I’ve had a lot of craft books that have inspired me over the years. I’ve read great things about characters, plots, scenes. But I'd never found a book on creating a character arc/internal plot.
Oh, is this something I need help with. I have the tendency to create Mary Sues for my protagonist, and the few times I’ve tried to create a character that needed to grow more—no one liked them!
I’ve heard lots of advice online on how to create a character arc. I read that I just needed to focus on the main plot and add the internal plot in later or not to really worry about it. If you write the book, the internal arc will come.
But that wasn’t working for me.
Then a friend loaned me Story Genuis by Lisa Cron. It’s the first book that spelled out how to create a character arc in a way that made sense to me.
The story is what creates beautiful writing...not the other way around. Lisa Cron
What I learned from Story Genuis:
1. The main story is the character arc. Lisa Cron goes into a lot of brain science to back up this claim in the book, but basically we read stories to vicariously experience someone’s life struggle. The character arc is the plot.
2. Write an “origin scene” for your character’s misbelief. I knew the importance of creating a misbelief, but I didn’t know how to make it organic to the story. Once I wrote my character's origin story, her struggle became so much more real to me.
3. Details begat details. After writing your character’s origin story, you write the scenes from that scene to the start of your present story. I ended up with at least 4-5 scenes that happened before the book starts. And even though not all of them will make it into the novel, what I learned about my main character will.
4. If a scene is not working, ask yourself whether the events challenge your character’s misbelief. This was an issue for me before. I’d often create lots of action-packed scenes, but they often had nothing to do with the character’s misbelief and weren’t very compelling.
5. Interiority comes easier when you filter everything through the lens of the character’s misbelief. As I kept asking myself Lisa’s scene questions as I wrote, tension and internal conflict seemed to come automatically.
6. If you get stuck, go back to the backstory. I use Cron’s technique of writing backstory scenes whenever I get stuck. I’ve written some scenes for my other characters just to get to know them. I don’t like writing character history or charts, but writing scenes helps me understand them on a deeper level.
A couple caveats: I don’t think Cron’s book is the best book for new writers. It doesn’t go over the basics. For me, this was okay, because I really needed to work on character arc. Also, her examples are from chick lit, so if you write something else (like me), you’ll have to apply these ideas to your genre. But I think her principles work for every genre.
What craft books have inspired you lately?
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August 4 question - What is your favorite writing craft book? Think of a book that every time you read it you learn something or you are inspired to write or try the new technique. And why?
That's great that you found the book on developing character that helped you so much. I may check it out as I struggle with character development too.
ReplyDeleteDoes it challenge your character's misbelief? What a great angle to consider!
ReplyDeleteSeveral people mention Story Genius as one of the best books on writing. I need to check it out. I never read it before.
ReplyDeleteAs for creating characters, I always make my characters good. At least, that's my intention. I want to write about good people. But too often, my notion of good doesn't comply with the majority's perception, so what I think is good comes out as controversial. Because of that, I stopped worrying about my characters' flaws and only think of obstacles in their paths and how they overcome those obstacles. Usually, that reveals their traits much better than any character charts I've ever done.
I've been hearing about this book. thanks for sharing your thoughts on it. I should really check it out.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot about the Cron, all of it good. @samanthabwriter from
ReplyDeleteBalancing Act
I've read Lisa's book, and although I don't agree with everything she says, it's still a good reference book for writers. Thanks for the suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of Story Genius before, but I haven't picked up a copy for myself. Maybe I should!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds awesome! It follows closely the technique my coach has taught me, but I like how this is worded. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete