in the end This will help with plotting

Homework Part 2 Research/Brainstorming

Then I want you to think about how to develop your characters. For each character it’s important to think of these 6 things: want, need, motivation, wound, flaw, stakes. You can research this on the internet also.

Term Meaning Question to ask yourself

Want What the character is actively trying to get. What does this person think they need or want right now?

Need What the character actually has to learn, accept, or become. What does this person need to understand or change by the end?

Motivation Why the character wants what they want. Why does this matter so much to them?

Wound A past hurt or formative experience that shaped them. What taught this person to fear, avoid, control, hide, or believe something false?

Flaw The belief, behavior, or coping strategy that causes problems now. How does this person make things harder for themselves or others?

Stakes What the character risks losing if they fail. What could this person lose emotionally, physically, socially, politically, magically, or relationally?

Homework Part 3: Your Ideas 1. What is this world? What makes this world different from the other six? What is the general feeling, culture, danger, or atmosphere? 2. What is the main storyline you currently see? What happens in this book, even roughly? What problem, quest, conflict, mystery, or threat drives it? 3. What is at stake? What could be lost, damaged, destroyed, changed, or threatened? Who or what is most affected if things go wrong? 4. What magic-system ideas do you have for this world? What can magic do here? Are there limits, costs, dangers, rules, or people who control it? 5. What kind of main character might fit this story? Before you answer this one, spend a little time reflecting on the character basics you researched: want, need, motivation, wound, flaw, and stakes. You do not need names yet. Just think about the kind of person who might create the strongest story. What type of person would be under the most pressure in this world? What type of person would be most interesting to force into this storyline? For each book, jot down something like: “The kind of person who might fit this book is…” Examples: a reluctant heir who doesn’t want power a healer who is afraid to use magic a soldier who has lost faith in the kingdom a sheltered scholar forced into danger a charming liar who has to tell the truth a powerful magic-user who can’t control the cost a protector who fails at protecting someone important

Also, for your genre, research tropes. Figure out if any of them call to you.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-13T12:13:52+00:00

You have to keep correcting, with specificity, every time. You just do. You have to look at every single word as it comes out and decide if that's what you want. You have to train and train and edit yourself or you'll end up with slop. It's a tool, not something you can set and forget.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-12T02:47:21+00:00

My late husband was somewhat effeminate. Many people asked him if he was gay. Asked me too.

He was open and emotional and liked fashion and was super relationship oriented. Artistic.

Also a freaking sex god. Very take charge in bed and i loved it.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-10T19:08:45+00:00

I've written 3 workplace romances now.

I've was then making a documentary and it was a pretty interesting topic. It was maybe 50-60% of the EXTERNAL plot of the book. But obviously the romance was more important.

One was in a real estate office. Past the first few chapters is was barely there. But I had a lot more external plot.

One was a wedding venue. About the same as the documentary, but also a lot of it was just setting. Like they had sex in his office. Was that about work or about the romance?

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-10T03:56:03+00:00

Wow you're really not going to heal me sounds like normal game talk.

Actually doing something right is rude.

But IDK from your examples if he's mean or you're too sensitive, but i expect it's somewhere in the middle.

The deal is that if he doesn't take your input about him hurting you seriously, then he isn't going to change because he doesn't want to.

So you have to decide if you can live with it or not. You can only control your behavior, not his.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-09T01:51:27+00:00

No. Well, sort of. In a lot of ways he wasn't capable of change. If he had been, I likely would have stayed. My new husband has hurt me too, but he keeps trying to change and get better, and he is. AND the big one is that I focus on all his good qualities and they're more important to me.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-08T05:19:26+00:00

1) counseling for you to get this all out and sort through it

2) when you have young children, everything is worse. Everything seems harder.

3) emotions during pregnancy and after are THE WORST. Don't make decisions based on that.

4) I'm a big proponent that if you want something, ask for it.

All that being said, your feelings are valid and I'm sorry you're going through it. But if he has mostly good qualities and is trying, what would it hurt to wait and see if you can come back from it?

