One of my favourite paintings is David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio. The picture to the left does not do the painting justice. In person, it is incredible. But paintings like this can teach us a lot as writers as they are a moment in time after a lifetime of backstory. And a moment in time is exactly where we find our protagonist.
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When truth is too strange for fiction
Mark Twain’s words “the truth is stranger than fiction” have become a cliché because they are accurate. As fiction writers, we get to experience this in real time: the first reader or editor comments, “that just wasn’t believable”; yet you had stolen it from a real life experience. This played out for me when I read a recent interview.
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Doing dumb stuff
Have you ever been told “you’re your own worst enemy”? Or “you make things so hard for yourself”? These phrases hold negative connotations. And normally in our own lives we try to avoid situations where we could be accused like this! Not so, your protagonist.
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