Dez Riley

It was the summer after high school, where this story takes place. A small town just outside a city that was topping the charts for heroin abuse. I was 18-years-old and freshly out of the worst relationship of my life. After months of gas-lighting, emotional manipulation, suicide threats, all wrapped up in a bag of cheating, I was free. My mental health was soaring in comparison to how it'd been, and so when my friend's (Jana and Jacob) asked me if I wanted to go out to eat with them and catch a movie, I happily agreed. It wasn't until I was already in the car with them that they casually mentioned my ex was coming along.

Ah the protagonist, the main character of your epic adventure. Whether they’re good or bad, human or otherwise, they’ve got a goal and that’s why this story even exists. Without a good protagonist, the story just falls flat no matter how much effort you’ve placed in the plot. So here’s some important things to look at while writing and designing your main character.

The first time I met her, we were both children. I have vague memories of her in elementary school, a sheepish looking child with wild brown hair and a timid demeanor. The first time I met her and it meant something, I was a thousand miles away. My family had decided to pack up our northern-American family and move us to Texas. It was a decision that would ultimately fail; a year from our moving date we were back to our northern town, but when I met her I did not know I'd ever be coming back.

Okay guys, here's a fun little story that's been hanging on the tip of my tongue at every social event for the last year and a half. The day my best friend and I lost our minds. I'd been associated with all things marijuana for years by that point, but my friend (we'll call her Cindy) was still relatively new and eager to expand her palette. So when we stopped by my wonderful dealer Franks house and she saw those chocolate-chip packed brownies sitting on his counter I already knew we'd be taking some home. With minimal convincing, we each bought one.