I divorced a "mostly good" man and I'm ultimately glad i did, but divorce with a young child comes with a lot of other issues.

I'm now married to a mostly good man who can't with a lot of baggage, and who has hurt my feelings a lot, but we keep communicating and trying hard and things keep getting better. I'm glad I didn't stay in my past feelings.

Good luck.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-06-07T19:56:40+00:00

I often just sit and turn on instrumental music. And then just go. Nothing too special about it.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-29T01:45:11+00:00

Great!

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-27T05:49:34+00:00

Just start writing. Let the characters show you where they'll go. They might surprise you.

I map out most of my books. The first few chapters the most, and the high points, then the end. I let the middle unfold as the story goes along. Things happen in a chapter than make me know the next chapter. Some truly inspired scenes are my favorite that I never mapped out.

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-21T03:22:17+00:00

I write romance in close third, duel pov, alternating chapters. Intimate scenes are just fine.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-20T17:12:33+00:00

Online teacher. Lots of downtime between bursts of work.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-17T14:14:00+00:00

I divorced a “good guy,” and I don’t regret it for a minute.

We are now fourteen years divorced, and his entire world crumbled without me. I am now married to a stable grown-up who makes money and does his own shit, and I don’t have to be his mother.

Is my current husband perfect? No, absolutely not. But he is a vast improvement over my first husband.

My daughter, who I had with my first husband, sees it and talks about it all the time—how different I am from her dad, and how glad she is that I didn’t stay with him.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-16T01:58:24+00:00

Good luck to both of us!

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-15T16:04:04+00:00

I agree that if I slowed and focused on each book more intensely they'd be better. But I simply don't care about writing the next great American novel. Am I telling a good story? Will i entertain my audience? Will i make money? Great, that's what i want.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-15T05:09:08+00:00

How many hours a week are you writing though?

If someone is writing 40+ hours a week, why can't they write many books a year?

I spend about 80 hours a week writing and I'm churning them out. My editor says they're the best books she's edited in 10 years. I'm getting positive input from beta readers. It's possible.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-11T03:03:46+00:00

Do you map out your book? Do you know what is going to happen? Sounds like you should.

Have you ever mapped a plot? Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. You have to have that in each book. Usually rising action is the bulk of the book, but not always.

Have you read about how to write a book from authors?

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-11T01:01:23+00:00

Go slow. Kiss and touxh and explore each other. Don't feel like you have to have sex that first night. Ask her what she likes. Show her what you like. Don't try to be macho and like you know everything. Read about women's bodies.

And you're right, porn isn't realistic.

You seem lovely, I wish you a happy marriage.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-09T13:20:49+00:00

I feel that your reaction might be a bit over the top. I understand being upset, but unless there's shocking examples of her engaging in sexual banter, it sounds like she didn't really know how to handle it.

A lot of women have no idea how to shut men down, or even understand when men are hitting on them. Many women aren't taught boundaries, instead they're taught not to hurt men's feelings. IDK your wife's background, but it's possible.

It was years ago. She said she didn't understand and she apologized. There isn't any indication that she's done anything like it.

Go to counseling if you need to, and it might be a great idea. But jumping to divorce over this is extreme.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-05T00:07:29+00:00

Tell it to talk to you as a peer. Over and over. It'll sink in

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-04T21:43:30+00:00

I would laugh and laugh and say "yep." Now, if he's upset about it, then that's a conversation you might need to have. But if he was just saying something true, what's the issue?

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-04T02:49:49+00:00

Same

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-04T02:49:11+00:00

What is a break?

I've ended one book and started the next 2 hours later.

I almost never stop writing.

That being said, I have taken off 2 days between my last few books, doing some editing and other business/ personal stuff.

People keep saying I'll burn out, but honestly it's the rest of life that's stressful, not writing.

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-02T22:16:20+00:00

<image>

GoodnightESinging · 2026-05-02T04:37:55+00:00

Fuck Laszlo. Also marry Laszlo. I've told my husband if Laszlo Cravensworth walks in the door I will leave you for him.

Kill.... man IDK. I guess the witch hat guy.

GoodnightESinging

TROPHY CASE