Reaching story goals

Sorry for the hiatus, everyone. If my last blog post didn’t give any clues, I’ve been rather busy lately! But it’s now time to get back to it – write a blog post, give a few shout-outs to my first books, and start the next one.

That’s the plan, anyway. It just doesn’t always work the way we expect.

Along similar lines, I’ve been thinking more about what keeps us interested in a novel, and inevitably arrived at the idea of control. Or the lack thereof. The very thing that keeps us hooked as readers is the hope of a strong emotional experience as our beloved characters strive and struggle to regain control of a situation. At least for a little while.

However, when we face similar struggles in real life, it’s not much fun, right? We think we have some sort of control over life in general, but do we really? In fact, if we attempt to keep control, we are quietly labelled as control freaks. And let’s be honest, there is little point. Whatever will happen, will.

Then again, if we don’t experience things first-hand – the things that turn our lives a little upside down – we as writers wouldn’t have much to write about either, would we? And doesn’t it also provide us with a more profound sense of empathy for the protagonists in our writing we come to love, as we expect others to love as well?

One thing is certain, especially in my novels. As much as what my protagonists will struggle to remain on track to meet their expected story goals, they’re almost certainly going to reach it.

And who’s to say we won’t reach our ‘story goals’ too, in real life?