Or Half-Full?
I am the pessimist of our family. My husband is the optimist. (Yes, his chipper, upbeat outlook is exhausting…) I say why look to the future for sunshine and roses when you’re as likely to get rainstorms and mud? (He would say the roses need the rain and mud never hurt anyone. See what I mean? Exhausting.)
It’s hard to defend your world view in the face of such optimism. (Don’t worry, I try, I try). So when the inevitable question comes up, is the glass half full or half empty? I answer with a snark: “Neither; it’s almost always empty.”
But we’re never all one or the other—pessimist or optimist. We’re never half of one thing or half of another. We’re all sorts of things all at once—emotions, perspectives, outlooks, advice—and so are our characters. So are our stories. You can write a tragedy with my glass-almost-empty approach, or you can write a cheery happily-ever-after romance with my husband’s sunny optimism. But I assure you, you need some cheer in your tragedy and you need some tragedy in your cheer. If you don’t have anything good in your tragic hero’s life, they have nothing to lose. If life is a saccharine rainbow for your two lovers, how can they grow?
So to create engaging, interesting stories, let’s ditch the half-empty/half-full glass altogether.
Just drink out of the wine bottle instead. 🙂