Lessons from the Incredibly Obvious File #3

Or: Taskalicious!

Most of us agree that, in conventional narratives, the protagonist has a desire or goal and must accomplish tasks and overcome obstacles--likely designed by the antagonist--on their path to reward.

We writers devote a lot of energy to making sure our protagonist and his or her goal are organic, credible, and interesting. But we can't forget about that path strewn with tasks. Those tasks have got to be interesting too!

The Devil Wears Prada has a great example of a deliciously tough task for a protagonist: Meryl Streep asks her newest assistant Anne Hathaway to get the "new Harry Potter book" for her twin daughters. Anne says she'll run up the street and buy a couple of copies. But Meryl gently chides her-- the girls have read all the published books, silly. They want to know what happens next.

And so begins Anne's desperate search for what we all know must be one of the best-protected unpublished manuscripts in the world. It's an interesting, memorable, appropriately difficult (yet not impossible) challenge, and when it's presented to our hero we recognize instantly how amazing she'll be if she can pull it off--and how evil our villain is for even asking for it.

You knew it was coming, but here it is: people, the devil's in the details!