The Mystery of a Sweet Lady and a Good Book

By Allen B. Boyer

We see people every day. We pass by men and women who embody a wealth of experiences, beliefs and ideas that any writer could wrap into a character.  However, the challenge comes in taking the time to get to know people. Most writers know that it only takes one interesting person to lead to good story.  For me, Charlotte Bouton was that interesting person.

I am the author of The Dupree Sisters Mystery Series, which features two elderly sisters who live in Washington D.C.  They move easily through the social circles of the city, and occasionally use their social connections to solve mysteries.  THE BLAIR HOUSE CAT MURDER is the second book in the series.  The book has just been released.  It features a stray cat with a spot of blood on its back, love letters from an anonymous source, and a dead body.  Quite the challenge for Ruth and Charlotte Dupree to solve.

The character of Charlotte is based on a very nice woman I met named Charlotte Bouton.  While she lived well into her nineties, Charlotte and I would talk at social events.  She was always sharply dressed, with perfect hair and a gentle smile.  However, in talking to her I always noticed her sweet demeanor would change whenever the conversation turned to politics.   Then Charlotte transformed into a tough talking, hard-nosed political insider.

I learned it was an edge born from her years working in Washington D.C. back in the 1950s.  She worked in the House of Representatives as a secretary for a gentleman from New Jersey.  While there, she enjoyed her work and met many historic figures.  She spoke of being in her office when Al Gore Sr. came in to announce the birth of his son, Al Gore Jr.  She also recalled her one brush with John F. Kennedy when he entered her office complaining about a headache.  She remedied that with one aspirin, which Kennedy was grateful for.

From my conversations with Charlotte, she never hesitated to speak her mind on past and current political figures, describing some as lightweights and some as contenders.  In my mind, she was the perfect person to build a character around.

DEATH AT THE PRESIDENTS CHURCH was the first book in the Dupree Sisters Series.  I wrote this book last year for Cozy Cat Press.  The book sold very well, which led me to write a second installment, THE BLAIR HOUSE CAT MYSTERY.

Thus, my encounters with Charlotte Bouton led to the birth of the fictional character, Charlotte Dupree.  Paired with her sister Ruth, they find themselves drawn to mystery in our nation’s capital.  Whether it be the death of a homeless man on the steps of their church, or the curious connection of cat to a dead body, the Dupree sisters can never turn down a good mystery to solve.  Now you, dear reader, know the mystery behind how this series took shape.  A mystery that centers around a good woman named Charlotte Bouton.

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Allen B.Boyer lives near Hershey, Pa with his wife and three children. He also lives near a retirement home that he visits with his children and his dog, Buster. If you enjoyed Gumshoe Granny Investigates, please check out Bess in her second book, Clues Over Croissants, as well as Married To Mysteries, Whispers In Winter and Suspicions at Sunset. A second mystery series was begun with Death at The Presidents Church, the first installment that features two elderly sisters who use their social connections in Washington D.C. to solve mysteries. The first book dealt with the death of a homeless man. The second book in the series, The Blair House Cat Mystery, is just released. Check out Mr. Boyer's blog at: allenboyer.weebly.com/blog/allen-boyer-an-authors-blog

Where Does The Book Battle Belong?

By James N. Watkins

As an author and speaker, I’m convinced writers are a particularly-prized prey. An individual may share their faith with dozens of family members and co-workers. A pastor may reach several hundred on a Sunday morning. But a writer reaches hundreds of thousands of readers with a message that threatens the very gates of hell. And Satan ain’t happy!

Remember the Bible warns, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

I sensed the enemy’s hot, foul breath as I pitched and then wrote The Psalms of Asaph: Struggling with Unanswered Prayer, Unfulfilled Promises, and Unpunished Evil. The struggle was intense. While writing it, my wife lost her job, our main source of income; a friend died of cancer; another friend ended up in jail due to a paperwork error; and the Internal Revenue Service came after several thousand dollars due to a reporting error. After submitting my manuscript, the design and layout were delayed when floods swamped the Houston area where the publisher was located. Once it did go to press, the California printer was threatened with wildfires. And now, apparently, I have offended the Google gods so that my book is invisible to the mammoth search engine!

