Shruti Joshi's Blog
October 7, 2022
Writing a strong headed Protagonist
Who is a Protagonist? Or more aptly, who are we referring to as a Protagonist over here?
>> A protagonist here is one of the main characters of your story. He/She/It is ideally the character whose journey you want to narrate through the means of your story. Now, a story can have more than one protagonist but it is not advisable. Having multiple protagonists might confuse the readers or you may miss out on developing one story arc.
What do we mean by having one Protagonist?
>> As mentioned above, a story can have more than one main character, who are all crucial to the story. However, it is highly advised that invest more into one character. As an author when you invest into a character, the audience connects with it. For instance, while all characters are going through a turmoil, the readers want to know how one specific character reacts to his/her/its life situations.
Usually the protagonist (in the post’s context), is the most unusual character i.e. he/she/it has interesting responses or/and he/she/it has the most interesting character arc.
For instance, I am working on a story about a child growing with an obsession. The story is being narrated by his mother. While this story is about the child and focuses deeply on his growth and development, it is the mother whom I would term as the Protagonist. As her son grows, she grows with him. There are constant references to the changes in her life as the changes came into her son’s life. When her son is upset, she is miserable. When her son achieves something, she is beyond joy.
The term – Strong Headed
Having cleared that, let us now understand the idea of a ‘strong headed’ Protagonist.
By ‘strong headed’, we mean that the character should have clear thoughts or opinions about certain things. Even if the character is a confused or a befuddled one, he/she/it should be clearly shown as such. They should also stick to their thoughts and opinions.
If the protagonist is going to be in situations and submit to others opinions or insights, the character will stop being interesting. It will be shadowed and overpowered.
An exception to this is where we have the Protagonist as someone who always lives in someone else’s shadows. This is an interesting premise in itself. However, it is also a tricky one to write. We can not always just say that my protagonist did this because the character asked him to. This will make all the text very bland. An interesting suggestion for such a situation is to write why the protagonist relates to the character and his/her/its take on every opinion of the other character. It could be that the other character does not like veggies and eats them as soon as they are served, so he can enjoy the rest of his/her/its meal. Our Protagonist perceives this differently. He/She/It thinks that the character loves veggies and serves them more. Or that the character eats veggies, so let me eat them too.
Here again make sure that the way the Protagonist thinks – serves more veggies or eats more veggies – is what is important. We may or may not want to give why the character is eating veggies. Also, the protagonist’s take on things should be consistent. If he/she/it enjoys copying the character, he/she/it must do that in other situations as well.
What could we do with a strong headed Protagonist?
There are plenty of things we can do with a strong headed Protagonist.
We could simply put them in a testing situation and see how they fare.
We could put them in a testing situation and see their believes getting shattered. Here mostly they fail.
We could put them in a testing situation and see them move ahead using their believes and ace the situation.
We could put them in a testing situation and see them become stronger by modifying their believes as per the situation. Here even when their old believes did not work, they are strong in themselves and hence, adapt.
While all of the above are possible situations for a story, the first two are more suited for simple situations or scenes. The third and the fourth can also be turned into full novels.
In either of the cases, we will get a strong and interesting narrative. It will be like sitting inside the Protagonist’s head and hearing his/her/its thoughts as he/she/it hears them.
Writing a strong headed Protagonist
While the character of a strong headed Protagonist may sound interesting so far, it is equally (if not more) difficult to pen down. Having understood why a strong headed Protagonist is important, there might be challenges around writing one or portraying a character as one. A few tips that might help –
introduce his/her/its ideas and behaviorism in the beginning.
Introducing the ideas might not be enough. If some ideas are too strong or complex, we might want to show how the protagonist formed them. It might also help to show the protagonist using them through various minor scenes before he/she/it enters the main scene.
Using the above points, we could also show how their ideas have helped them so far and thus, the character has stuck with them.
Once your Protagonist enters the main scene, ensure you write around testing their beliefs.
The above were a few pointers for a Strong Headed Protagonist. We will be back
>> A protagonist here is one of the main characters of your story. He/She/It is ideally the character whose journey you want to narrate through the means of your story. Now, a story can have more than one protagonist but it is not advisable. Having multiple protagonists might confuse the readers or you may miss out on developing one story arc.
