Daily 7 481 words The Hero’s Journey: A Protagonist’s Guide to Surviving Your Novel in 5 Simple Steps 1. Be the only protagonist. It’s pretty straightforward: if you’re the sole protagonist, it’s almost impossible for you to die. Killing off the only point of view is a risky idea for an author. Being the only protagonist and having a first person point of view is even better! There’s almost no justified way for you to go out that would make sense. So, make sure to think in first person. Thinking like Gollum is a sure way to create a story in third person—which will not be good for you at all. 2. Separate yourself from other protagonists. So you’re not the only protagonist. Well, that’s okay. You just need to make yourself the MAIN main character. Separate yourself from the other protagonists, both in character and in physical distance. You’ll want to be incredibly unique. Think about your fellow protagonists. What do they already have? You’ll want to avoid basing your character around something someone else can do. If there’s another character who’s incredibly kind (even if they’re not to protagonist!), you might want to have your own presentation to the audience be something more unique than just “kind.” And cutting off contact with the others can help too. Authors are less likely to kill a character without another protagonist to report on their death. Also, if your death is only implied through your own point of view, you’ll have a chance to not actually be dead. If worst comes to worst… well, one of the protagonists survived 95 times out of 100. The other protagonists may need to be disposable. 3. Create Intrigue. The last thing an audience and an author wants is big, glaring, unexplained loose ends at the end of a novel or series. This is certainly something that can be manipulated. Say cryptic things. Think in great detail about your dreams—I’ve noticed that authors like their meaningful dreams. Best of all, be an incredibly unreliable narrator. If the reader needs more from you, it’s very difficult to justify getting rid of you. 4. Be important. Make sure that you’re actually important to the story. Remind others—and by extension, the author and reader—that you ARE the chosen one, and you need to live for the novel to end. If this is a fantasy novel, this has probably already been done for you. Think Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and anything else. The protagonist is important and the conflict can’t be resolved without them. Because this is not the case for most of us, sadly. Instead, throw yourself into many different conflicts and be sure you’re front and center of all of them. 5. Don’t die. Just do it. Can’t be that hard, right? Additional Note: DO NOT let them make a spin-off or unplanned sequel. There’s roughly a 75% chance you’ll die in that one.
