What is Your Character's Internal Struggle?

In a novel or short story, most of the time, the protagonist has an external struggle that he is working through until the resolution. An external struggle could be anything, really: the most powerful evil wizard who wants to kill you, a wicked witch who wants the very shoes off your feet, or even Mother Nature who can create the perfect storm. 

When readers discuss novels or talk about a short story, the external struggle is usually the first thing mentioned. For example: "It's about this man whose wife and child were killed by a serial killer; and while seeking revenge, he uses his keen people reading skills to solve crimes." 

But all of the stories on your nightstand or in draft on your computer or saved on your DVR should (and probably do) have a protagonist that has an internal struggle. An internal struggle is just as important as the external one. Does your protagonist lack self-confidence, suffer from greedy tendencies, or fear falling in love? What does your character struggle with in the middle of the night, when alone and looking in?

Think about your own internal struggles--most of us have more than one and most of them come from something in our past that has happened externally. Think about how you act in certain situations where you feel uncomfortable or how you go about making an important decision--most likely how you behave stems from your internal struggle. The characters in the fiction you are writing need to have an internal struggle that you as the writer know and understand AND that affects most of the decisions in your story.

So before writing any more on your work-in-progress, here's an exercise you can do to be certain you have thought through these two struggles. Write down or type out the following:

1. My protagonist's external struggle (s) is _______________________________. 

2. He/she solves this external struggle (or problem) by _____________________________________.

3. My protagonist's internal struggle (s) is _________________________________________.

4. Throughout the novel, this internal struggle will cause problems because __________________.

5. In the end of the novel, the internal struggle will _______________________________. (example: not be solved, but cause my protagonist to take a chance on love he normally would not have)

Once you have these five points clear in your head, I believe your writing will be stronger for the reader and easier for you. If you're having trouble filling out those five sentences, then try the exercise on a couple of your favorite novels or TV shows before you tackle your own work-in-progress. 

Just remember, of course, everyone loves a hero who slays the dragon and saves the princess. But everyone really adores the hero who overcomes his fear of facing a dragon, then slays it, and saves the princess. 

Margo L. Dill teaches novel writing and children's and YA writing in the WOW! classroom. To find out more about her and her books, please check out her website: http://www.margodill.com .   

keyboard photo above by orangeacid on Flickr.com 

Read More »

8 comments character traits, inner conflict, Margo L. Dill, novel writing, outer conflict, writing exercise

Character: Using Their Fears to Torment Them

I know you’ve read it before – today, editors and agents want character driven stories. With that in mind, we spend hours and hours creating inviting, engaging, three dimensional characters.

With all that time spent together in mind, is it any wonder than that we tend to fall a little bit in love? Once that happens we tend to go easy on our characters instead of tormenting them which is what we have to do to make things interesting.

Fortunately, Elizabeth Wein is willing to torment her characters with great abandon in Code Name Verity.

WARNING: FROM THIS POINT ON, THIS POST IS ONE ENORMOUS SPOILER.

At the center of Wein’s story are two girls – Maddie and Julie. Maddie is a British pilot whose grandfather is a shopkeeper. Julie is an upper class, a wireless operator, educated in Switzerland. Without the war, they wouldn’t have met and become best friends, but it also the war that tears them apart.

The setting, war ravaged Britain, is enough to make their lives difficult, but it isn’t enough for Wein. She takes what the girls most dread and uses it against them. to make their lives worse.
Early in their friendship, they discuss their fear of having to kill someone. Although neither of is a soldier, the roles they play aid soldiers in getting to battle.

Now you have a war time setting and two characters working with the military who openly fear taking a human life. Things have gotten worse for these two characters, but, for Wein, not bad enough.
During an air raid, the girls run past an antiaircraft gun. The soldiers manning it lay dead or dying. To defend the field, the girls must shoot men out of the sky.

Wein set this up masterfully. She could have had them afraid of spiders or storms, but she picked something she could work deeply into the story. At this point, you shouldn’t be surprised that Wein makes things even worse.

When the girls’ plane crash lands in occupied France, Julie is captured and tortured. Maggie works with the French Underground to rescue Julie and other captives slated for use in medical experiments. Not only does the rescue fail, but Julie demands the only rescue in sight. She calls out for Maddie to shoot her.

Maddie can let her friend be tortured or she can pull the trigger. How is that for taking things from bad to worse?

Take a look at your own story. What does your character fear? Do you use these things to make her life unbearable? If you don’t, you may be missing the opportunity to write a story with stakes that pull the reader in and refuse to let go.

--SueBE

Author Sue Bradford Edwards has been writing from home since her son was a new born. Yes, that means when he was a toddler, too. She blogs at One Writer's Journey.

Read More »

2 comments Character and plot, character driven, character traits, characterization, Code Name Verity

What Did Your Character Do For New Year's?

My cousin eats pickled herring on New Year's Eve. My grandma and aunt used to when they were alive--it's supposed to bring you good luck in the New Year. At our Christmas gathering, my cousin explained to me not to get the herring in cream sauce (who would do that?) and just to eat a bite or two. I need to sell my house (Oh, I NEED TO SELL MY HOUSE) and finish my novel and look for an agent in 2014, but I'm not sure if I'm desperate enough to eat pickled herring. I can confess right now that I am not.