What do we mean by having one Protagonist?
>> As mentioned above, a story can have more than one main character, who are all crucial to the story. However, it is highly advised that invest more into one character. As an author when you invest into a character, the audience connects with it. For instance, while all characters are going through a turmoil, the readers want to know how one specific character reacts to his/her/its life situations.
Usually the protagonist (in the post’s context), is the most unusual character i.e. he/she/it has interesting responses or/and he/she/it has the most interesting character arc.
For instance, I am working on a story about a child growing with an obsession. The story is being narrated by his mother. While this story is about the child and focuses deeply on his growth and development, it is the mother whom I would term as the Protagonist. As her son grows, she grows with him. There are constant references to the changes in her life as the changes came into her son’s life. When her son is upset, she is miserable. When her son achieves something, she is beyond joy.
The term – Strong Headed
Having cleared that, let us now understand the idea of a ‘strong headed’ Protagonist.
By ‘strong headed’, we mean that the character should have clear thoughts or opinions about certain things. Even if the character is a confused or a befuddled one, he/she/it should be clearly shown as such. They should also stick to their thoughts and opinions.
If the protagonist is going to be in situations and submit to others opinions or insights, the character will stop being interesting. It will be shadowed and overpowered.
An exception to this is where we have the Protagonist as someone who always lives in someone else’s shadows. This is an interesting premise in itself. However, it is also a tricky one to write. We can not always just say that my protagonist did this because the character asked him to. This will make all the text very bland. An interesting suggestion for such a situation is to write why the protagonist relates to the character and his/her/its take on every opinion of the other character. It could be that the other character does not like veggies and eats them as soon as they are served, so he can enjoy the rest of his/her/its meal. Our Protagonist perceives this differently. He/She/It thinks that the character loves veggies and serves them more. Or that the character eats veggies, so let me eat them too.
Here again make sure that the way the Protagonist thinks – serves more veggies or eats more veggies – is what is important. We may or may not want to give why the character is eating veggies. Also, the protagonist’s take on things should be consistent. If he/she/it enjoys copying the character, he/she/it must do that in other situations as well.
What could we do with a strong headed Protagonist?
There are plenty of things we can do with a strong headed Protagonist.
We could simply put them in a testing situation and see how they fare.
We could put them in a testing situation and see their believes getting shattered. Here mostly they fail.
We could put them in a testing situation and see them move ahead using their believes and ace the situation.
We could put them in a testing situation and see them become stronger by modifying their believes as per the situation. Here even when their old believes did not work, they are strong in themselves and hence, adapt.
While all of the above are possible situations for a story, the first two are more suited for simple situations or scenes. The third and the fourth can also be turned into full novels.
In either of the cases, we will get a strong and interesting narrative. It will be like sitting inside the Protagonist’s head and hearing his/her/its thoughts as he/she/it hears them.
Writing a strong headed Protagonist
While the character of a strong headed Protagonist may sound interesting so far, it is equally (if not more) difficult to pen down. Having understood why a strong headed Protagonist is important, there might be challenges around writing one or portraying a character as one. A few tips that might help –
introduce his/her/its ideas and behaviorism in the beginning.
Introducing the ideas might not be enough. If some ideas are too strong or complex, we might want to show how the protagonist formed them. It might also help to show the protagonist using them through various minor scenes before he/she/it enters the main scene.
Using the above points, we could also show how their ideas have helped them so far and thus, the character has stuck with them.
Once your Protagonist enters the main scene, ensure you write around testing their beliefs.
The above were a few pointers for a Strong Headed Protagonist. We will be back
Short Story: Cat Scare
Why are cats associated with so many superstitions? Does a cat remember? Are cats harmful?
Check out my new short story 'Cat Scare' on my blog: https://theshrutifactor.in/?p=1098
#shortstory #cat #author #horrorgram #fiction #FictionFriday
Check out my new short story 'Cat Scare' on my blog: https://theshrutifactor.in/?p=1098
#shortstory #cat #author #horrorgram #fiction #FictionFriday
September 23, 2022
Publishing my stories makes me Proud!
