Your opinion wanted

I gathered my notes the other day for my upcoming romance WIP. When I initially mulled this idea, my main male character was a paralegal who quit his job to follow his dream of being a full time author. In the latest rendition of notes, he was a six-figure + lawyer who walked away from it all to follow his dreams.

Whoever it turns out to be, the girlfriend isn't happy about his decision.

Further info... the lawyer is forced to face a moral dilemma at his job that spurs his desire to quit. He is also better off financially, which is why I think there would be a greater impact on character growth when it all goes away. With the rest of my plot points, there is no way the character could remain at his job (outside influences)

Further info... the paralegal is tired of getting shit on at work from overpaid lawyers. He decides to follow his dreams. Money-wise, he doesn't stand to lose a great deal, but the potential for more is great. I'd have to figure out more conflicts for him.

When the main character walks away from his job to follow his dream of being a writer, his girlfriend walks away from him. I can envision a different trajectory for each with their own set of conflicts. The only constant is they have both been saving money for the planned departure date.

So what is your opinion? Which do you fell would be the better main character and why?

Thanks for your input.

 

I get that your character is walking a way from a job. That's something concrete. But what is he talking towards? Just quitting everything and changing his whole life to follow a dream of being a writer seems kind of ridiculous without some more concrete details in place. Is he any good? Did he secretly apply and get into Iowa? He would probably have to quit his job to pursue that. Has he been working on a detective series and just landed a 3-book deal? I don't think anyone would drop everything to pursue writing without some sort of sign that it could work out. How long has he planned this? How long has he been writing? The girlfriend must know something about his writing dreams before it gets to this point, no?

I don't know if you are setting your character up for failure or greatness, but it sounds kind of like more of a midlife crisis than a career change. Of course, that could depend a lot on how you frame it. But you do have to keep in mind that most people who want have a writing career fail. And of those who do make it, it takes way longer than anyone thinks it should. The way you seem to have it set up seems pretty equivalent to packing up his car and taking off for Hollywood to make it as a movie star. Lot's of people have these dreams. What makes your character decide to go for it at this point in their life? And is there really any chance for success? You could have very different kind of stories based on these answers. You don't have to answer these questions. They are just some things to think about.

 

Yeah, I mean I sort of did this, and it is sort of working out for me. But I dedicated so much time and energy into the art of short fiction for many years, as documented in this forum, and there was nothing but rejection for years. And I was trying as hard as I could. Reading feverishly. Writing often. And I also got an MFA.

And the MFA option might be something he wants to consider for his character. In that case, the character could quit his job snd move to Iowa to live the writer's life for two years. I say Iowa because that's known to be the best program, but it could be anywhere. And there are plenty of funding options if you are good enough to get those spots. Getting into an MFA program could give the character some validation he needs to really go for it. Just an idea. It probably depends on what kind of writer the character wants to be. MFA programs focus on literary fiction.

Another things that could realistically kick off this character deciding to really go for this is that he gets into a residency like Yaddo where he gets to live in the Catskills and write his beautiful novel. These sorts of things are competitive, but they don't cost the writer anything and some have stipends.

I'm just saying there are ways to step into an all-about-writing world that aren't all that crazy. However, I think it takes a solid decade to become any sort of overnight success. But perhaps this character is really good. But when did he find the time to write during his busy career? I mean he wants to leave his job to write, what does that look like? Also, why is the girlfriend so against this? Has she read his work? Does she think he sucks?

 

Both are turning away from lucrative jobs. The lawyer has indeed committed more of his life to his profession, though. Has he been in the job long enough to even pay off his lawschool debt?

Why is the potential for more great? As deadrats asked, was he already offered a book deal? It's hopefully something more than 'my high school English teacher always said I should be a writer.'

The opportunity cost adds up quickly. He's only got so many career years. Women are sometimes better at understanding that than men. Things like affording children, basic transportation, a retirement, or a house all drip away. Those aren't vapid lifestyle traits; they severely affect the only life one gets. It's serious, which is why it makes for compelling drama. Fixed income is so close to destitute these days it's not even funny.

But... anything is possible. Sometimes you can do something idiotic and win the lottery. Truth is much stranger than fiction that way. The financial reality that most writers (even good, published authors) face is simply not good, but things can work out however you want them to. It's your story.

The choice will me leaning either to something more dreamy (which is fine, many successful stories do) or grounded.

Personally, I'm more interested in seeing the paralegal take that plunge. I don't have any justification for that opinion, though, and it all depends on how it's written.

 

He could have some kind of crisis caused by his harrowing high-stress job—a near-death experience or something, and it changes his whole outlook on life. He realizes material wealth and external status isn't the right way for him, it's necessary to develop his inner life, and it needs to be through writing. Maybe he remembers a time when he wrote something that started to show him his inner life, which wasn't allowed to emerge until then, but he stifled it and took the nose-to-the-grindstone path instead.

