Get to the heart of your story: character arc transformation
This simple exercise provides you with a powerful tool whether you are just beginning to understand your story, you’ve written a full draft, or you are somewhere in between.
Take a picture
Imagine your protagonist at the beginning of the story, just as it opens. Take a virtual photo of her/him–and carefully observe and study the details: expression, posture, clothing, surroundings. Is she alone? Is she surrounded by others? Is she smiling? Is she looking away from the camera? If so, what is she seeing? What is she hearing? Is she holding something in her hands? What is her mood? How is she present in her world? Absorb what you are seeing and sensing. This is not the time to pull back and analyze from a distance. This is the time to ease close and experience and use all the senses.
Take a second picture
Now, take a second virtual photo of your protagonist, this time imagining her at the end of the story. Again, pay close attention to the details. Where is she and what is she doing? What changes do you notice? What has changed in the way she holds her body? Is she holding something new in her hand? Has she cut her hair? Taken off makeup she wore before? Most importantly, how is she relating differently to those around her? And what does she know that she didn’t know at the beginning of the story? How has she transformed in the way that she views her world?
Endless clues
These two images offer endless clues to your protagonist’s transformation. Hold them up next to each other and ask yourself what happened to my protagonist in between the beginning and the end? What is her story? Aim to keep out of your head (intellectual) and stay in your heart (experiential).
What and why and how did the changes occur? Because in every memorable story there will be change on the deepest, most profound level.
Use this exercise to generate new ideas, new scenes, new insights.
Remember, a story has an arc and that arc is shaped by the dilemma between the “want” and “need” of the protagonist.
Wishing you flow~
