The power of obsession

In his fierce and funny craft book, Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, Steve Almond writes that readers ask two questions when they start a novel or memoir: 

·      Whose story is this?

·      What do they care about?

The faster your book answers these questions, the more engaged your reader will be.

We want our protagonists to have big goals and equally big obstacles. And to have big feelings about those goals and obstacles.

That's why we turn to books as we go about our lives being dependable parents and coworkers and neighbors. To experience those intense feelings from the comfort of our bed or Lazy-boy or beach blanket.

 We want our protagonists to be obsessed. We want their them consumed by that white-hot center of desire.

They don't have to be dealing with matters of life and death, either. There are many ways to raise the stakes in a novel or memoir.

Maybe a woman with crippling stage fright has to present at a conference to earn the promotion that will help keep the family home from being foreclosed.

Or a man who has shirked responsibility his whole life has to care for his niece after his estranged sister finally decides to go to rehab.

 Your protagonist may fly toward these goals or fight against them. There will definitely be internal struggles–or else why follow them through 200 or 300 or 500 pages?

 We don't want easy. We want conflict and hardship and doubt.

 From the comfort of our bed or Lazy-boy or beach blanket.

 To quote Steve Almond: "There is no such thing as meaningless obsession because obsession itself is the deepest form of human meaning."

Next Steps:

Write a page or two about your protagonist’s overwhelming obsession. Why does this matter to them? What is standing in the way of them achieving their goal–both externally and internally? What will happen if they fail? It’s OK to take big swings here–dig deep and see what you find.