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Failure

Banes at 12:00AM, Dec. 19, 2024
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Why do we fall down, Master Bruce?

So we can get up again.

That was a line from Batman Begins, back in the day, that the movie made sure to put out there multiple times. It was an important theme they wanted to hit in that story. It's an important lesson to try and learn in life, too - which is what makes it such a powerhouse of a concept to keep in mind when writing!

A few years back, the idea of the “Mary Sue” got a lot more attention than it had before. I think a lot of us who were into writing and making comics and following this kind of thing already knew about it, but it became a popular criticism of Rey in The Force Awakens. I won't go into Rey or Star Wars here, again, but in general, the idea of a character who succeeds and succeeds and succeeds is a big pitfall that writers can fall into.

Maybe it's about the power fantasy/wish fulfillment thing. We want to live our fantasies out in what we write. I have to fight against it like crazy whenever I'm putting together a new series idea. And the power fantasy/wish fulfillment can actually turn into popular stories. That stuff can be successful.

But stories that have real power are ones that show failure, and TRYING. It's the struggle, and the trying that really have a lasting appeal on us. It's even rule #1 in the Pixar storytelling rules.

To be clear, it's not the FAILURE that readers/audiences want to see…but it's not SUCCESS, either. It's the TRYING.

Marvel comics back in the 60's had a powerful effect on readers, and made themselves stand out from the competition by having their superhero characters struggle, and sometimes fail, and have to try again before finding victory.

Like I said, this is the stuff of life. We all have struggles, and we have to TRY, and we sometimes fall. Some even say that's the whole POINT of life. So no wonder it's such an effective storytelling concept!

Have your characters TRY - it's way more important than having them succeed all the time!




See you next time,


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