Nobody Likes Happy People

As we prepare to close out 2025, I am sure that more than a few of my readers will be doing so at some sort of gathering - public or private - with a bunch of people, most of whom they don't really know and probably will not see again in the New Year. There will be a wide variety of people in attendance, all there to have a good time, celebrate the New Year, maybe have an adult beverage or two, and just let go for a little bit. This is a great opportunity as a writer to gather information, to people-watch, to note curious little habits they might have. However, chances are these people will not make very interesting characters. Why? At least during this event, they're just too happy.

Intuitively, happiness would seem like a good thing to pursue, and that's not in question. Given the choice, I would prefer happiness over non-happiness 10 times out of 10. Furthermore, I would wish such happiness upon anyone I ever met or will meet, because it is generally a good state of existence. However, I would let all those people be happy on their own, and instead I would pay attention to the people dealing with issues or trying to manage dilemmas. They are usually not happy; all the better, because now they are interesting.

Here are the main reasons we should avoid happy people as our main characters. First and foremost, the main elements of writing any story - from short story to epic series - are conflict, tension, and suspense, and those ideas just don't fit too well with very happy people. A person who is well-adjusted and balanced in their mood so they can happily manage their life is difficult to place into a state of internal conflict. A character who is conflicted doesn't necessarily know what is best for them, or thinks they do but cannot understand why this doesn't fit in with how their world is shaking out. People who are unhappy have minds full of unanswered question, lingering doubts, and conflicting values, all of which make them ripe for conflict. 

The other problem is that readers can't exactly relate to the very-happy-always-smiling person. People like that trigger suspicions, doubts, and that nagging sensation that Mr. Happy-go-Lucky must be hiding something. When you reader doesn't buy in to your character as presented, you immediately have a problem. Self-help books discovered this early on. When people who are now genuinely happy want to show others how to achieve that life, do they offer a bunch of examples of being happy? Never! Instead, they put a bunch of stories of dysfunction out there, then resolve them one-by-one. They draw a crowd by showing an unhappy person that the audience can connect with.

Now, my advice in life is to always try to be happier than you were yesterday. However, as a writer, my advice is to keep an eye out for massive dysfunction, and study it like a textbook. Look at all the ways problems fester, examine how simple activities become complicated. Study their problems, because these things are what we all carry inside, and they are when readers can relate to. I know I sure can.

Happy New Year, and my next post will be January 5th, 2026.     

Feeling Like A Writer

"There is no better feeling than walking down the stairs after having done a couple of hours of writing. And there is no worse feeling than going up those stairs to do a couple hours of writing."

Normally I don't do a blog entry immediately after Christmas, instead choosing to rest and relax a little extra before jumping back into my writing shoes. However, I heard that quote above in an interview and it just got the wheels turning, so I had to at least post a little entry about it and how I feel about the physical process of going forth and writing.

I think a lot of people outside the writer's circle just assume we are these eternally creative creatures who can just sit down and generate written-word brilliance, and often do so just for the sake of doing. I also think that same category of people thinks bankers spend every waking hour counting money and scientists constantly pour stuff into test tubes. You and I, however, know a large part of writing is not about writing but about being creative in our existence, and the time we spend in front of a keyboard is limited. (Note: There are a subset of writers who can spend eight hours a day typing away, and I respect that - it's just not the baseline.) 

Rather, I like to remind writers that any task we do in life may, at times, feel like drudgery. Enjoying a nice walk outside can be wonderful, but sometimes we just aren't in a place to put on both shoes and head to the park. It's even more so with vigorous endeavors like writing. When we create, we do a lot of mental gymnastic that take up energy and bring us a certain amount of exhaustion. The end result is often worth it, an no complaints about the endorphins, but let's just acknowledge that it's hard to get excited about that rush of accomplishment when we are stuck on the front end of a big task.

As I head into my next calendar year, I plan on a few things. I want to get my next book, "Easier Than the Truth," out there - I am hoping the workshopping will done by spring. I am also hoping to get my next work, "Gods of the Gaps," into the rough draft stage. However, those tasks will both require several occasions where I have to face the drudgery of going up those steps to do my writing (metaphorically - my house is a ranch-style). I just remind myself that if I want to reach those goals of publication and completion, there will be that difficult part in between. And for now , that's okay.

I will be putting up a post on December 29th, but I will definitely not be posting on January 2nd because hangovers take time to get rid of. Until then, prepare for the drudgery of a new day, because it's worth it.     

