Sometimes it’s tough to get your character to change, but the writer knows change is good, even necessary. After all, we know about the necessity of a “transformational arc.”
What if your character doesn’t want to change? What if you are getting lackluster responses from agents, editors (or reviewers if you self-published)?
Some characters don’t change much, but change still has to happen to something or someone in the story because the lesson about “change” is why a story exists.
Great stories also transform an ENTITY, according to James Bonnet in the writing guide called Stealing Fire From the Gods.
He suggests writers ask: What “unit” does your story change? A town? A family? He points out Star Wars changed a whole galaxy.
Your novel or script might be about something smaller. What might your character help fix or build? It might be as small as them re-decorating a room or fixing a car during the story.
Here’s the KEY: Let the process push your character to think about how they might change, too, as the “entity” of your story changes. The REFLECTION by your character is important to include.
Bonnet points out, “The fate of the entity is linked to the destiny of the hero who is caught in the middle.”
Keep things credible. The larger the entity, the slower the change.
Map out how the “entity” might change in your story start to finish.
Then map out your character’s reactions to the entity’s changes.
Often, a protagonist will be reticent in the beginning but dive in at the climax to help push the entity to a new status. And voila, you have a more interesting character with a transformational arc that sells better.
Christine DeSmet: Author 