Never Say You Can't Survive by Charlie Jane Anders

Author:Charlie Jane Anders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Desire is complicated and messy, and that’s why it’s so great

All storytelling comes down to conflict, one way or another. You and I both want to be Homecoming Queen, but only one of us can wear the crown. I very much do not want to be Homecoming Queen, but winning the crown is the only way to save the school from falling into a radioactive chasm. I want to be Homecoming Queen, but my death-cult-priestess mother believes that such celebrations are vain and idolatrous, and has forbidden me from participating.

There are always going to be other people who don’t want us to achieve our goals. Desire is constantly at war with fear and guilt in most people. And life is full of situations where we have to choose between two mutually exclusive goals—like going to college, versus going on tour with your neo-skiffle band.

Like Faulkner said, good storytelling is all about aortic civil wars.

I’m all in for characters who feel guilty for their desires. I’m also a fan of characters who know that their passions are selfish and wrong, but they just don’t freaking care. And characters who chase something they’ve been taught is immoral have my axe every time—like Yetu, the hero of Rivers Solomon’s excellent The Deep, who defies tradition and flees from her appointed role as the keeper of her people’s worst memories.

Years of storytelling have conditioned us to expect heroes to suffer or cause misery when they run toward their goals—especially if they’ve defied convention, their friends’ wishes, or their own hang-ups in the process. And this can be a great source of character growth (again, see Wreck-It Ralph, which really is a masterclass in motivation and transformation).

FOUR QUESTIONS TO KEEP ASKING

Your characters shouldn’t just have hopes and wishes—they should also have strong feelings about their situation. So here are four questions I keep asking about my characters:

How do they feel about their situation?

What do they do about that feeling?

What result does their action have?

How do they feel about this new situation?

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