Craft Glossary · term

Agency

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Plain English: The protagonist drives the story through choices, rather than being swept along by events and rescued by others.

Rule: At each turn, the POV character should be making a decision under pressure — even a wrong one. Their choices should cause the next complication.

Fail: The passive protagonist — coincidence, other characters, or luck solve the problems; the hero merely witnesses. (Closely related to the no-scene-goal failure under Scene & sequel.)

Arjuna Badger Press · Craft Library

Glossary · Doctrine · Anti-patterns · Triptych form · LLM tells

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