5 Tips How to Achieve Your Goals When Faced with an Antagonist: Keep Your Eye on the Prize

Goal setting for your characters determines the character emotional development plot, sets the dramatic action plot and points to the overall meaning of the story.

The goals you set for yourself determine your emotional development and they form an action plan for a meaningful life.

You meet an antagonist -- internal: you wonder why bother, your story sucks, even you're bored by your own story or external: the dog needs to be walked, the mother her medicine, the family demands dinner now, the computer shuts down, the fatigue creeping across your shoulders at the thought of facing your story again -- stop.

1) Remind yourself of your long-term goal (Finish your draft)

2) Assess what you need to do right now to move toward that goal (A positive plan to clear your path of antagonists)

3) Quit blaming the antagonist (Hold tight to the vision of what you want: A complete draft)

4) Assume responsibility for that one thing you can do (Write)

5) Take positive action toward your goal (Write)

You can do this!

Today I write!
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For more: Read my Plot Whisperer and Blockbuster Plots books for writers.

3 Major Plot Lines + 1 in Novels, Memoir, Screenplays

For a story to have meaning, the dramatic action forces the character to grow and change at the least, transform at best.

Each of these threads = dramatic action, character emotional development and thematic significance runs through every great picture book, middle grade fiction, young adult and adult novels whether genre or literary, all memoirs and screenplays. 

All other plot lines are determined by age and type of story. However, one other plot line is in most stories, other than picture books and middle grade fiction = romantic plot line.

The 5th step in the Plot Series of How Do I Plot a Novel, Memoir, Screenplay? covers this 4th plot line. Hope you'll visit and follow along.