How to Write Redemption

Posted on by Colin McMahon

Everyone loves a good redemption story. It is one of the aspects that I believe helped make the original Star Wars trilogy so endearing: Watching Darth Vader rise from darkness to save his son. Redemption is also a hopeful message. Not only does it assure us that anyone can become the good guy, it gives a feeling of control. If these characters are so in charge of their destiny, than maybe we can be too.

Today’s post looks at some ways to write a successful redemption arc. This is by no means a definitive “how-to.” Writing is variable and unique – pretty much every rule can be broken by someone who knows what they’re doing to achieve a powerful effect.

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I was Wrong about She-Ra

Posted on by Colin McMahon

Back in 2018 I wrote down my thoughts on season one of Netflix’s She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. To sum it up: I enjoyed the premiere but felt it had a lot of issues involving world-building, character growth, and (a lack of) explicit LGBTQ representation.

Within the last week, I decided to revisit the show – in part because people were saying really good things about the ending. I am glad I did. My initial comments on She-Ra (I’m not writing out the full title every time) were overly critical and harsh. It was after all just a first season.

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Character Analysis: Why Did Luke Skywalker Fall?

Posted on by Colin McMahon

Recently I was watching this video from Overly Sarcastic Productions:

In general, I love this video channel. It’s a great tool for writers and storytellers who would to dive a little deeper into elements of storytelling and literary analysis – all in the guise of pop culture commentary. They’re great and I recommend checking them out.

That said, there was one thing I took umbrage with during the above video, namely this line: “And Luke actually has it worse! Apparently Mr. Paragon hero savior of the whole dang galaxy, noted for his tendency to never give up on family members even if they’re super evil, made a cursory attempt to revive the Jedi Order and then when his nephew turned evil and killed everybody, he [Luke] gave up forever and went off to a distant planet to sulk for the rest of his life.”

Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there. But my first takeaway was the simple: “That’s not what happened. Because it’s not. It’s so fundamentally not and it’s a lazy error, like the author of the video read the cliff-notes of The Last Jedi instead of watching the actual movie. So, let’s do some character analysis and answer the question: Why did Luke Skywalker fall?

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