Make Yourself the Villain by Dana Sitar

In editing the stories for my latest book,  The Hart Compound, I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out just how to make one particular story sing. It was tricky. I am trying to portray a particularly emotional time when I did some particularly shitty things, and for a long time I couldn't quite get the right emotions to come out.

One brief line in this post about storytelling from Jeff Goins made me realize what I was doing wrong:

If you’re guilty of those [negative] acts, you’ve been the villain.

It struck me: The story hasn't been working because I have been trying to make myself both the protagonist and the antagonist. Trying to write a story about my negative actions without portraying myself in a negative light.

This wouldn't work with a fictional antagonist, and I can't expect it to work in my memoir.To tell this story right, I had to bite the bullet and make myself the villain.

There's no reason to do this all the time; I think I come out alright in the rest of my stories. But, occasionally, even your protagonist has to screw a few things up. If you want to take the leap and write about your life, make sure you're jumping in all the way. Be honest -- you can't be the hero of every story.