Today I’m answering two questions from long-time writer Diana Rubino on Victoria’s Advice Column:
1) “I’m reading Art & Craft of Writing Stories, in which you say, ‘the protagonist must have two mutually-exclusive needs.’ I’ve learned that the protag must have a need, a goal, and that has to be thwarted, over and over. But I’ve never heard this before. Does having two needs give the story or protag more depth? Are the two needs external one and internal to parallel the ext. and int. conflicts?” Read more. . .
2) “You say in Art & Craft of Writing Stories, ‘What do you suppose happened here? How could these needs have led somewhere else? How could my char have responded to their problems differently, given their fundamental driving forces?’ However, after the story’s been outlined and plotted, we know our protag inside out, so why add a something else? Wouldn’t that be another story altogether?” Read more. . .
These are both excellent questions, so I’m glad Diana asked them!
Come on over to the Advice Column today and learn the answers here and here.