Maybe you’re facing similar spiritual oppression as you pitch, write and market your book like I did. Here are some things that helped me. This verse was most helpful, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10-11).

The world says, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” But I knew I was responsible to suit up through daily time alone with God and then to “stand” because God says three times in Ephesians to simply stand because “the battle belongs to the Lord” (1 Samuel 17:47).

  

From the very beginning of my writing and speaking career, I have always had a prayer team whom I have kept informed about my projects and what specific needs I’m facing as I write and speak. In Ephesians 6:18 it says to “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers”. 

This is God’s battle, not ours. It’s my job to write the best book possible with the time and talents I possess. It’s my responsibility to send out books to influencers, guest post on appropriate blogs, send out news releases, have an attractive website with book excerpts, endorsements, and—of course—links to booksellers. But it is God’s task to use the book to change lives and open the doors. “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies” (Zechariah 4:6).

As writers, we have a target on our backs from Satan, but we are also assured a trophy from God! This is verified in the Bible with “You have already won a victory . . . because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4).

So to answer the question, The Book Battle Belongs to the Lord and our part is helping each other get the word out.

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James Watkins is an award-winning author of over 20 books and 2,000 articles as well as conference speaker. He has served as an editor and taught writing at Taylor University. His website, www.jameswatkins.com, has been honored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for its creative Christian message. The author of The Psalms of Asaph: Struggling with Unanswered Prayer, Unfulfilled Promises, and Unpunished Evil, The Imitation of Christ: Classic Devotions in Today’s Language and others. Jim tries to provide encouragement and entertainment with his writing and speaking. Social Media Links:  http://www.jameswatkins.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HopeAndHumor  https://twitter.com/jameswatkinscom

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A Writer’s Confession in Our Tech World

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

I broke my own rule. That should give you a clue as to where this blog post is going.

Here’s the backstory, I write mostly while on the go, using my iPhone and the Notes app. Once I finish a piece, I email it to myself, so I have a copy in Notes and in an email for easy retrieval. However, a work in progress is only in Notes. 

Those of you who have had tech issues while writing in today’s world probably are getting a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, right about now. Yup, I broke my own personal rule.  

My rule is that I never download an Apple update for at least 6 weeks, which gives Apple time to work out the quirks in their latest download. 

Well, you can suspect what happened. Yup, without thinking I hit the download button which popped up when I turned on my phone on Thursday morning last week. That afternoon, I tried to access my Notes to work on my story in progress and it wasn’t there. In fact, no Notes were there. Nothing, nada. 

After the realization of my situation and several mental head slaps, I began to try and figure out some stuff in this our tech world. My millennial children helped, knowing I had a deadline on my anthology story. 

First, I turned my iPhone on and off. By then, I had already done that 3-4 times and recovered notes linked to several of my emails. Of course, not the story I needed to work on. 

Second, I went to settings and turn off automatic iCloud updates. My last update was 2 days before the download. The reason that is important is because the information (my story) was floating around somewhere. By Friday, some of the Notes were coming slowly back. 

Third, I googled “lost notes app on iPhone after IOS 11.3” and searched out potential ideas to recover my story. It was helpful to know others had this same issue, but I found no real solution. 

By Friday night, my story was still not in Notes, so since I was under deadline, I half-heartedly began rewriting my story from scratch. Yikes. Then, you guessed it, mid-morning Monday my original story appeared. Now, I have 4,000 words on a 1800 word piece. I’ll take that problem because at least I’ll make my deadline. 

What can you learn from my tech-tale? Here's my Take Away from this experience.

First, never break your own rule. Wait until the kinks are worked out with any download. Don’t be the one that finds the download issues.  

Second, if you write on a iPhone, tablet, or computer email your daily work to yourself, so you can easily recover if you lose a document. You can delete all these once you have a finished a blog post, story, or book.

Third, you may want to go “old school” and write using paper and pen, and then use technology for only your finished product. Personally, I’m so used to using my Notes app, I’ll still use that, but I’ll email my daily progress.