When stories come from the heart
When every word on paper is written with love
When every sentence is mark of joy
It becomes impossible to describe the feeling, when you share!!
When we share our stories with the world, we are not just sharing words but we put in our emotions, thoughts, wisdom, and often a piece of ourselves.
The journey of starting with an idea to completing it, irrespective of the length of the project, is exuberating and extremely exhausting, both at the same time.
Yet once it is done, and you have words put on paper that you would like to share with the world, the wait to get the readers to pick up that book and read is, what I call, "The Proud Journey"!
It is that moment when someone picks up a piece of your heart, mind and soul and decides to add it to their own. There is no bigger joy than that.
Happy Reading!
When every word on paper is written with love
When every sentence is mark of joy
It becomes impossible to describe the feeling, when you share!!
When we share our stories with the world, we are not just sharing words but we put in our emotions, thoughts, wisdom, and often a piece of ourselves.
The journey of starting with an idea to completing it, irrespective of the length of the project, is exuberating and extremely exhausting, both at the same time.
Yet once it is done, and you have words put on paper that you would like to share with the world, the wait to get the readers to pick up that book and read is, what I call, "The Proud Journey"!
It is that moment when someone picks up a piece of your heart, mind and soul and decides to add it to their own. There is no bigger joy than that.
Happy Reading!
February 17, 2022
The difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction
As authors, we all try to pen down stories that can reach to each and every individual. The aim to always have stories which are easy to relate to. They should speak to us about people we can emotionally connect to. And I have read several amazing authors and have fallen in love with numerous beautifully sketched characters.
Yet, here I am today to tell you that there is a huge difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction.
Even when telling stories that come as close to life as possible, the focus is on one story at a time. The narration will follow a sequence of events to reach to a destination. However, that is not life. Life is messy. there are things that happen and other things will add up and further more things that were already pending.
Life is reading through several different books of different genres and by different authors, all at once!
While stories are amazing and I am all in support of several more stories, I would admit that I like the real deal better.
The books that I read helps me understand the different perspectives and life gives me opportunities to implement them.
The books give me a big wish list and life gives me a place to manifest and achieve all that!
I do enjoy my Non-Fictitious and messy life (I absolutely love it!). And exclusively for me, stories are a constant source of passion, expression, emotion, inspiration and several beautiful things without which my life would certainly become less interesting. In return, life is diligent enough to provide me with a lot more crazy experiences and stories to express and share.
One is not complete without the other and yet, we know they never co-exist.
Well, this is a little ode to my super crazy and messy life - I love you. You are adventurous, interesting, unpredictable and unfortunately sometimes cruel. But you are all mine. And so are my stories - which bring me adventure, excitement, happiness, suspense, trill, mystery and sometimes sadness. But they reach my heart and come right back from there :)
Wishing you a happy life ahead! Happy Reading!
Yet, here I am today to tell you that there is a huge difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction.
Even when telling stories that come as close to life as possible, the focus is on one story at a time. The narration will follow a sequence of events to reach to a destination. However, that is not life. Life is messy. there are things that happen and other things will add up and further more things that were already pending.
Life is reading through several different books of different genres and by different authors, all at once!
While stories are amazing and I am all in support of several more stories, I would admit that I like the real deal better.
The books that I read helps me understand the different perspectives and life gives me opportunities to implement them.
The books give me a big wish list and life gives me a place to manifest and achieve all that!
I do enjoy my Non-Fictitious and messy life (I absolutely love it!). And exclusively for me, stories are a constant source of passion, expression, emotion, inspiration and several beautiful things without which my life would certainly become less interesting. In return, life is diligent enough to provide me with a lot more crazy experiences and stories to express and share.
One is not complete without the other and yet, we know they never co-exist.
Well, this is a little ode to my super crazy and messy life - I love you. You are adventurous, interesting, unpredictable and unfortunately sometimes cruel. But you are all mine. And so are my stories - which bring me adventure, excitement, happiness, suspense, trill, mystery and sometimes sadness. But they reach my heart and come right back from there :)
Wishing you a happy life ahead! Happy Reading!
