Who Are You?

Image by Lisa Runnels

I am constantly working to improve my craft, spending hours reading books and listening to classes and podcasts on storytelling (and everything that involves publishing). Although, I admit that, due to my short attention span (I spend all my "concentration units" on actually writing, and the day job), I'm pretty far behind... 😋

Anywho, I've been working on two projects at the same time (technically three if you count the Arthur-based short story I'm also writing to give out via my newsletter), the writing of the Morgana Trilogy prequel, and the planning of my next book (hint: it's another fantasy story! ^^).

And, while doing so, I'd fallen on a video chat between authors Veronica Roth and Seanan McGuire about planning a series, where they mention at some point the book Story Genius (even swearing by it).

So, of course, I just had to get my hands on it! And immediately used it to plan my next book, as well as to make notes for my revision of the Morgana Trilogy prequel.

Because what's really intriguing about Story Genius, is that it doesn't focus on the what (what happens when to keep things exciting--more explosions and gore everyone!), but on the Who. Because only by knowing who the hero(ine) is, can one truly feel and root for him (her).

This has really turned into a fascinating exercise for me, because we're talking about discovering who your protag is truly--what drives him to act/think the way he does? What caused her to think that way in the first place (the origin of the protag's misbelief that shattered her previous world vision and makes her react the way she does now).

By following the exercises in the book, I've gotten to truly delve into my main characters' pasts and understand, in detail, what shattering moment affected them, and is still coloring everything they do now. And I'm still not even 50% of the way through!

Image by Alexandra Haynak

I'm even more amazed at this, because to be quite frank, I've never been very good at expressing my feelings, whether vocally or on paper (even when through my own characters). It's like every time that I try to, there's this rock blocking my airway, and I have to push painfully past it to do so (psychological aside, I wonder if this isn't because I have a hard time explaining why I feel the way I do...or why my characters do).

But by following the process in Story Genius, I'm actually being gently pushed into discovering my protagonists' inner depths, which, incidentally, also means I'm finding new scenes to incorporate into my story.

I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest of Story Genius and discovering more of my main characters this way!