Power to the protagonist

I was talking to kellyrfineman  the other day about main characters and "agency"--not that we used that word, but it's what we meant.

In general, a story is more interesting when the main character has to make choices with serious consequences--and nothing lets him off the hook, nobody sweeps in to save him. His destiny is in his hands; whatever happens next is his responsibility.

You may have heard the term deus ex machina--it's often used pejoratively in discussions of writing. In ancient Gr...