Consider This: Moments in My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different

by Chuck Palahniuk

The first is that the classic American bestseller tends to depict three main characters. One character follows orders, is shy and agreeable, a general all-round good girl or boy. The second character is largely the opposite: a rebel who bullies and breaks the rules, always brashly hogging the spotlight. And the third is quiet, thoughtful, and acts as the narrator, relating the story to the reader. The passive character commits suicide in some way. The rebel is executed in some way. And the thoughtful witness leaves the circumstances of the story, wiser for having seen the fate of the other two characters, and is ready to relay this cautionary tale to the world. Don’t laugh. Arguably the bestselling American books of the twentieth century have followed this formula.