High-Stakes Writing

With the Powerball lottery now up to like a bajillion dollars (half a bajillion after taxes), most people who don't have that kind of money have occasionally entertained the thought, "What would I do with that kind of cash?" This is always a fun flight of fancy, and we go over the usual things - big house, give to charities, pay off friends' debts, etc. This is something everyone can relate to, but would it make an interesting story? Chances are it would not - at least not in this form. The reason is pretty simple, but perhaps not obvious.

When me and my friends were teenagers, some of us would write stories involving someone who was given great powers - money, strength, whatever - and they would go and right the wrongs of the world. They'd face a lot of adversities, and ultimately triumph. It was excellent writing practice, and even provided a challenge to new writers. However, these stories, at their core, were weak (or at least mine were). They had the hero, the obstacle, the conflict, the conclusion - what more could you want in a story, right? Well, if you haven't figured it out, there was one thing missing - the stakes at hand.

In our story of someone winning the lottery, following their madcap adventures as they spend all that cash might be fun but it's kind of empty at the end. Where a story takes flight is when the writer shows what's at stake for the main character. The character should have to make choices and face consequences for those decisions. Win the lottery? Interesting premise - but now highlight the challenges that bajillionaire must face: Do they go public? If so, what complications arise from their newfound public persona? If they want to keep it on the DL, how do they do the things they really want? Do they trust an inner circle to know this secret? How many friends hit him up for cash, or assume they'll be taken care of? What strains are placed on those friendships now that money is flooding the scene?

It might sound like raising the stakes in these stories makes things unnecessarily complicated. Why can't a person just get a big pile of money and be happy? Well, they can, but it doesn't make very gripping reading. A reader will get involved with the character when they see them making decisions - perhaps even forced to do so - that have severe consequences regardless of whether they choose the right thing. The reader might ask themselves what they would do in that situation, or what anyone would do, and compare the character's choices and outcomes to how they feel life works. There should be a constant sense of engagement between character and reader through this decision process, and it gets better the more the writer raises the stakes. 

Now sometimes, we just like to play around with an idea and write it down for fun. That's fine - go at it. But when a writer approaches an audience with an idea, make sure the reader gets invested in its progress and outcome. Raise the stakes as the reader works through the piece, and they'll stay in the game until the last page.

Now I am off to buy a Powerball ticket. I do not yet have a bajillion dollars, so this would be a great way to get it (half a bajillion after taxes).     

What I Need From an Editor (and why)

As I go through my daily routine of examining writer pages and writing community chats, I often come across a discussion about whether it's really important to have an editor. I have heard people claim they're good enough to be their own editor, that editors are too expensive for what they do, and that editors are just writers who never got published. Now I shouldn't be surprised that somewhere on the internet, people have strong opinions. However, it seems like a lot of these people are launching their tirade from a position of either a big ego, a bad experience, or general frustration. Therefore, I thought I would offer a little input into the editor discussion. Most importantly, I want to offer up what your expectations should be.

Let's start with what kind of editor you should look into. The main categories are: development, content, and line editing. A development editor works from the broadest view, helping with story arc, character presentation, dramatic build, etc. A content editor narrows this perspective, looking at the presentation of the material, making sure it flows okay, and offering advice from an objective reader point of view. And of course, the line editor (copy editor) gets your spelling and grammar polished, undangles your participles, puts your split infinitives back together, and is consistent with the Oxford comma. Development and content editing sometimes overlap, and line editing can overlap with content. However, know which one you want or need before you go editor shopping - this will come in handy later.

If you want to work with a development editor, then have a completed draft and be prepared to hear about how your world sounds to the outsider. Your storyland might seem great to you, but that development editor is seeing it with fresh eyes, and the two of you should have some long talks on how the world reads. It is not the job of the development editor to tell you where your world is wrong (because it's not wrong - it's yours), but if they do not understand what you are saying in your story and you need to explain a lot of things, it's a sure sign that your manuscript is not communicating what you thought you created. A development editor should be able to tell you about how they see the characters, setting, themes that resonated, and plot progression. If they can't tell you these things, or what they say doesn't match what you intended, you need to engage in a dialogue that sounds something like, "Well, I was trying to make the character more sympathetic - how would I remedy this?" The development editor should be able to help you bring out the story elements you are looking to showcase, but it can be taxing and at times discouraging. However, it is worth it.