 

Well, the high-paid lawyer walking away has been done a lot, but the story depends on what he "walks away" to do. Since he is high-paid he is probably successful and likely has money stashed somewhere, and connections that won't all end simply because he no longer practices law. He could walk into a commentary schtick, or run for office, or . . . . Or he could chuck it all and become a Buddhist monk. Depends what he feels is missing from his life. He could discover that it wasn't the job that was making his life feel empty.

My concern about the paralegal option you set out is that -- although there are good and valuable and hard-working paras -- most are usually not as invested as the lawyer and their lives are probably not as defined by the job as a lawyer is. Obviously so in the scenario you have set out; if he were good at the job, he would tend to be higher paid and be respected by the firm. He isn't of much value to the firm by definition of being "lowly." So I'm not sure why you would necessarily put much emphasis on the job he is walking away from. He could be quitting any job. The real question is why he's been putting up with being treated as "lowly" for so long.

 

I think both could be great main characters, it really depends on what they do next.

At first glance the lawyer seems more interesting because there are more "why" questions. Why would someone take the time to be a lawyer to walk away and become a writer. There is a story just in that.

Some Paralegals make good money and are well respected, but you specifically say this one is getting crapped on... well in that case there is no mystery as to why he left to pursue his dream, it sounds like if he got a job working McDonalds he would probably take it to get out of being a para. And with money stashed away there doesn't seem to be in conflict as far as staying or going.

This isn't to say the idea of the Para as a main character is bad, between the two of the the plot points of of the lawyers arc are more obvious, with the para you need to work harder to show why the audience should care (that could be a reason the Para is better).
My two cents

 

One of my thoughts is he defended and got off someone that he knows without a doubt is guilty of attempted murder. His conscience finally kicks in, and he has to face the realities. He is helping to put dangerous people back out on the street to terrorize innocent people. It finally tears him apart and he decides to walk away from his job. He finally came to the realization that money wasn't everything.

 

Thanks to everyone who has commented. I've been dealing with some things, so I haven't been around to check.

One of the drawbacks of living the mobile life is you either learn how to do things or it gets VERY expensive. We had a water fitting fail, spraying water all over our crawl space at 10 pm. We shut off the water to the rig and used bottled water for the night. The next morning, I woke up at 6am and emptied out our basement. It didn't take long before I realized the only way to access that particular pain in my butt was to disassemble my solar system entirely, including removing the two 130lb batteries. Once that was done, I could wiggle back to the affected site. I ended up having to cut out more than I would have liked to be able to fix the problem, all because my PEX crimpers couldn't access some of the areas that needed crimps. Once the water was fixed, I got to play electrician all over again and re-install all the solar equipment.

After spending 12+ hours crawling in and out of the basement and wiggling my 51-year-old body into a 2.5-foot-tall crawl space the entire time, my body refused to cooperate for a couple of days. I didn't even bother to turn on the computer.

Back to the original post. Everyone has given me things to ponder, and you've asked great questions that will benefit the character's development.

I'll see if I can't answer all of those for you as well.

 

Let's just say that I have personally been known to do ridiculous things. In his mind, he has saved up a decent amount of money, so he is willing to risk it to chase his dream. It might not work out, and if it doesn't, then he will have to return to the real world (subplot spoiler), but if it should work out, he stands the chance of being much happier. In his mind, he is decent; he gets favorable reviews from previously published works. It's not going to be an easy path. He will have to deal with folks questioning why he would give up financial security for the unknown, setting up internal and external conflict. Neither he nor I know anything about Iowa. I'm guessing it is a good school for writing?

I haven't worked out how long he's been saving up the money to walk, so I would say he has been planning this for a little longer than that. I still have to come up with that detail. As for the girlfriend, she knows about his writing and thinks it's just a phase, so it catches her off guard when he follows it full-time.

There will be failure in the beginning. Since this is ultimately a romance novel, it will end with greatness and happiness ever after. It could be a mid-life crisis. I'll have to give that direction some thought.

His conscience finally exerts itself, and he can no longer defend the accused, so he decides to change everything. This is only one of his transformations in the book. I think the unknown of success could introduce a level of internal conflict.

 

I'm definitely guilty.

 

speaking of doing dumb shit. Before today, I'd never heard of this program. I wrote my first book while I was a landscape and wildlife photographer. My stroke took that away that dream from me... so I thought... what the hell, I'll try my hand at becoming a full-time author. I probably won't make it, but it won't be due to a lack of trying. I am completely self-taught. No way I'm going back to school at 51.

I'll look into this to see if I can work it in somehow into the plot

I am going to use a trick that I employ for myself. I have an app on my phone and a Bluetooth keyboard. When I have down time at the chevy dealership, doctors office, or waiting on my food order. I will use that time to write. The character will write during his lunch hour to take his mind off of his life.

She has read it. Thinks he is good, but also thinks it is a fad that will pass. She is kind of self-absorbed.

 

Wasn't planning on mentioning his debt, but we can assume it is gone.

My thoughts were IF he makes it then it could be way more money than he is used to.

In fairness, the para was in my notes first. Then I got to thinking of how I could add more conflict for the MC. That's when the lawyer emerged.

 

This is similar to what I had in mind. Although you have gone into a few more options than I thought of. I may have to see if I can combine some of them.