Motivation for Character Arc: A Different Approach

Now, what deep inside this protagonist is pitted against them in that Climax? What’s the equal-but-opposite fire in their belly that’s fighting back?

We’ll write it down below the box we just drew. Decorate it with its own little box, its own light and shadows, dents and cracks, evidence of a long and painfully difficult road. If the first cat is looking too directly at the first box, we’ll give this one a cat of its own. Otherwise, one cat will suffice.

Got it? Good.

We’ll doodle some lightning bolts between the two boxes.

Now we’ll ask ourselves, “Exactly how could these two needs have gotten this protagonist into this dreadful calamity?”

We’ll take copious notes on this, fleshing it out as fully as possible. We won’t re-tell the story. We’ll forget we ever even knew the story. We’re diving beneath the wave, re-envisioning the story from a completely different perspective. This is essential in order to know that the story we’ve told is, in fact, the story we’ve meant to tell.

We’ll ask ourselves, “What do you suppose happened here?” Then we’ll ask ourselves, “And how could these needs have led somewhere else?“ We’ll write about that for awhile.

We’ll draw circles and brackets, arrows and asterisks, little comments about things we forgot to mention. We’ll fill up pages. Keep our hands moving. We’ll always be wondering, “What do those two needs imply about this protagonist? How could this character have responded to their problems differently?” We’ll write sideways, at an angle, in loops, or upside-down. Nobody’s ever going to see this stuff. 

We’ll work backward through the story from Climax through Development, uncovering the hidden aspects of our protagonist’s internal conflict and recording them in great, whacking, glorious detail.

Eventually we’ll arrive at the Hook and write long and copiously about that. And finally—sprawling all over the pages of a full notebook or more—there will be a whole multitude of deep, intricate roots to this story.

Take a long breath and admire it. You had no idea your story contained such depth, did you?

Then we’ll go through it all slowly and thoughtfully, doodling circles or boxes or pyramids or stars around only those most special, magical roots with the freshest, most amazing potential. 

All we care about right now is that they’re different, surprising, magical. We’re not outlining something we’ve already outlined before. We’re searching for hidden potentialities that vibrate with the greatest possible tension and significance. We’ll know them. They’ll make our fingertips tingle.

Now we’ll take out another fresh sheet of paper (you didn’t know revision took so much fresh paper, did you?) and draw a sweeping curve and letter in extremely small letters each of those special, magical roots in chronological order.

There.

Our protagonist’s real character arc.

Victoria has been a professional writer and editor for over thirty years. She is the author of the Art & Craft of Writing series and offers email subscribers a free copy of Art & Craft of Writing: Favorite Advice for Writers. Catch up with Victoria on twitter or visit her website for more information on her editing services.
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