But this conversation got me thinking about our characters that we spend so much time with--either the ones we are writing or the ones we are reading--and I wondered if you ever thought about how your character in your work-in-progress or even the book you are currently reading spends New Year's Eve and/or New Year's Day.

One of the most famous New Year's Eve movie scenes is from When Harry Met Sally; but in order for that relationship and scene to FINALLY work and be so memorable years after we've seen the movie, it had to make sense for both the characters, Harry and Sally, to act that way on New Year's Eve. We love both Harry and Sally, and we long for them to be together--we buy it when they finally do become a couple on New Year's Eve. 

You can do a complete character exercise about New Year's Eve:

Does your character go to a party?

When she goes to a party, does she drink it up or stand in the corner?

Does she dress in a formal or jeans?

Who does she kiss at midnight?

Who does she wish she could kiss at midnight?

Does she make resolutions?

Does she stick to them?

What are they?

Does she eat pickled herring for luck?

Does she hide a coin in black-eyed peas on New Year's Day?

If I answered some of these for a well-known character, such as Rapunzel (I have a three-year-old daughter--can't help myself!), I might say, "Yes, Rapunzel would make resolutions--to get out of the tower at least once a month without the witch noticing, and she would eat pickled herring on New Year's Eve because she needs all the luck she can get. She doesn't get to go to a party on New Year's Eve because she is stuck in the blasted tower, but she dreams of kissing a handsome prince, or anyone actually--because she is super lonely."

See, pretending New Year's Eve is fun!

My main character, Anna Green, age 13 from the Civil War, would answer the questions in a totally different way, such as: "The only person I would ever want to kiss me at midnight would be Albert, but I hoped he would just kiss me on the cheek. If he kissed me on the lips, I might die of embarrassment. I am making a resolution to learn more recipes during the New Year, but to also make time for my reading and writing. I will not eat anything like pickled herring on New Year's Eve because I once had to eat rats during the Siege. But I love black-eyed peas, and I hope I find the coin this year."

Okay, your turn. Pick a question from above (or two or three) and tell us a bit about a character you love or your own you are writing and his/her New Year's celebrations and resolutions. Happy New Year to you, too! 

Join Margo in the WOW! classroom in 2014. She is teaching these classes in January: Writing a Novel with a Writing Coach (starts Jan. 3), Writing For Children (about starting and taking hold of your career, starts Jan. 7), Writing a Children's or Teen Novel (starts Jan. 30). It's not too late to sign up! Questions? E-mail Margo at margo (at) wow-womenonwriting.com.

herring photo by roncierge http://www.flickr.com 

Read More »

4 comments character development, character traits, characterization, Margo L. Dill, New Years Resolutions

Writers' Guides: The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The Negative Trait Thesaurus – Review and Giveaway

When Angela Ackerman asked me to review The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The Negative Trait Thesaurus, I wondered if the books would be able to help my current project. I love The Emotion Thesaurus, the first book she and Becca Puglisi co-authored, but my current project is a work-in-progress. I’ve been working with this character for some time and know him well. But I know the quality of their work so I asked them for copies of both books.

These books detail character traits, what leads to them and how each trait works within the story. In addition to the listings for each trait, there are sections on psychology and personal development and how character and story work together. Newer writers especially will benefit from this information.

These books are tools to improve your writing. The best way to see how they work is to use them.

I looked up my character’s greatest negative trait—insecure. I read Possible Causes and patted myself on the back. I’d worked both guilt and abandonment into my backstory.

Not every insecure person acts the same way and the list of Associated Behaviors is lengthy. Again, I found several behaviors already written into my story: My character focuses on swimming, his strength, to avoid academics, in which he feels weak. He also engages in negative self-talk while comparing himself to someone who does well in school, his brainy best friend.

These books are thorough, so I wasn’t surprised to find something that would improve my work. One insecure behavior is sticking close to people who make the character feel comfortable. If my character moves away from his best friend and toward a fellow jock, this could make his problem more difficult to solve. Apparently, I still have work to do where his negative traits are concerned.

Next, I looked up a strength; my character is funny. The causes for his humor include the positive (his offbeat way of looking at the world) and the negative (he needs affirmation and wants attention).

We often overlook negative aspects to positive traits but Ackerman and Puglisi include this in the listing for each positive trait. Being funny keeps people at a distance. In my story, this hides my character’s insecurity, a fact I need to play up to strengthen my story.

Ackerman and Puglisi list supporting character traits that may lead to conflict with a funny character. This list includes studious and focused which describes my character’s best friend. I need to use conflict between them to much greater advantage.

If you are rewriting, look to these books to help fine tune your story and make the most of your character’s and their personalities. For new works, the books can help you explore your characters and how to make their lives truly dreadful. Either way, your work is sure to benefit from these two reference books. The authors take such a thorough approach to the craft of character that you will come away from their books with new insight into your story.

–SueBE
Author Sue Bradford Edwards blogs at One Writer's Journey.

***** BOOK GIVEAWAY *****

We also have a giveaway from the authors, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi! After that fabulous review, I'm sure you'll want to win this set for your writer's reference library. Just enter the Rafflecopter form below for a chance to win a paperback copy of The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Attributes (ARV $14.99) AND The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws (ARV $14.99), or e-copies—reader's choice! The contest is open to US and Canada for print copies and internationally for e-copies. If you have problems using Rafflecopter, be sure you are running the latest version of your web browser and have javascript updated.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!

Read More »

26 comments Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi, character emotion, character traits, The Emotion Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus