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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
K.M. Weiland
Read between
December 31, 2020 - January 4, 2021
Your character is incomplete on the inside. He is harboring some deeply held misconception about either himself, the world, or probably both. As you’ll see in the next chapter, this misconception is going to prove a direct obstacle to his ability to fulfill his plot goal.
The lie he believes
For example, in my medieval novel Behold the Dawn, the protagonist Marcus Annan’s Lie is that some sins are too great to be forgiven. His symptoms are guilt, shame, secrets, and a destructive lifestyle.
Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi do a great job of offering possible Lie symptoms (as well as some great character arc discussions) in their Negative Trait Thesaurus.
The first intersection of character arc and plot is found in the protagonist’s goal. What does he want? What’s his major story goal? World domination? A wife? To survive? To die? To get a raise?
To intertwine with the character arc, this goal needs to be an extension or reflection of something that matters to the character on a deeper level. He can’t just want world domination and/or a wife because, hey, who doesn’t? He has to want it for a soul-deep reason, one even he may not fully comprehend.
His problem is depression, but he’s busily putting a cast on his arm. He thinks if he can just have that new job, that new trophy wife, that new set of golf clubs, everything will be perfect. He’ll be rich, powerful, loved, respected—and fulfilled. Here
Almost literally cyrus
In a word, the Thing Your Character Needs is the Truth. He needs the personalized antidote to his Lie. This is the most important thing in his life.
How is the Lie holding your character back? 2. How is the Lie making your character unhappy or unfulfilled? 3. What Truth does your character Need to disprove the Lie?
8. Is the Thing He Wants holding him back from the Thing He Needs? 9. Does the Thing He Needs preclude his gaining the Thing He Wants—or will he only be able to gain the Thing He Wants after he has found the Thing He Needs? 10. How will his life be different once he embraces the Thing He Needs?
“Ghost” is movie speak for something in your character’s past that haunts him. You may also see it sometimes referred to as the “wound.”
1. Why does your character believe the Lie? 2. Is there a notable event in his past that has traumatized him?
Or can i traumatise him
6. How “big” is your character’s Ghost? If you made it bigger, would you end up with a stronger arc? 7. Where will you reveal your character’s Ghost? All at once early on? Or piece by piece throughout the story, with a big reveal toward the end? 8. Does your story need the Ghost to be revealed? Would it work better if you never revealed it?
The Characteristic Moment (and the Normal World, which we’ll discuss in the next chapter) aligns with the Hook. It shows up the moment your protagonist does—presumably in the first chapter.
Introduce your protagonist. 2. (Probably) reveal your protagonist’s name. 3. Indicate your protagonist’s gender, age, nationality, and possibly his occupation.
Demonstrate the prevailing aspect of his personality. 7. Hook readers’ sympathy and/or their interest. 8. Show the protagonist’s scene goal. 9. Indicate the protagonist’s story goal. 10. Demonstrate, or at least hint at, the protagonist’s Lie.
The Characteristic Moment is a work of art. Don’t settle for opening with your character doing any ol’ thing. Select an event that will: 1. Make the protagonist appealing to readers. 2. Introduce both his strengths and his weaknesses. 3. Build the plot.
“Stories do not happen in ordinary worlds—stories happen when choices and events propel the main character into a world far more exciting, different and challenging than the ordinary day-to-day experience...” —Charles Deemer
the Normal World is—as its name suggests—a setting. This is the place in which your story opens. It is a place in which your character has found contentment—or at least complacency.
6 Parts of Character Arc in the First Act
1. Reinforce the Lie The reinforcement of your character’s Lie will begin in the first chapter,
2. Indicate the Character’s Potential to Overcome the Lie Right from the beginning, readers need to glimpse at least a teeny promise that your character possesses the capability to change.
Provide the Character’s First Step in Discovering How to Grow and Change
Good inciting events at first appear to be bothers out of the blue, but they end up being individually tailored for the hero.
5. Evolve the Character’s Belief in the Lie Toward the end of the First Act, the character will still be entrenched in the Lie.
6. Make the Character Decide The First Act ends when the character makes a decision. He decides to do something about that annoying Inciting Event that bumped into his life a few chapters back.
many had found, or were finding, that the point of no return was not necessarily the edge of the precipice: it could be the bottom of the valley, the beginning of the long climb up the far slope, and when a man had once begun that climb he never looked back to that other side.” —Alistair MacLean
Character Decision #1: Prior to the First Plot Point
Character Decision #2: During the First Plot Point
Character Decision #3: After the First Plot Point
Either way, what’s important is that the character quickly establishes a clear physical goal—based on the Thing He Wants. Usually, this goal will be very clear in relation to whatever’s just happened to him at the First Plot Point.
The First Half of the Second Act features a Pinch Point (at the 37% mark), in which the antagonist flexes his muscles and reminds readers what the protagonist is up against.
1. Provide the Character With Tools to Overcome His Lie
Before the midpoint
These truths should be more than just theoretical; they need to be applicable truths. For instance, if your character’s Lie is he travels fastest who travels alone, then the tools he’s receiving in this section shouldn’t be just someone else telling him, many hands make light work. Rather, he should be given practicable opportunities to learn the Truth by seeing it in action. In other words, show, don’t tell.
2. Show the Protagonist Encountering Difficulties in Pursuing His Lie
He’s still trying to pursue business as usual. He’s reacting to new events in the same ol’ way—and it’s not working.
Move the Character Closer to What He Wants and Farther From What He Needs
4. Give the Character a Glimpse of Life Without the Lie
1. How is your character reacting to the First Plot Point? 2. What “tools” can you provide to help your character build the first rung in the ladder that will scale his Lie? 3. What minor character can offer advice or exemplary behavior to help mentor your protagonist? 4. How can you show the protagonist the first step in overcoming his Lie, instead of just telling him about it?
9. How will his pursuit of the Thing He Wants cause him to risk turning farther away from the Thing He Needs? 10. After the First Plot Point, how will the new world or the altered Normal World provide the character with a glimpse of how life might be without his Lie?
the Midpoint’s emphasis is always placed on the protagonist’s shift from a reactive role (not in control of the conflict) to an active role (taking control of the conflict).
Caught Between the Lie and the Truth This does not mean the character rejects the Lie. It’s still too early in the story for that. But the Midpoint shows him the importance of the opposing viewpoint.
This story ain’t over, not by a long shot. And all those lessons your protagonist thinks he’s now got a handle on? Well, turns out he’s only got half a handle on them. He may have figured out the Truth, but he still hasn’t relinquished his Lie—and that Lie is still the crux of the problem.
The Second Half of the Second Act features a Second Pinch Point (at the 62% mark), which emphasizes the antagonist’s ability to defeat the protagonist and foreshadows the final battle.
1. Allow the Character to Act in Enlightened Ways
After the mid point
3. Initiate the Character’s Attempts to Escape the Effects of the Lie
5. Provide Your Character With a False Victory
6. Blatantly Demonstrate the Crux of Your Character’s Arc Subtlety is one of the writer’s greatest weapons. But now is not the time for subtlety.
The Third Plot Point is the low moment in your story. A minute ago, at the end of the Second Act, your protagonist seemed to have won a victory.
In character terms, the Third Plot Point hinges upon not just “something bad” happening in the outer conflict, but rather an inner choice on the protagonist’s part.
Whatever the protagonist decides here, he will lose something vital. He can either choose the Truth and lose his dream. Or he can choose his heart’s desire and live the Lie for the rest of his life.
