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Why your protagonist's longing should lead to their fear

What your protagonist longs for is what they'd have if their deepest fear didn't run them, so chasing it should walk them into that fear, or the longing is decoration.

Chasing what your protagonist longs for should walk them straight into what they fear most.
What your protagonist longs for is what they'd have if their deepest fear, what StoryDNA calls The Fear, stopped running their life.
So going after it should force them in front of that fear. A lonely protagonist who longs for connection has to risk being left again. That's when the longing and the fear lock together.
If your protagonist could chase the longing without ever touching the fear, it's a wish attached to the character, not something growing out of them.
In E.T., Elliott longs for connection, and loving E.T. means opening himself to being left again, the hurt his absent father left.
There's a harder version. Your protagonist once got close enough to the longing to feel what it would cost. So they settle for a smaller fear they can talk about, like failure, because living with that fear costs less than reaching for the longing.
Most of us long hardest for the opposite of what we fear most, and many of us stop reaching after one close brush showed us what it would cost.
Run this check, and be ready for the answer to be no. Does going after the longing force your protagonist to face The Fear? If not, the longing is decoration.
Come test your protagonist's longing in StoryDNA. The Fear-Desire Opposition question asks how chasing it forces them to face The Fear. It's one of 21 in the Goal System builder.

Chasing what your protagonist longs for should walk them straight into what they fear most.

What your protagonist longs for is what they'd have if their deepest fear, what StoryDNA calls The Fear, stopped running their life.

So going after it should force them in front of that fear. A lonely protagonist who longs for connection has to risk being left again. That's when the longing and the fear lock together.

If your protagonist could chase the longing without ever touching the fear, it's a wish attached to the character, not something growing out of them.

In E.T., Elliott longs for connection, and loving E.T. means opening himself to being left again, the hurt his absent father left.

There's a harder version. Your protagonist once got close enough to the longing to feel what it would cost. So they settle for a smaller fear they can talk about, like failure, because living with that fear costs less than reaching for the longing.

Most of us long hardest for the opposite of what we fear most, and many of us stop reaching after one close brush showed us what it would cost.

Run this check, and be ready for the answer to be no. Does going after the longing force your protagonist to face The Fear? If not, the longing is decoration.

Want to work through this in your own story?

Come test your protagonist's longing in StoryDNA. The Fear-Desire Opposition question asks how chasing it forces them to face The Fear. It's one of 21 in the Goal System builder.

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