Encourage Yourself

Read Judges 19-21

Judges 20:22 "And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day."

No matter how badly the writing is going, we can encourage ourselves that at least we are writing something and getting some words down on paper. The fix will come later.

No matter how many rejections letters we are getting, it is encouraging. At lease we are getting our work out there in the world.

Whether the writing is going badly or the rejections are overwhelming, all is not lost. We can encourage ourselves that, if we keep at it, we are going to succeed.

Roles

Read Judges 16-18

Judges 17:10 "And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in."

Certain characters will fulfill certain roles in our stories. We’ll need a hero and our protagonist will take that role.

We’ll need a villain and out antagonist will take that role. The rest of the cast will fill in the parts as needed.

Perhaps a sidekick might double as a romantic interest. One character can take one role, or one character can take on as many roles as the story needs.

Reaction Shots

Read Judges 13-15

Judges 13:19 "So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on."

We see them often in movies and television shows. Something is happening in the scene, but instead of keeping the camera on the action, we see shots of others in the room watching the action.

They’re called reaction shots. We’re seeing the other characters’ reactions to the plot point.

We can keep this in mind when writing stories. We need to give the other characters in the room something to do, even if it’s just to react.

Bewail

Read Judges 10-12

Judges 11:38 "And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains."

When we throw pain and heartache at our characters for the sake of a good story, it is expected that they will hurt. They will notice what has happened to them and react appropriately.

They might bewail over their lot in their thoughts or storm off. They might take their feelings out in hard work or become self destructive.

But the story becomes boring if the character doesn’t eventually put aside the grief and make a plan to fix what has gone wrong. Tragedy in a story can overwhelm a reader, if the character doesn’t eventually stop his bewailing and do something about his new challenge.

Too Many People

Read Judges 7-9

Judges 7:2 "And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me."

Readers don’t know our stories ahead of time and that’s why they read them. They aren’t familiar with our settings and don’t know our characters.

So we introduce both to then. We place our characters in the settings and circumstances and show what’s going on for the reader’s enjoyment.

Too many people will only confuse our readers and muddle the story. We will want to keep our characters to as few as will still serve the story we are trying to tell.

Upgrade

Read Judges 4-6

Judges 5:25 "He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish."

An upgrade involving our characters can take many forms. We can use it as a motivation for action—our character wants a nicer house or a better life.

We use it to escalate the problems facing our protagonist. Every time a problem is solved, it creates a bigger one.

We can also use it when outlining. Once we begin to list the adventures our heroes will face, we can imagine something even worse at each plot point.

Call to Action

Read Judges 1-3

Judges 1:1 "Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?"

The call to action or call to adventure is the second step of the hero’s journey. The ordinary world is in jeopardy and the protagonist is enticed to do something about it.

The call may come from others who are asking for the hero’s help or rescue. The hero might be retired from fighting those particular dragons, but the hero’s expertise is needed.

Or the call may come from the protagonist’s own circumstances. Her world has changed or is about to change and she needs to be convinced to do something about it.