A content editor's job is a little more clean and straightforward - narrowing their observations to make sure it reads cleanly, to offer some consistency, and communicate how well it flows in general. If your content editor suggests how you could make it better through changing the plot or characters, smile and tell them to write their own damn book (but politely). Their job is to take the content as presented and streamline it. Any observations they have should be framed as personal observations, not editorial truths.

And then comes the poor line editor. This editor is actually the most important yet the most overlooked. Everyone who has written a major product often thinks they know it well enough to have caught all the spelling errors and fixed all the stupid things. For the most part, they are wrong. And the critical part of this process is that spelling errors (which are often not caught by a spellchecker) make you look bad as an author. Your story is your brainchild, but a spelling error or bad grammar in the first few pages will turn off a reader faster than any other error and nobody will read your story. Line editors might cost a bit (a 100,000-word manuscript should run about $500 for line editing), but they are the protector of your brand. Choose them wisely.

Lastly, one thing all editors should all have is references. Ask for references from anyone you are considering hiring, and follow up on those to find out how things worked out. Plenty of people say they can edit things, but the proof is looking over their work, or as a proxy, finding out from others what the experience was like working with them. And if there are no references available, well, step forward at your own risk.

If you want to march forth without an editor, well, that's your call. However, take this word from an insider. When I talk with my writer friends about publishing and so forth, a part of the conversation always involves sharing the horror stories we have encountered from people selling their product and proudly boasting, "I edited it myself." Most of the time, these are nothing to boast about. 

           

Origin Stories

Did you ever sit back and think about how much can be explained by an engaging origin story? Even though it covers the events of a distant and heretofore unknown past, the origin story seems to have the ability to define the present in sharp, vivid contrast. A set of events happen a number of years ago, and they seem to change the entire story. Sometimes, the most important part of any story is to first have a good, deep understanding of the origin story, and let that be a guiding light for the continuing process.

Actually, I should acknowledge this - I mean the origin story of the author.

Yes, the author. No matter how much you might have been thinking about Peter Parker becoming Spiderman or the mysterious origin of the Man in Black in... well, a lot of stories, though I was thinking of The Stand, there is something very important about the author knowing a few secrets about their own background, and what driving forces brought them to create their story.

Now, I am sure there are writers out there who feel very good about knowing their personal background and what makes them comfortable about their past. To them I would say, "But... do you?" I had a very enjoyable conversation with a bunch of others the other day, and we discussed story, character - the usual author stuff - and it eventually led to what drove us to write our first novels (or the first major work of our writing era). To nobody's surprise, the thing that usually kicked in with the author is when they had some sort of personal awakening or catharsis, and realized something about themselves that had been holding them back. Whether it was childhood trauma, some random event in college, or finally accepting some larger truth about themselves, they all had a moment where they came face-to-face with the part of their origin story that was important.

Here's an experiment: Let's look at our aforementioned Peter Parker, aka Spiderman. We know the part of his origin story - bitten by a radioactive spider - that made him Spiderman, but we learn other truths about how he came to realize that with power came responsibility. We learn his origin story, and see how it shaped him.

Now here's the other part of the experiment. Imagine you know Peter in high school, but not all the spider crap. You might actually think about him more along the lines of, "Hey, didn't his parents both die? Why are his aunt and uncle so very, very old?" Those might seen like the factors most likely to be the plot-shapers for the teenage Peter Parker, and you would interpret him that way - and it wouldn't entirely add up. Peter would seem like a very confusing kid to you, and you might not get to know or understand him very well. If you learn the whole origin story, however, like MJ did, then he magically makes sense.

Your job as an author is, first and foremost, to write. However, now and then take a little time to ask yourself what is inspiring these stories you want to create. Look inside yourself and search for those weird little things that might trigger such inspiration. If you find those things, inspect them - they are, in the long run, your friends because they are the things that inspire your writing. And, in the end, you might have a better origin story than being bitten by a radioactive spider (even though I would take Spiderman's powers any day).     

Writing - Goals, Dreams, Fantasies

When I started off on my writing journey, I did not have goals or dreams, and I hadn't fantasized about where this might take me. All it amounted to was me committing some stories to paper and seeing how I felt about it. I merely had a mission: to write. Once a few people looked at my writing (and after they pointed out the wealth of mistakes), a few acknowledged that it was "better than half the crap out there." That is what it ultimately took for me to take things a step further and designate myself as a "writer." And by doing that, I started having fantasies, building dreams, and setting goals. It took me a lot longer to realize which of my thoughts went into which category. So, on that note, let's discuss.

