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A Great Story Is Not A Hero VS A Villain

A great story is two heroes; they believe they're both heroes but on opposite sides. Of course, you're going to think that guy's a villain, but they're going to think you're the villain. In the movie the Lion King, Scar was right. Understanding character motivations is important. So, if I say Mufasa had it coming, clearly, if you're reading that or hearing that, you're thinking it's coming from Scar's perspective because Scar is the primary antagonist in "The Lion King."

But he's only the primary antagonist to certain characters in "The Lion King." If you're Simba, Mufasa, Timon, and Pumbaa, Scar is your primary antagonist, but not to Scar. Scar is not the primary antagonist to himself. He's not thinking, "I just want to start offing people and become king." He has other underlying motivations and goals that make Scar, to himself, not the enemy or antagonist in the story.

So, if you're going to write a poem or a story from that person's point of view, it's incredibly important that, from their perspective, they are not the enemy. That's really hard to do because if you're thinking about somebody you consider to be bad, the villain in the story, you're attaching all your negative emotions to that person, image, or character. It's really hard to see clearly from that person's point of view.

There are some questions I would implore people to ask when writing their characters. When it comes to your poems and individual pieces, think:

Why did your character act in such a way?

Whatever your character did, why did they do it?

Why did your character think the way they did?

So, it's not just the actions; we're taking it a little deeper into why they thought those things. How did they treat other characters and why? What's the proximity between your character and other characters, and why is that relationship? Lastly, in general, what leads the character to those specific character motivations?

See the full video: https://youtu.be/PCU2UgkwENM

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