Persistence is something writers need, but think about your characters as well.
Often our more interesting—especially bestselling—novels and memoirs are about persistence and its role in resolving a conflict or rising to a new level of accomplishment, or learning the harder, best lesson.
Examples? If the writer Larry McMurtry and the cowboy characters in LONESOME DOVE weren’t persistent in a huge way, we may not have had the Pulitzer winner that the book became. You need persistence to survive a dusty, multi-state cattle drive.
I recently read THE ASTRAL LIBRARY by Kate Quinn, a bestseller about a young woman with everything going wrong in her life right down to a stolen bank account—until she entered a library within a library. The magical world tested her and taught her how to be persistent against adversity.
Persistence teaches or uncovers lessons. Your character should grow smarter as your manuscript moves along. Take stock: What has your protagonist (or you in your memoir) learned after every 30 or so pages? Make a list. Do you need to revise? At least think about things?
I often mention the memoir HOW TO CATCH A MOLE by Marc Hamer. It’s a superb example of questioning persistence in your life. How long do you fight against the moles? How long do you do anything before you change?
To persist is to refuse to give up UNTIL you learn something, get better, discover the secrets.
To persist is to prevail. How do your character prevail? Does each chapter build? Or, have you accidently let your character take too long of a rest? Get them back into persisting if you want to sell and find your magic.
Why does “persistence” work so well with characterizations and plotting?
Because it flows through an entire story (if you want to win over readers).
Persistence works, too, because it questions your character: When is it time to change? Or quit? Or get stronger and smarter? How? Get better or not? Why?
Persistence is hard for writers and your character to sustain over the course of a novel, screenplay, story, poetry collection, etc. There are rewards for your endurance—even if it takes years for that project to get out there.
At an annual writing retreat with former novel class participants, each writer has shown PERSISTENCE. I’m in awe. These writers have been together since 2012. They started with no publications. Now they have at least two novels each published (with one almost published) with a mix of major publishers and great independent publishers, with more novels and nonfiction works coming.
Do you have a character you can’t sell or get right? A manuscript not doing so well?
Lay out “persistence” on a plot grid. How does the character (or you in the memoir) embrace and show persistence through Acts 1, 2, 3?
Writers at my retreat persist in meeting yearly, staying in touch, and supporting each other throughout the year. They persist in attending conferences and online workshops. They persist in revising multiple times.
Persistence creates magic.
Persistence is that “long-haul stuff,” but worth it.
It opens doors, just as it does in THE ASTRAL LIBRARY and HOW TO CATCH A MOLE and LONESOME DOVE…and your writing project.
Christine DeSmet: Author 