Goals: A goal is any part of the writing process you target, anything you hope to do. The important part in discerning what a good goal is usually falls under the concept of control. "Getting published" is a lousy goal because you don't have any control over what the publishers produce. You can write the best novel in the world, but without a good agent it won't go far, and that's not your fault. Keep your goals fully under your control. "I will write a short story this month," "I shall finish the first draft of my novel in a year," "I shall search for a development editor to help me better craft a story." These are all goals that a writer can achieve, and as we accomplish them, we entrench ourselves within the idea that we are writers.

Dreams: Before I get into this, something can be a dream yet be very achievable. As opposed to my late-night dreams where I am flying through my old high school, which now has ten stories for some reason and is continuously on fire, a writer's dreams should be aspirational in nature, and focus on those targets that require something more than just doing it. Getting your story in print or winning a writing contest qualify as dreams - you have a degree of control over them, but some external force will validate your writing as well. Dreams only have to be possible to qualify, but keep a realistic framework around them. Not every local anthology will accept your story for publication, you can't win every contest. Furthermore, in the beginning, you will get a lot of rejections and not win contests - that's fine, as long as you recognize you are pursuing your dreams. After that, it's all about finding ways to further yourself toward achieving that dream.

Fantasies: These are the things that likely won't happen because they rarely happen to anyone (though are very possible). Becoming the next Stephen King or Anne Rice is highly unlikely. Signing a two-book deal with a major publishing house after your first book becomes a bestseller - very doubtful. Netflix picking up the option on the screen rights to your work - probably not going to happen. However, it has happened, and in theory could happen again. These fantasies are important because they serve one pretty cool purpose: As long as you write, they are possible. As long as you diligently type, there is a chance of that multi-book contract. Once you stop - fantasies vanish, and nobody wants that.

Keep a list of your set of goals somewhere by your writing area, and look at it every day to remind yourself you are a writer. Give yourself a minute to think about what it will be like if one of your dreams comes true (except for that burning high school thing), and let that feeling move you. And as you progress, always tap yourself on the shoulder as a reminder that fantasies do come true.     

Stories Need Their Obstacles

After a quiet, snow-filled Thanksgiving weekend, I reentered the world a little worn down and more than likely with some kind of bug. This is not how I wanted to start off my December, but let's be honest: what we want and what we get are rarely the same thing. However, when life gives you lemons... fall on a cliché. So I am going to offer a few notes on why we need our stories to have obstacles.

If I read a biography of, say, President Lincoln, and it covers the Civil War era, I know how it's going to end. If I watch a movie about someone famous, I kind of know they are going to succeed. This is an inherent problem with a lot of stories - there is a baked-in knowledge that the person makes it through. And if the main character is guaranteed to survive and make it to the end, what's the point? Well, that part is where the author has to really work their craft. In a well-written book about, say, Lincoln and the Civil War, the problems and setbacks should be showcased in a way that actually makes me think, "Oh no! They might lose the Battle of Gettysburg! How will the Union survive?" The adversity should become as real to the reader as it was to the Union Army. 

In case you are thinking, "Well, the story I am writing is good on its own; it doesn't need me to showcase the problems," you might want to reconsider. One thing about a character facing problems is that the reader gets to see how that character thinks, feels, and operates when confronting adversity. It is a great chance to invite the reader into the character's head and know them very intimately from their worst possible position. If I read about a character pursuing a goal and the obstacles just seem to rise then fall, why am I concerned about this character? Where is my investment in them? If I feel like everything is a foregone conclusion, then why am I reading this story?

The other part to remember is that obstacles and setbacks shape who the character will be when they reach the end of the story (I won't use the Lincoln metaphor this time for obvious reasons). If my goal is to write about a character's rise to power, and in the end they achieve power, that's great. However, the unknowns the reader will discover are things like how the journey changed the character, what they gained and what they lost, and who they ultimately became. If our character reaches the pinnacle of power but loses their attachment to people, or the journey corrupted them, or they are awash in regret, well, that's a big reveal for the reader to discover. 

Don't be afraid to put your character through trials and tribulations - they help the story and you can make sure the character makes it through. And, if your story is based on real-life events, dig into those events to turn them into things the reader experiences in their own way. Because even if the reader knows the story will end with a bad night at the theater, they will feel like they participated in the story.