Recently I picked up a Stephen King novel to read. I don’t read a lot of him because it’s hard to get around the rough language, but there have been movies that have moved me greatly that were adapted from his novels. I want to write novels that move people as well, so I decided to read one of his called The Stand.

Let me tell you, it is a thrilling book. I don’t know if I would say it’s scary, at least not yet (I’m only in the 26th chapter.), but there was this one part that put goosebumps on my arms. The character sketch of Randall Flagg, the Walking Dude, was about three pages long and chilling. I felt my heart beating faster and my breath coming heavier as I walked through the grotesque landscape of this villain’s mind. Of course, there were the obvious things that you would find in the intents of a villain–hatred, murder, rape, stealing, etc. But there was something else that I saw in this guy that actually scared me.

Destiny.

This dark man has a destiny to destroy the lives of countless characters. And he knows it. This is more scary than someone just being evil. We even have a stiffer penalty for those who premeditate a murder. There’s something freaky about a person who not only commits evil deeds but is destined to do so.

I thought to myself that I have to find a way to attach a sense of destiny to the characters of the novel I’m writing. Good guys are more noble when they have a sense of destiny in them for greatness. Think of young Luke Skywalker who knew he was made for more than moisture farming. Bad guys are more frightening when they somehow know that they are destined to drive humanity to its knees. Think of Anakin Skywalker as Yoda has ill-bodings of the young paduan. Destiny is one aspect that draws the reader’s interest and emotion into the fate of the character.

Destiny thickens the plot and complicates the conflict. If that person’s destiny is to save the planet, then how can they die now? Face it. We love destiny and can’t get enough as readers. When a character wanders aimlessly throughout the plot, I disconnect and will soon put the book back on the shelf. I want to see them struggle to get not only what they want, but what they were meant to do. That’s good writing.