Lastly, go to settings and save all your Notes to your iCloud email. Once your Notes have been moved to your iCloud email, delete Notes off all other emails, so it automatically saves any Note to iCloud without having iCloud to have to update.

We, as writers, have to use technology for most submissions and communications. The trick is to try to be savvy and smart when using technology. Technology is here to stay and we need to learn how to navigate the issues that are a part this tech world.

So that’s the confession of this writer in our tech world. I’d love to hear about any tech issues you’ve experienced and how you handled it.

What’s The Point?

By Tonya Calvert

What is the point of it all? How do I find my purpose? These deep thoughts came from a dear author friend. Write, submit, receive rejection, repeat. The routine had burned her out and left her wondering if she was wasting her time.

I pondered the obvious answers of purpose in life — love God, love your family, somehow do your little part to save the world, but what about the writing part? The part that had left her tired of running in the wheel of write, submit, receive rejection, repeat. That part seemed more manageable, so I thought about why I write.

I write because I see stories that need to be told. I write because I believe it’s what I’m created to do. I write because I believe it’s important.

As writers, I think we see the world differently, in a more observant way. We don’t just see people. We see characters and stories. I wrote my children’s picture book, Saylor on the Seashore, because I was inspired by the “characters” I met at the beach. My family and I watched a blue heron with a hook stuck through his beak. This fearless bird was stealing bait from the fishermen on the beach. I wrote about the bird in my journal and created a character, Big Blue Heron, who became part of the story. The character, Saylor, was also inspired by true events. A young seagull was caught in a fisherman’s net and as the fisherman struggled to free the bird, a story formed in my mind. If I did not tell their story, who would?

Maybe in the bigger meaning of life, telling one small story doesn’t seem significant, but for me there is a peace in knowing I am doing what God created me to do. Winston Churchill said it best, “Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely. Light and color, peace and hope, will keep them company to the end of the day.” Surely, this applies to writers as well. Writing feeds my soul.

Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Today’s world is a pretty “dusty” place. I especially like writing for children because they are growing up in a harsh world and they deserve a little softness.

Thankfully, I don’t have to figure out the meaning of life or how to save the world. As Tolkien said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time given us.” So, what will you write with the time given to you? The world is waiting to hear your story.

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Tonya Calvert finds inspiration all around her, especially on nature walks and at the Florida coast. She has a BS from Columbus State University and a JD from Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. Saylor on the Seashore (Clearfork Publishing 2017) is her first book. Her second children’s book, The Origami Elephant (Clearfork Publishing) will be released fall of 2018. She is married to her high school sweetheart. They live a blessed life in the Deep South with their three boys. Social Media links: https://m.facebook.com/tonyacalvertauthor/   https://mobile.twitter.com/CalvertTonya   http://www.tonyacalvert.com/

Our Voice a Lighthouse

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine 

Writers have their own voice when telling their stories.  But it occurred to me everyone has a voice. 

Me as me and you as you. We share our voice with others. With our voice we share who we are.

That brings me to this. People who meet us, know us, are they clear on who we are, or do we wear a mask? In fact, are we clear on who we are?

Tad Hargrave, who has a knack for marketing, some have called him a marketing nerd, said, “As you find your voice the world becomes less confused with you. It becomes clear about who you are, and you become not a searchlight desperately looking for people, but a lighthouse. A beacon calling your ships to safe harbor.

What struck me in that quote was how writers may sometimes feel as if they are a searchlight looking for readers instead of the beacon leading readers to them.

Marketing can seem overwhelming to some authors. They aren’t sure what a marketing plan is and are unsure how to design a plan to promote their book.

But once the author knows their niche then a plan can be made to market to that specific group.

In other words, if you wrote a book about fly-fishing your niche would be people who fish. If you wrote a book about knitting the niche would be people who like to knit.

If you wrote books about private detectives in the 1940’s your niche would be different than a book about cowhands riding the range.

So, in finding a specific niche, you can listen to people when they tell you they liked your book. 

