Writing Coach in a Box: Cards Five and Six!

Two cards in one post? One month (or more?) after the last post I did of this nature?! Is this cheating?

Well… Not really. Card Five covers the character’s wants versus the character’s needs. It discusses how we as authors need to be able to discern between what our character wants and what they really need.

And while I would be happy to do an entire post on that, I am pretty sure the wants and needs aspect of Charlie have been kind of ran into the ground at this point. Does anyone really want to watch me talk about the same ideas that make up half of the other “writing coach” cards I have covered?

This brings us to Card Six: The Sacred Flaw. Now, this card is giving me some issues as I am reading it. Because the card only lightly touches on what “The Sacred Flaw” actually is.

The term “The Sacred Flaw” was coined by British author Will Storr. The card references and directly quotes Storr’s explanation of the concept. In an interview with Charlie Euchner, Storr says “The basic idea is that the brain is a storyteller and the way it processes reality itself has a story. We are a hero overcoming obstacle. We experience life in three acts, with a crisis, a struggle and resolution. And that’s why we tell stories.” ¹ I made sure to cite the interview below, as this is a direct quote from the interview. And if I learned anything in college, it’s to cite your sources.

Where I think the card fails is that it only references that part of the interview. Storr introduces the process of making the character first, giving that character their “Sacred Flaw” and then using that flaw to help formulate a plot around that flaw where the character enters a situation where that flaw is — I guess a good word here would be exploited. And he’s right. It’s a bit hard to really engage with a plot where the characters seem like an afterthought. Yeah, plot is still an important factor in your writing, but the character should always be the driving force of a story.

Storr uses life as an example to demonstrate. Life in three acts. Everyone has their own worldview. Maybe it’s something like “Every man for themselves.” Or “Everyone deserves kindness.” Or even something as simple as “Your actions do not define you.” Everyone has something they believe in at their core, that can be absolutely destroyed or strengthened through crisis. These beliefs can be rooted in anything: Personal experience, religion, fiction.

It’s beliefs like this, and the breaking and shaking of them, that define how our lives go. And that should be the kind of definition we want to instill in our characters and our stories.

The whole interview is a good read, and I am honestly kind of happy the card influenced me to go look it up. Because with this card topic, my mind has been going back to the Percy Jackson series and the Demi-Gods’ fatal flaws. If you read the books, you’ll know that each demigod had a fatal flaw that mostly defined them. Hubris, ambition, feelings of inferiority, excessive loyalty. The whole concept of The Sacred Flaw is very reminiscent of “Hamartia”, which is a greek word meaning “to err” or “to miss the mark.” Just a fun little connection I made in the midst of writing this post.

So where does that leave me with Charlie?

Well, I am not sure. I kind of feel like I fell into a “plot-first” trap with this story, and have been kind of trying to figure out how to make up for it. Charlie could very easily be someone who is “too-trusting” or someone who believes that “since someone showed me human kindness, we’re friends now.” A soft hearted person who is way too trusting can only be so susceptable to pain and heartbreak. But since this is a horror story, I could use that in order to enhance the whodunnit aspect should there be one.

Maybe Charlie has a problem with latching on to the people he cares about. Maybe he doesn’t rely on his own capabilities as an individual and only sees himself in the context of others. “Shannon’s brother.” “Kyle’s ex.” Maybe he needs individuality. (I say in a story where he will for sure have multiple love interests as options.)

Hope you all enjoyed reading this post. I have to say that this may have been my favorite card so far.

1. Euchner, Charlie. “Will Storr on Storytelling, Writing, and the Brain.” The Elements of Writing, 5 Aug. 2021, theelementsofwriting.com/storr/. ↩︎