Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The main or lead character in any story is a lynchpin and has very definite qualities. Miss one of these and your story may well grind to a halt! This article takes a look at three crucial aspects of the main character.

The main character in any work of fiction is the one around which the entire story revolves. He or she must possess certain values or abilities if your story is to work, yet many aspiring writers miss one or more of these vital points and become frustrated when their story fails to work as it should. Let’s look at these three key ingredients to our main character:

1. The main character is the one who suffers most as a result of your story’s events.
2. The main character is the one who has the power to change things within the story.
3. The main character is the one with the freedom to change things if they so wish.

In more detail:

1. Let’s say that your main character, Jake, suffers most in your story. He has the freedom of choice to change this suffering but not the power to make it happen. Pretty soon your readers are going to realise that Jake is inept and weak, can’t change a thing and that he must, in the end, surely fail.

2. If on the other hand Jake is the one who suffers most and possesses the power to make it stop but lacks the freedom to do this, the story will fall flat on its face because Jake cannot act and the plot can go nowhere.

3. Finally, if Jake has both power to change things within the story and the freedom to do so but isn’t in jeopardy or doesn’t suffer, the story will lack any form of tension. Jake will also lack any real motive to make any changes you have him perform as he isn’t under any threat or duress. In this scenario the reader is left wondering why Jake has to do anything at all and usually gets bored pretty quickly!

What does this tell us as writers? Answer: that the main character must have a truly proactive role within your story – or he simply cannot be the main character! However, does this make the main character the protagonist? Usually the answer is yes, provided that the main character also acts in a proactive manner.

The protagonist must make things happen. If in your story you merely let the main character react to what his adversary, ‘the opposition’ (the bad guy) is doing, you risk the bad guy becoming the protagonist and your main character slipping into what is essentially a secondary role. This is a danger if the bad guy is particularly charismatic or has very powerful dominating character traits.

The danger here is that the bad guy becomes the lead character, an ‘anti-hero’. This is a very, very difficult line to follow and I would not advise beginners to go down this route. The anti-hero can work if handled expertly – think of Paul Kersey in ‘Death Wish’ or Lestat in ‘The Vampire Chronicles’. Both are anti-heroes but both work due to the expertise of the author. If you have any doubt as to your abilities to pull this off, stick to a good guy hero!

Therefore the main character must seek his story goal, overcoming the bad guy who seeks to thwart this. He must call the shots as to what happens in the story, driving it by being proactive. Incidentally, the bad guy isn’t there just to cause your hero trouble – he has to have his own goal that, to him, is just as valid as the one your lead character has or he risks becoming a ‘cardboard cut-out’ villain whose only role within the story is to give your hero trouble.

This set-up, with main character as the good guy and also acting as the protagonist, is the most popular in fiction simply because it works so well. All other types of main character require a much greater effort to make them work well (if at all) and so seldom work effectively unless handled by a very skilled writer.

In conclusion: for beginners, choose the easiest set-up for your main character as descried above. Learn to do the simple things well – after all, a straightforward plot with good, strong and conventional characters will for a beginner ultimately produce a better finished work than trying to manipulate character types and work with a difficult, laborious storyline. Keep it simple and write it well!

About the Author:

Steve Dempster writes fiction and informative articles for the web. Learn more about how to kickstart your writing career here!

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Fiction Writing: 3 Crucial Points For Your Main Character

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With thousands of books written every year on all sorts of topics from business to fiction to religious, it is impossible to read every book released. Thankfully, The New York Times gives us some help by releasing and constantly updating the best-seller list for all of the topics you can imagine. Here are the current best sellers for four different categories.

Hardcover Fiction
The number 3 best seller for hardcover fiction books is Daddy’s Girl by Lisa Scottoline. This is a fast-paced thriller that keeps the reader’s attention and will keep you reading non-stop. The number 2 non-fiction book is Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella. This book takes the main character, Becky, amidst a possible love triangle with her husband and his ex-girlfriend as she shops for the perfect world for her baby. Finally, the number 1 best seller is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. This is another contemporary thriller by Picoult about a high school shooting.

Hardcover Non-Fiction
The number 3 non-fiction best seller on the New York Times list is ‘I Feel Bad About My Neck’ by Nora Ephron. This comedy book discusses the topic of aging, in particular women aging. The number 2 book is ‘A Long Way Gone’ by Ishmael Beah, which takes into account the life of a young boy at the age of 12 who is swept into the horrifying world of civil war. The best seller currently for non-fiction books is ‘In An Instant’ by Lee and Bob Woodruff. This tells the tale of the traumatic experience Bob Woodruff experienced in Iraq and how he and Lee Woodruff worked through the difficult times after.