What did they like most about your book? Ask them questions that get them to talking about their interest and passions. Especially questions about your book. Sit down and write out three questions you could ask a reader who has read your book that are important to you which would give you insight into what they liked, what they didn’t. Questions geared to their interest. This would enlighten you on what other readers might think and where and what that niche of marketing would be. Give them your card, and if you are writing another book, tell them. Ask them if they would be willing to give you their opinions on your book they’ve just read.

It’s best to remove the masks.The more you interact with your readers, the more they become invested in you and you in them. 

They tell their family and friends they met you and talked to you.  Through this, you become the lighthouse instead of the searchlight.

Four Ways to Support Other Writers

By W. Terry Whalin

Writing is a solitary profession. Alone we sit at our keyboard and write words—maybe for a magazine or a book or a website. So why would you even want to support other writers?     

Bestselling author, Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.” As you support other writers, your life will be richer and you will see remarkable and often unexpected results. I’ve been working with writers for many years.

In this article, I want to give you four simple ways to support other writers. While I personally practice these ways, I encourage you to pick one or two which you can do on a regular basis.

1.      Write reviews of any book you read or hear. Depending on the book, it is often hard to get book reviews. It’s why I’ve written over 850 reviews on Amazon. Any book that I read or hear the audiobook, I take a few minutes and write a few sentences of review. As a writer, I’m always reading books and when I finish the book, it doesn’t take much time to write the review but other writers will appreciate your support.

2.      As you read the blog posts from others, make a short yet relevant comment. Sometimes with blogging, you wonder if anyone is reading and your relevant comment will encourage the writer. The key concept is to make a “relevant” comment and tie it to the content of the blog post. I often get unrelated comments for my blog which are never posted and deleted as SPAM.

3.      Use Social media retweets. When you read a solid blog post, magazine article, Facebook post or tweet, pass it onto others. Often there a simple buttons to facilitate this effort but you will help other writers when you pass on this information.

4.      Introduce writers to each other. In the writing world, who you know is often as important as what you know. A simple email introducing a writer to someone else can help that person make the right connection. It could change the direction of their writing life.

As writers, we need each other. Our writing may be in isolation but taking these actions can be a difference maker in the life of other writers.

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W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Connect with Terry on Twitter, Facebook, his blog and LinkedIn.

The Breathtaking Power of Secondary Characters

By Ed Protzel

Do you feel blocked because your hero and plot are played out? Simply need to add power and verisimilitude to your completed work? Secondary characters can inject lightning into your novel, screenplay, or short story when you adopt some of these principles and secrets.

The Hero’s Reflection & Subplots
The most basic minor character is the hero’s reflection: a best friend, spouse, pal, or loved one. Of course, the reflection gives the hero a sounding board, enabling the writer to reveal the hero’s character, motives, and inner thoughts dramatically and economically, without introspective narratives. Further, because the reflection closely parallels the hero, if you put him/her in the same or a similar situation as the hero, you’ve created a viable subplot. Note how Shakespeare uses minor characters and subplots in every play—fantastic! A good subplot will not only give depth to your themes, but also can add humor and irony to a dramatic story, poignancy to a comedy, and, importantly, conflict.

Juice it Up

For dramatic purposes, you want to increase the conflict in every scene to juice them up, right? To succeed, your reflection should be the relative opposite of the hero. In the historical novels of my DarkHorse Trilogy, I gave my protagonist, Durksen Hurst, two major reflections, creating a dramatic triangle of allies who are always in intense conflict. Durk is a creative hustler, prone to wild schemes. He secretly partners with a group of escaped slaves, including a distrustful, angry Isaac, who expresses what the others are only thinking. Standing between these two combatants, representing reason, is wise Big Josh, the natural leader of the group. Every development scene in the novels is, thus, made dynamic.

Fueling the Secondary Character

If a secondary character doesn’t intertwine with the hero, however, it won’t work.

The more functions your secondary character serves the better; the trick is to combine them. For example, early in the next novel (Something in Madness, set in post-Civil War Mississippi), one of Durk’s partners, Long Lou, sets out to find his family, as many freedmen did, creating a poignant scene. Later, I wanted to illustrate the Vagrancy laws in the South’s Black Codes, where freedmen were arrested on the roads, fined, and their fines auctioned off to planters seeking a supply of labor. It was slavery without the name.

