[DIGEST] Home, work, and play

Hi friends,

I don’t talk about craft much, but there is one thing I learned as a screenwriter that I don’t ever see mentioned in writing prose.

If you want to get empathy for your main character, or yourself if you’re writing memoir, then you need to show them in three places.

Home, work, and play.

Three scenes as early in your piece as possible where they interact with people in those three ways and you’ll magically have empathy for any character.

If you want to go deeper, then these scenes should additionally show how the protagonist and antagonist are mirror images of each other. We do this by showing the protagonist “save the cat” and the antagonist “kick the puppy”.

Very early in your piece, readers need to see your protagonist risk themselves to save somebody less fortunate than themselves, thus “saving the cat” if we want the audience to bond with them quickly.

Conversely, we need to watch the antagonist, given the same choice, “kick the puppy”, or add unnecessary cruelty in a similar situation if we want them to root against them.

You might not have the ability to show the antagonist in these three scenes, and that’s okay, but you should certainly consider giving your protagonist a “save the cat” moment in your opening pages.

Characters cannot stay neutral in these situations because conflict unveils characters. If you can show a character at work, at play, and at home, then layer on having them “save the cat” you’re readers will fall in love with your protagonist.

If you want to share how you are doing this week, then there are two ways to interact with this post.

1 - If you don’t want to say anything, or bristle at identifying yourself, then you can reply with this nifty poll.

2 - If you’re feeling very brave, then reply below and tell us how you are doing right now on a scale from 1-5.

NSFW KICKSTARTER IS LIVE: We recently launched the Kickstarter for my first NSFW comic, Death’s Kiss, with our publisher Laguna Studios!

She was born of death, and it was only through death that she could survive. As the last of her kind, she was forced to walk the shadows of the world, stepping into the light only when she must claim a new soul.

It was a simple existence, yet she never wanted more. Until she saw him, and somehow he saw her too. The impossibility of their connection drew her closer, and soon she found herself wishing she was more than just a waif condemned to live apart from humanity.

For centuries she merely existed, but now she longed to live. Can she escape what she was to find who she's truly meant to be?

WHAT WE WROTE ON SUBSTACK: This week, I showed you the evolution path for each Author Ecosystem.

Plus, differentiates between the Damsel movie and book adaptations and shows us how to create accessible content. 

Additionally, interviews me about being a year 41 human and a year 23(ish) writer.

A new chapter of Magic also dropped this week.

All chapters of The Godsverse Chronicles are now free for all subscribers. You can read the whole series from the beginning right here.

You still only get access to a bunch of free books and stories from my back catalog by becoming a paid member. You can start your membership with a 7-day free trial.

JOIN US FOR A FREE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: Do you have FOMO from missing our Future of Publishing Mastermind? Then I have good news. You can join us virtually from May 22-24 for free and relive the experience with us.

We’ll have tons of speakers talking about how to take advantage of the future of publishing…starting now.

If you want to know where the publishing industry is going in the next 3-5 years, and how to take advantage of it NOW, then The Future of Publishing Virtual Summit is perfect for you.

This is an event curated for forward-thinking, self-starters who want to be at the leading edge of the publishing industry for years to come. Publishing is shifting faster than ever. Do you want to help chart where it's going? 

UPCOMING ARTICLE: Next week, I talk about planned serendipity.

ROUNDUP: Here are some of my favorite articles of the week.

Business-y:

• boxes with “lobster slots”, reveals the one thing that keeps artists from selling, and & make millions from nothing.

• learns the importance of story from the Women’s NCAA Final Four, is going to explode, and tries to forecast through international chaos.

• finds strength in vulnerability, parses out what you can and can’t do to make sales, and lets the burnout recovery, stress management, and therapy work click into gear.

• feels important during their time at McKinsey, sits on both sides of layoffs, sharpens their mental model over time.

• uses humor for growth, uses a naming strategy effectively, and demonstrates how Forest Essentials sells ₹8,000 face cream.

• changes their motivation when working remotely, connects the missing link between PLG and SLG, and stacks the pyramid principle.

Publishing-like:

• tracks forged Cormac McCarthy books around the world, banks a Big 5 book deal, exposes the magic potion deception, and plots how many Amazon sales it takes to hit the bestseller list.

• writes about what to write about when you have nothing to write about while, , & watch the creator economy eat creative acts.

• distributes the most misunderstood concept in publishing, outlines the unique publishing model of Hunterbrook, and realizes it’s time for a change.

• hunger for the insatiability of recipe writing, learns everything they know about creativity from Taskmaster, and breaks down the second most important part of a blog post.

• & beat the odds, spends the currency of the creator economy, and discusses the shuttering of SPD.

• tracks the rise and fall of The Village Voice, philosophizes about what it means to be an artist, and supports the number one way to support a new book.

Subastack-esque:

• maybe doesn’t need more subscribers, doubles their subscribers during their first year on Substack, finishes a season of tending, and stays sane on Substack.

• builds the next generation of media brands on Substack, quotes from 10 Substackers on how mental health impacts the creative process, and explains how reader analytics could increase engagement on Substack.

• considers enabling paid subscriptions, practices Substack patience, and breaks down what they’ve learned from two years on Substack.

Culture-ish:

• follows the path of totality, doesn’t want to be that annoying neighbor on Nextdoor, and reviews booking hellscapes.

• sums up what happens when going bad goes bad, spells out the word they would most like to erase from the English language, and buckles up and forecasts trends.

• compares the stinking rich to an average Joe, takes on disability, dating, and the problem with men, and explores the green teen babysitting crisis.

• eyeballs the disappearing Insta grid, wonders what’s up with women and true crime, and is anything but laissez-faire about Thomas Jefferson and the Meaning of Self-Government.

• analyzes when we stop finding new music, detaches from being anxiously attached, and hinges on the unhinged IQ discourse.

• reasons out why winter precedes spring, tries to pass for upper class, and leaves the pram outside to bet on hope.

Lifestyle-oid:

• sees through the mirage of happiness, deals with trama drama, envies well, and knows there is no dam way you could ever match their dam skills.

• diaries a day in the life of a bookshop, hangs out at an asparagus festival, and finds the mercy in our humanity.

• doesn’t care if you have debt, saves their body from being a worn out, middle-aged sack of crap, and learns unexpected lessons from a geisha house.

• spends 366 days in Portugal, has a total eclipse of the heart, and gradually makes a mindful change.

• fixes their rage, is scared of falling asleep, and dances the tricky choreography of help.

Find anything you loved enough to swoon over or hated enough to make your blood boil? Let me know.

If you like what I’m doing around here and want to check out the archives, you can do that with a 7-day free trial, or simply go straight to being a paid subscriber. You also get access to my YA fantasy novel, The Void Calls Us Home.

Rebecca never thought she was suicidal. However, that didn’t stop her from jerking her car off the side of the road last night.

Everybody thinks she swerved to hit a deer, but she knows the truth. She did it because a giant flaming being called from the void and beckoned to her to join it in the darkness.

Was it a manifestation of her unconscious desire to die? Could the being really exist? Did it have anything to do with her sister’s suicide just a year before?

When Rebecca starts seeing the creature every time she closes her eyes, she has no choice but to find out the truth before it drives her mad.

If you like H.P. Lovecraft, psychological horror, coming of age stories, or deep explorations of grief, loss, death, and junk, then you'll love this world.

Paid members can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with 650+ exclusive interviews, courses, articles, and more.

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