Children
Number 3 on the list for children’s books is Flotsam by David Wiesner. It all begins as a boy finds a camera that is washed ashore, and from there it is an adventure full of pictures. The number 2 best seller is Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems, which tells the story of a piggie who is optimistic about flying and an elephant that is skeptical. With a little help from others, amazing things happen. Lastly, the number one book is Someday by Alison McGhee, which tells an enchanting story of a mother’s dream coming true, watching her child live life to the fullest.

Religion
The number 3 religious book is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. This book guides you to learn to understand and speak the unique language of love through a couple’s guidance. The second book on the best seller list is by Richard Dawkins entitled The God Delusion. Richard Dawkins attacks arguments for the existence of God in this controversial book. The number one religious book on the market is Grace by Anne Lamott, which takes Lamott’s life into the realm of reality as problems of faith pop up in the most unexpected places.

There are hundreds of brilliantly written books on the market, even within the four categories listed above. But starting with the best sellers from the New York Times is a good place to begin. Enjoy!

About the Author:

Danny Wright is the webmaster for MerchantLand.com .Come visit and see for yourself our great selection of current best sellers and new releases from your favorite authors at very reasonable prices.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Current Best Selling Books on the Market

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Quentin Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tenn. in 1963 but grew up in California. He is of Italian, Irish and Cherokee Indian heritage. While in junior high school Quentin Tarantino dropped out of school to take up acting but later realized he would rather be a movie director than actor.

In 1987 while working as a clerk at the video store Video Archives, Tarantino wrote and sold two scripts; both would be made into movies, True Romance in 1993 and Natural Born Killers in 1994. From these scripts, Quentin Tarantino was able to finance the production of his next movie, Reservoir Dogs, in which he wrote the screenplay, directed and acted.

In 1992 Tarantino introduced Reservoir Dogs at the Sundance Film festival. It was a huge hit. With Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino established his movie style and the small budget over-the-top crime put him on the up-and-coming list for entertainment writers and magazines. Of Reservoir Dogs, The New York Times reported, “Mr. Tarantino not only can write superb dialogue, but he also has a firm grasp of narrative construction.”

In 1993 True Romance released; but it was 1994’s Pulp Fiction, in which Tarantino wrote and directed that was his break-out success. Rolling Stone magazine said of the movie, “Pulp Fiction is ferocious fun without a trace of caution, complacency or political correctness to inhibit its 154 deliciously lurid minutes.”

After Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino released Jackie Brown, which paid homage to the blaxploitation movies of the 1970s, in 1997. And then in 2003 and 2004 Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. He followed the success of the Kill Bill movies with Death Proof in 2007. Pulp Fiction won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Tarantino’s summer 2009 movie, Inglorious Basterds is a World War II epic, the story of a group of U.S. guerilla soldiers in Nazi-occupied France. The movie’s opening weekend proved to be the best of Quentin Tarantino’s career. USA Today reported the movie raked in $37.6 million, according to box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI. The stellar opening beats 2004’s “Kill Bill Volume 2,” which debut’s earned $25.1 million. “Inglorious Basterds” stars stars Brad Pitt, Eli Roth and Diane Kruger and so far has garnered generally good reviews.

Entertainment industry giving partial credit for the movie’s success to the promotional efforts by Tarantino and Brad Pitt; their movie promotional efforts have gone far beyond the Quentin Tarantino’s fan base. Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and others involved in the movie have appeared on a wide variety of magazines including Wired magazine, The New York Times magazine and women’s magazines like Glamour magazine.

The strategy paid off according to USA Today, as Inglorious Basterds attracted an audience that was 42% female – high for a Tarantino movie. Of Inglorious Basterds, Entertainment Weekly magazine reported, “Few young-to-middle-aged American filmmakers have the nerd-centric depth of movie knowledge and technique that Tarantino brings to his high-flying projects, and fewer still have the confidence to simultaneously glorify and deconstruct genre as he can, whether the genre is blaxploitation, Hong Kong action, ’70s grindhouse fare, or, in this case, war movies and ’40s noir.”

For more, visit http://www.magazines.com/category/entertainment-tv

Jessica Vandelay is a freelance writer in New York City.

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What forms of figurative language does douglas adams use in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

I have to write a paper on the forms of figurative language that Douglas Adams uses in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I think he uses personification a lot but thats hard to write about. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hahaha i love doug adams
he’s soo funny

as for figurative language i know he writes in third person ominiscent
and he uses alot of sarcarsm
your right about the personfication he uses alot of that, it being a science fiction and all.

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