How best to illuminate this injustice? At first, I thought about creating a new minor character who would be auctioned off. Instead, I had Durk discover that his friend, Lou, had been scooped up and was being auctioned off to the novel’s ruthless antagonist, a racist with a vendetta against Durk.

Suddenly, by combining the two minor characters into the person of Lou, an illustrative event is transformed into a major conflict between the primary characters, forcing a clash that must be resolved immediately. Thus, a plot point with innumerable possibilities is born!

Want to enliven your tale? Perhaps rethinking a minor character or two can make your work more emotionally charged and meaningful.

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Ed Protzel lives in St. Louis, Mo., where he writes imaginative fiction filled with plot twists you won’t see coming. Following years as a screenwriter, Ed turned to novels after earning a master’s in English literature/creative writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of the Civil War-era DarkHorse Trilogy: The Lies That Bind (antebellum Mississippi), Honor Among Outcasts (Civil War Missouri), and next year Something in Madness (Reconstruction Mississippi). Look for Ed’s futuristic mystery/thriller, The Antiquities Dealer, coming soon. Connect with Ed:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edprotzelauthor/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/EProtzel Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14757802.Ed_Protzel

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-protzel-6b215299/

Website: http://www.edprotzel.com/

This is A Limited Time Offer

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine

How many times have you heard, “This is a limited time offer so get yours today”! Marketing experts know the odds of you making a purchase are greater if they can get you to act immediately. Any delay increases the odds of a missed sale on their part. So they press the urgency of the decision by limiting the offer with time. I believe that statement is not only true about a commercial offering but about everything in life. Why do I say that?

Most of us can look back and see a missed opportunity. If we are truthful with ourselves we can also see the reason for the missed opportunity the majority of the time is procrastination. I can remember some years back seeing an author on TV and thinking I need to contact him for an interview and article in Southern Writers Magazine. Instead of doing it right away I delayed, I considered myself busy and eventually the urgency of the opportunity left me entirely. I hadn’t realized it had indeed been a limited time offer. I had failed to follow up on my gut instinct to make the contact. I seldom do that but in this case I was guilty. So what happens to those limited time offers?

In this case there is a good ending. I walked into our Writers Group one day and there sat this author. He was a new member and was introduced by one of our contributors to Southern Writers Magazine because she was writing an article about him and his books he had written. I was thrilled then I was stricken with this hard lesson. This offer like some many others is indeed a limited time offer but it is a limited time offer only to the one being presented to it at the time. I honestly believe if you refuse or ignore the offer, the opportunity as it is meant to be, will be offered elsewhere.

We never know how great the opportunity may be unless we follow it through. I have a friend that was studying under a college professor and had earned her certification as a Certified Professional Organizer. The professor’s work had drawn a lot of national attention and a documentary was done involving the professor and his assistants work. My friend was included and was so excited to be a part of the opportunity. Once the documentary hit the airwaves it was very successful and a series was offered. My friend wasn’t sure about being a part of it so she passed. Another assistant took her spot. This missed opportunity became the TV hit series Hoarders. She and her professor were apparently on the cutting edge of the study of this terrible disease. The opportunity would indeed have been lucrative but also it would have been a chance to help many people and their families.  

So what should we do? I like to follow these three simple steps:

·         Be aware and open to any and all opportunities presented. You never know where they could lead.

·         Expect good things to come from these opportunities. Should they take a turn for the worse you can retreat gracefully.

·         Remember this opportunity could and very well will lead to the next great opportunity. Be open and aware of that as well.

·         No regrets! Don’t dwell on lost opportunities. We all have had them. Be on the watch for the next one and it will come.

·         And remember…. “This is a limited time offer so get yours today”!    

 

       

                      

The Poetry of Activism We Witness

By Sara M. Robinson

I’ve been asked by many friends and associates why they haven’t seen any activist poetry from me. How do I write about current events? Or will I write about current events? Using poetry, I remarked that this is a very good and timely question. I struggled to provide an adequate answer, however. My hesitation is based on the major stumbling block for me: Where in the world would I start?

