Jack of Harts

All writers have the good idea scene. This scene that is vivid in our mind that we want to write. One day. Some day. We love it. We wait for it. We want to show it to people. A while back, I got the chance to write one of them, and it was awesome. I loved it. It hit all the points I wanted.

And it was completely and utterly out of character for the character put into it. This is one problem with good idea scenes. They can be awesome. But if the character that goes into the scene doesn’t fit, the story will feel off. Wrong. Maybe just a note, but it can be felt.

I wrote the peaceful and amazing scene that I wanted to do and it was good. But the character I put into the scene is without an ounce of quit and the scene is a situation he can’t win. He’s not the guy to take the peaceful way out. He’s the guy who fights and claws and never stops trying to do one more thing before the lights go out. If he dies lying down, it will be a heart attack in his sleep. Even if the situation is hopeless. Especially when it is hopeless. He will never stop.

That attribute is what people look for or find or infuse in the kind of absolute studs that become our special forces soldiers in real life. The people that will never quit are the ones that will win or die trying. They are the people who volunteer to go into hell to save people or kill people or whatever the mission is. They are the ones who will always do one more thing before the lights go out.

I’m so glad my story wasn’t accepted. It allows me a do over. It gives me the chance to write that scene the way a guy who doesn’t know how to quit would do it. And you know what? I can’t wait to write that scene.