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Terminal/Chronically Ill Characters in Literature & Media (A Writer/Survivor’s Perspective)

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As someone who has struggled with chronic health issues and has also lost friends and family to variations of the same condition I was born with, characters that are like me and my loved ones, and relationships similar to those I had with the people I’ve lost are something that I naturally gravitate towards and pay particular attention to. However, I find that it’s so rarely done well… so let’s talk about it. For the structure of this post I’m going to be talking about 4 examples, two bad examples, and why they’re so flawed, and two good examples and what they got right that the others didn’t. For some reason, a lot of writers seem to find it difficult to pull off a (main or important) character with a chronic or terminal illness, especially when that character has some kind of relationship with a character who is either healthy or somehow medically better off.Usually, what we get are things like Me before You (I apologize right now to anyone who enjoyed that book/movie but I really di
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Get Your Characters Invested, Keep Your Readers Invested

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This is something that was brought to my attention through beta reading and having my most recent story beta read. If you want the audience to connect with your characters and be emotionally invested in the story, the characters themselves have to be emotionally invested in the situation in which they find themselves. If the story lacks this emotional component the story falls flat and your characters feel robotic.  We’ve all heard the expression, ‘show don’t tell’ so you might be thinking that this gets communicated by the characters’ actions; and you’d be right, it does. However, not only by their actions but by showing how they feel about the actions they’re taking. This is particularly true in situations where characters have to behave in a way that is different from what their heart or instincts would lead them to do. You communicate that dichotomy by showing their internal conflict.  For example, say that you’re writing a scene in which a bomb is about to go off and your MC
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Thoughts About Theme

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I don’t do these writing articles nearly enough but here it goes. Today I want to talk a little bit about theme. Now, first and foremost we need to talk a little bit about what exactly “Theme” is. Theme is the answer to one simple question: “What does the story mean?” As in, what does the author tell us about life, human nature, the universe, etc., etc. through the story they tell us?  Let’s go over some examples:  Pokémon - Failure isn’t the end of everything but rather part of the journey  Grave of the Fireflies: Sometimes maturity means swallowing your pride Inside Out: Ignoring or burying your true feelings isn’t healthy  The Tell-Tale Heart: The Truth will eventually come out OK , now that we understand what a theme is, let’s talk about how themes (and the stories that contain them) actually work. See, stories can have more than just one theme as long as they don’t actually conflict.  For a REALLY good example of this, let’s take a look at the story of Joseph (you k
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10 Writing Tips

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1. If research is needed, do the research. 2. Show emotion by showing your character’s physical and mental reaction to those emotions. 3. The character should drive the plot, not the other way around 4. The reader does not need to know all the backstory that there is at the very beginning, but they shouldn’t get to chapter 5 and still have no idea who or what the story is about. 5. Actual male/female friendships that are genuinely platonic exist 6. You can show who your character is as a person, through their interactions, through what they want, what they have, who they hang out with, what they say, and what they do. 7. It’s more interesting and convincing to show who a character is via Tip #6 than it is to simply tell the readers “She’s kind, brave, pretty, driven etc. etc.” 8. A Mary Sue ruins the story not because she’s perfect but because the story flows around her in a very boring and unrealistic way. 9. Strong Female Characters do not have to be Butch,
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A Well Told Story

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One thing you'll learn about me through this blog is that I love, and I mean love   a well-told story. There are very few genres or mediums that I don't like. What matters to me is the quality of the storytelling. This blog will be a mix of 3 main things.  1. Me giving you writing tips 2. Me sharing progress reports and even snippets of my novel  3. Me analyzing what makes a well-told story by using examples from things I've read and watched to go over various topics A well-told story, in essence, I think, has great characters, a plot that in presented in an interesting way, and that makes you believe, even if it's just for a little while, that it could/did happen and is important. 
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