If your plan is to get readers excited and emotionally sucked into your novel, you must make sure your main character isn't REACTING to a situation or problem, but that he is TAKING ACTION to resolve the situation or problem. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Take The Princess Bride, for example... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What if Westley decided that since Prince Humperdinck was already engaged to Princess Buttercup, he shouldn't get in the way of their impending marriage, and so he sails away with Fezzik and Inigo Montoya? Or what if he simply slipped Fezzik a twenty and asked him to save the princess? Well, Westley would no longer be the active hero. He would be a boring, passive character, observing the true action. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What actually happens in the greatest story ever told in the history of great stories? Well, Westley knows that Princess Buttercup is HIS girl, even if she is engaged, so he does something about it, refusing to allow her to remain in the arms of the inconceivably wretched Prince Humperdinck. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Westley deserves her. He fetched her a pitcher, for God's sake! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Because Westley reacted to the obstacles thrown in his way, he becomes the active character doing everything in his power to rescue the beautiful blonde with the "perfect br*****." (He said it, not me.) (Facebook made me censor it.) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Remember: It's not about what happens TO your character; it's about the ACTIONS he takes to resolve the problem. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Sarah Flores, Book Editor Write Down the Line, LLC ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #activecharacters #writingcommunity #writingtips #writingtip #theprincessbride https://www.instagram.com/p/BzubWEqp-1X/?igshid=t0592rsaslng
