of much value to the writer, action has to require expenditure of significant and/or physical energy. The more energy expended, the more powerful the story (FANKLIN, 1986: p. 83). Action leads the characters from complication to resolution. Action moves two ways: in one, the characters do something; in the other, something is done to them. Characters.As characters act, their actions can help the reader understand them. Franklin (1986) defines a character as the human being whose life the complication complicates. It is he who acts, and is acted upon. It is he who reaches equilibrium when the resolution finally occurs (FRANKLIN, 1986: p. 86). A good character must be unique, and his uniqueness will make your story also unique. The quality of a character depends on the way he views complication. He must understand the complication he faces. A look at his past will tell much about the way he deals with complication. A fear at the present moment may be associated with a fear in the past. His action moves between his past and present life. Franklin (1986) argues that In the best stories, the odyssey from complication to resolution changes the character profoundly. In fact, the resolution often results not directly from the action but from a growing enlightenment often a sudden flash of insight as the character finally realizes what he has to do to solve his problem (FRANKLIN, 1986: p. 89).The reader tends to identify with the characters problem and actions. The readers satisfaction comes when he learns with the characters story. The story teaches the reader to become a better and wiser person, without moralizing him.GenresStories develop in association with narrative genres. Many genres are available to writers. Genres like adventure, gothic, biographical science fiction, mystery, literary, kid and adult story, thriller and detective, fantasy, horror and romance offer good chances for a writer to enlarge his writing ability.METAPHORSCharacters like protagonist, antagonist and helper can be associated with these three metaphors: Ariel, Caliban, and Esu. These metaphors represent peoples identities. Ariel is the metaphor for the person who denies his own culture in order to assimilate foreign values. He possesses an assimilationist identity. Unlike Ariel, Caliban becomes the metaphor for the person who lives his own culture and hates somebody elses values. He has a nationalist identity. Unlike both Ariel and Caliban, Esu combines his own culture with the culture of the others. He creates a catalyst identity for himself. Ariel-like Behavior: ProtagonistA Brazilian character possessing an Ariel-like behavior assimilates the American cultural value, lets say The Statue of Liberty. He admires it, he loves it, he does anything to possess it. In a word, he assimilates it. As he assimilates the foreign value, he also refuses his own cultural value. He thinks it is ugly, inferior, thus he despises it, and replaces it for the American one. In short, this Brazilian character becomes an assimilationist Ariel.Who is Ariel, anyway? Ariel is not only the spirit character in Shakespeares The Tempest, but also the young intellectual in Uruguayan Rodos (1900) essay Ariel. In both the play and