To write about world events and our own home country events is a challenge. We are compelled (theoretically, I think) as poets to be the witnesses of our surroundings then write about events in creative ways that provide thought provocation for our readers.

In a future Southern Writers Magazine column, titled “The Poetry of Witness,” I credit the amazing Carolyn Forché with coining that term. She describes in her writings what she sees as inequities of life around her. Another greatly admired poet, is Nikki Giovanni. Her memorable convocation after the Virginia Tech massacre of 2017 was and remains a powerful poetic statement and reminder about our history. 

So, how does all this come back to me? For one thing, as a poet, I constantly remind myself to be observant of all I can see. I take notes in my faithful companion journal. I talk to people and engage them to talk. One of my greatest pleasures is meeting weekly with senior citizen residents at a local retirement community. I use poetry from lots of sources to engage my attendees in conversation about their feelings and impressions. This is activism, using poetry as a “tool” to engage what I see as elderly folks wanting to stay relevant. Many of our weekly meetings inspire me to write poetry about the process of aging and the longevity of love. Often, I write poems for some of the attendees, to mark a birthday or some special event. Sometimes I’ve written poems as eulogy when the group has lost a member. In this way I suppose I have witnessed.

Now, back to the original question. While I may not be currently writing about politics or world events, I believe I write about life. I am a witness to life around me, and I use my poetry to advocate the beauty of living and the respect of aging; and lastly the hope I have gained wisdom of language to express all this in remarkable ways. A key component of my writing is to the creative use of language. After all, it is the basis for all that is human. Without language, we could only witness, we could not share.

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Sara M. Robinson, award-winning poet, founder of the Lonesome Mountain Pro(s)e Writers’ Workshop, and former Instructor of a course on Contemporary American Poets at UVA-OLLI, is poetry columnist for Southern Writers Magazine and poetry editor for Virginia Literary Journal. In addition to publication in various anthologies, including We Grew Wings and Flew (2014), Scratching Against the Fabric (2015), and Virginia Writer’s Club Centennial Anthology (2017); journals: Loch Raven Review, The Virginia Literary Journal, vox poetica, Jimson Weed, and Poetica, she is poet and author of Love Always, Hobby and Jessie (2009), Two Little Girls in a Wading Pool (2012), A Cruise in Rare Waters (2013), and Stones for Words (2014). Her latest poetry book, Sometimes the Little Town, released in February 2016, was a finalist for the Poetry Society of Virginia’s 2017 Book Award.

The Haunted Hero

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

A good protagonist has issues. No matter how strong and resilient they may be, a solid hero comes with baggage.

When we speak of emotional baggage we generally think of it negatively. For the storyteller, however, it's a favorite device to give the hero depth. The basic plot will throw challenges their way, but it's the inner conflict they themselves bring to the story that can create some of the most intriguing and relatable tension.

In a popular film that's out right now (don't worry, I don't do spoilers), a girl blames herself for a family member's death. Because we observe the incident, it barely needs elaboration. Hardly anything is said of it, but we understand innately what her thought process must be as future dangers present themselves.

The sort of things that haunt our hero can involve any brand of turmoil: death, guilt, abandonment, shame, rejection, you name it. The cause of their self-torture may take place within the action of the story itself, of it may be expressed in a reveal after much of the story has taken place. The latter method is a handy way to pique the reader's curiosity if they are given clues along the way suggesting there is more to the hero than meets the eye. Ideally, it will relate in some way to the plot itself so that they can gain some victory over it as part of their ultimate arc.

Baggage is not only good for the protagonist, but it makes for a more fascinating antagonist as well. Most of us know that Batman wouldn't have become a caped crusader had it not been for a tragedy in his youth. But let's not forget that The Joker also has a troubled past that he considers to be a valid excuse for his mayhem.

Is baggage always bad? Not necessarily. Writer Hope Alcocer shares this brilliant explanation: "Behind every dancer there's someone that broke her, a song that moved her, a moment that inspired her, and a dance floor that healed her." The emotional weight that we lug around makes us who we are for all of life's ups and downs.

Before our heroes embark on whatever quest we send them on, the trip is certain to be more interesting if we remember to pack some believable baggage for their hero's journey.