One thing that always frustrated me about Charlie Brown is that he never won. I understand why Schulz made Charlie Brown the eternal loser and why that was important, but he should have won at least once. Even Peter Parker crosses the finish line once in a while.

In the book we talk about how important it is to write sympathetic characters. People identify with characters that are flawed. If your characters always win, ultimately they’re less real.

But I had to let Cole, my “Charlie Brown”, kick the football at least once.

Of course, most of Cole’s rivalry with Max is in his head. After all, what has Max ever done to Cole except succeed? Ultimately it’s unfair for Cole to resent Max for his success, isn’t it? So even if Cole “won” this one he’s still hopelessly flawed.

Do I think too much about this stuff?

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