Who’s the hero in your stories?

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Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

“I am not always good and noble. I am the hero of this story, but I have my off moments.” ― P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens

As I was working on new copy and writing for the new brand and a little secret something I wanted to share, I got to thinking about Hero/Heroine’s Journeys.

While my thinking and research were wandering down the path of what kind of story I wanted to tell on various pages and essays, it got me thinking about the way we use heroism in our writing.

It’s something I frequently have to urge how-to nonfiction and marketing writers away from, particularly if they are writing a book. Conversely, I often have to urge essayists and narrative writers toward these truths.

1. If you are telling your story, you need to be the hero/heroine.
2. If you are telling a story for your audience, they need to be the hero/heroine.
3. If you are simply telling a story for anyone to hear…well…that’s writer’s choice. 😉

I tell the story of a manuscript we attempted to edit, that I eventually had to return to the author after discovering that over 30% of allllllll the words were variations of “I, my, I’ve” etc. I tried to explain that in this book, all about how the reader could attain the same successes, they needed to empower that same reader to be the hero/heroine in this story.

The author was the wise sage teacher who “showed up at the right time, in the right place.”

They did not agree. They believed that the only way to convince the reader to follow their advice was to show the reader how successful and brilliant the author was.

The book flopped.

But when I am talking to essayists and writers about their writing, I often have to (gently) throttle them over the head with love and pushing. They don’t think anyone wants to hear their story and learnings, instead trying to make a personal blog post an opportunity for how-to’s and structures.

Of course there are exceptions to both cases, particularly when it comes to genre and niche and topics. And your audience. Or maybe you are telling a story that has nothing to do with you or your reader (in which case you’ll probably find a hero/heroine in a third party, and sneakily a lesson for the reader to see themselves in the story.)

And sometimes, the lines bleed between “this is my story” and “this can be your story, too” — blending into some beautiful tapestry of “hey, this is our story now.”

What story are you going to tell this week?

CYC Elsewhere…

Other places we’ve popped up around the interwebs.

• My most popular post on LinkedIn last week, all about compliments and what you should do when you meet a writer who doesn’t like them.

In Other Reading This Week …

Need more insights and inspiration for your writing and mindset?

• Speaking of finding ourselves in the stories we hear/read, Mike Sowden shares on his site Everything is Amazing the reality of pareidolia, and why we see our faces all around us as well.
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• Behaviors and habits and tracking and productivity, it can all get overwhelming trying to keep up and keep ahead. Maybe we’re thinking of it the wrong way. Maybe we need to adopt the mindset of writer Justin Pot’s pet cat, Mira.
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• Are you a reader? Love podcasts too? Willem Marx breaks down a whole slew of shows you might not be listening to on Electric Lit, depending on what type of reader you might be.
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• Whether it is slang or ad copy or shortened digital visualizations (brat), the internet is shifting our language, as major publishing changes tend to do.
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• I know, y’all are getting sick of learning about the Fediverse and POSSE and various other initiatives in online writing and creativity. But here’s the thing: if you want to make a name for yourself as a writer online, you will be 3-5 years ahead if you are already in this world. Jump in with Sean Tilley’s beginner’s guide over on WeDistribute.

Weekly Writing Tip …

A quick chance to learn from the masters.

“In those days I learned that nothing is more frightening than a hero who lives to tell his story, to tell what all those who fell at his side will never be able to tell.” ― Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind

Bygone …

Exquisite words from years gone by.

By-gone [bye-gon] (adj.) – From the early 15th century, is a compound word to describe things that have gone by or are in the past. Earlier spellings include a hyphen. The etymology comes from Old English bī (near or around) + gān (to go or gone.) Sorta synonyms: of yore, antiquated, oldfangled, antediluvian

This Week’s Writing Resource …

Why not use the tools at your disposal?

Ngram Viewer — From Google’s own description, their Ngram Viewer is a tool that displays graphs showing how frequently words or phrases (also known as ngrams) have appeared in books, documents, and other textual sources over a specified period. It explores language usage trends over time.

For the Upcoming Week …

Because we all need a good chuckle to start things off right!

That’s why summer reading is mostly paperbacks. You can fit a bunch of those!

‘Til next time! ~ Elisa

PS — For a fortnight…plus some days…keep an eye on your inboxes for special releases and discounts just for subscribers. 👀

PPS — It’ll be a little weird, cause the website “has been cloned” and a full design implementation is in full swing. Which means no changes to the website or people will get angry!