Growth

Again, consider bookmarking this post until after NaNoWriMo if you’re taking this month to write your book.

In this second post for broad evaluation and fixing of your story, let’s talk about growth and change.

What happens to us affects us. What we experience changes our perspective, our behavior, and our relationships. We understand this instinctively when we know we have to understand a character’s backstory to be able to fully paint them on the page for our stories.

The same applies during the story as well. A character should be emotionally and physically affected by the things that happen in the story. It might be a small change. It might be a new skill, a new awareness of others, or discovering something they didn’t know, or denied, about themselves.

Remember show don’t tell, though. The character’s reaction might cause a change in their language in dialogue. Or it might lead to taking a different action, or hesitating the next time something similar happens. Or the effect might be a fundamental shift in their perspective about their place in the world.

Ditto, if something happens to their friend, a love interest, a family member, or a close colleague, anyone they care about. Dependent on their personality, their history with that person, and their closeness, the character might go into comfort mode, empathy mode, or revenge mode.

For this last one, you probably already have evidence in the story — because these kinds of things drive the twists and turns of a plot.

But what about the other moments? Do you show the effect on the character from those? Take one scene at a time and look for on the page evidence answering these questions.

1. Is the character reacting to stuff going on?
2. Is the character showing thoughts about something that just happened?
3. Is the character saying anything that shows their reaction?
4. What about the quality of their voice? Is it quavering? Firm? Stumbling? Cut up by hesitation?

Fixes

1. Add the missing dialogue reaction.
2. Add the body language that shows their feelings.
3. Add some inner thoughts as the character wrestles with what’s happened.

A judiciously added line here or there will deeply enrich the depth of the character on the page, and vastly improve your story.

Ursula was ahead of him in line. She looked really nicely put together today. Must have a meeting with her department chair. Someone brushed through the line right behind her and upset the mountain of books cradled in her arms. Amid the crashing sounds, Mick was surprised to see Ursula’s eyes go glassy as they followed the jock who didn’t even turn around to apologize.

But then her jaw firmed and she simply bent over and collected her books and stepped up to the barista and ordered her drink. Mick looked toward the jock, pushing his way past another girl on his way out of the shop.

Jerk.

example

Keep going. In the next scene, make sure the character is still changing, still processing. Showing their change will make it believable to readers that the character is growing into the person that you wanted them to be by story’s end.

Point of View

Characters do show change and growth through body language and dialogue in scenes where other characters have point of view. But for this exercise, start first with focusing on the scenes that are all this one character’s point of view. Group them and make multiple passes through your story if you have dual (or more) POVs. This will make sure that the character you’re focused on fixing is internally consistent.

After all the direct thoughts are done, you can go back through scenes that are happening through other characters’ eyes and find places where they see and react to other characters’ changes.

“Excuse me, I can’t be late for my meeting,” Ursula said.

Michael stepped back. “Yeah, yeah, right. Take care.” Then he lifted his hand as if he was going to wave as Ursula walked off with her coffee.

Jason prodded Mach. “Yo, man, you wouldn’t usually give Ursula the time of day. What up?”

Mach rubbed the back of his neck. “No reason to be a jerk.”

example

How the point of view character reacts to the changes happening in another character is a whole ‘nother level of character development.

~ Lara