It’s almost a week now that I’ve been house-bound with a cold. There’s always an up-side to a downer, and so here’s my positive spin on my negative state of affairs. Stuck inside, I have more time to spend on my personal projects.

Even as a kid, I appreciated the ‘joy of being sick’. My passion was stamp collecting and building model houses out of balsa wood. I loved being sick! These days, it’s writing novels. This week, I’ve put the time to good use solving some story problems.

Consider the advantages of adversity, that’s the moral of this story (my blog story, I mean.)

For me, it’s been an advantage to be forced to sharpen my focus. Being ‘forced’ is key, because otherwise we humans have a powerful tendency to take the path of least resistance. Story characters are no different. If circumstances aren’t forcing the protagonist to fight for something, they won’t dig deep into their hidden selves. And whoever doesn’t dig, doesn’t discover who they really are.

As in life, so in art.

Consider this: the hero of a story doesn’t change through struggle. Rather, their character unfolds. It unfolds through adversity. (Same with you and me in real life.)

In the film Avatar (Best Picture, Golden Globe Awards!), Sully always had a greater understanding of human nature than was allowed him as a Marine. Through a heck of a lot of adversity, his higher nature began to show through.

But enough is enough! When am I going to get better?!

Tags: good character

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