Wuthering Heights Lesson for Writers

As a writer it is always a treat to learn something new in the craft, even when that something should have been as plain as day.
Lets take a good lesson from a real classic: Wuthering Heights. This book, over 164 years old, teaches us many lessons not only in the emotional area but in choice making areas as well.
If you watch Wuthering Heights (2009 version) you will notice that tragedy after tragedy strikes. Here's the lesson: each tragedy comes from a near direct action of the two main characters.
While some may have heard this: let things happen to your characters and later in the story, have a turning point where the protagonist takes charge. Not in Wuthering Heights. Only ever so often do things 'just happen' to them. They make all of the events happen based on their own decisons, and the result of this? A far better reader (watcher if you've seen the movie) response. This is when the audience will feel anger, exapseration, or even hope that your characters *themselves will make the right choices.