I watched Into the Woods this weekend. It’s a musical – who knew?  (Clearly I didn’t read the reviews).  It’s a twisted take on all the Grimm Fairytales that combine into a story about a Baker and his wife who want a child – and what they’ll do to break free of a curse that keeps them barren.

We also meet Jack, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Prince Charming (and his brother, Rapunzel’s prince) and most importantly, the Wicked Witch.

They all have a small character arc, but the story is really about the Baker, and how he goes from whimpy, mamby-pamby baker boy to a Father.

I actually didn’t figure that out that he was the main character until the end, when the Baker had a black moment and epiphany (Yay!) and then overcame his fears with a Hurrah Ending (see last week’s post here: http://learnhowtowriteanovel.com/blog/2015/04/06/extreme-book-makeover-dont-forget-the-hurrah-ending/)

Phew, I was getting worried because it seemed, as the story took an unexpected turn into unstructured darkness that we would end without a true character change.

Which, remember is the point of a great story.

Let’s review:

A great story is about a character that we care about who wants something for good reason.  They’ve got some sort of dark story in their past that has given them a lie and a fear which has propelled them forward (read: motivation) and made them the person that they are today.  They have a want that will later turn into a defined goal after the inciting incident. Their fears, both internal and external will help you form the obstacles as they chase after that goal, and they’ll finish the story by confronting that fear and the lie, discovering truth and becoming a new person. At the end, they’ll do something they couldn’t do at the beginning to prove they’ve changed.

This is the Character Change journey, in a nutshell.

So, you can see, it’s not about the plot, but the person on the journey.  It’s all about character growth, about how they’re going to overcome their flaws, be set free from their lies, change and grow and become a new person at the end.  If your character hasn’t become a new person at the end, then you haven’t completed their journey.

Here’s where you should be pausing to ask:  Does my character do something at the end that they can’t at the beginning because of the truth that has set them free?

If not, then it’s time to go back to your character and dig a little deeper. It’s time for an Extreme Character Makeover. 

Many authors, when putting together a character, start with an exhaustive list of who their character might be. But it just doesn’t have to be that hard.

I’m going to teach you a trick to digging deep, fast, and getting to the heart of your character so you can begin to build a powerful character change journey.

It’s called the Story Equation (at MBT, we refer to it as the SEQ), and it starts with asking your character WHO he is.  Not who will he be, or even who he wants to be, but who he/she is as they walk onto the page.

The easiest way to nail this is with an Adjective & a Noun.

The adjective clues you into their emotional state.  The noun tells who they are in the outside.

So let’s go back to Into the Woods.  Our Adj + Noun for our Baker is. . .Barren Baker.

Now…we ask why.

Why is he a Baker?

Because it’s his family profession and the only thing he knows.

Okay, so…now why is he barren?  Because he and his wife haven’t had any children, despite their desire.

Again, we ask Why?  Because (as he finds out in the beginning), the Wicked Witch has put a curse on the family, going back to his father, and they can’t have children.

Again, why?  Because the father stole from the witch and stole her magic beans (hello, Jack!) and turned her old.  As a result, she stole his daughter (hello, Rapunzel!) and he, in his despair, left home, leaving the baker fatherless.

Oh my.  So, tell me a story about how that affected him, being fatherless?

And this is where they Dark Moment Story kicks in.

The Dark Moment Story is the core of your story, it’s the secret sauce behind all the stuff that your character does.  It gives him motivation, it combines with the greatest dream to find out what he wants, which then gives him a goal, and helps us come up with a flaw that is the expression of his fears.  (the flaw, which we’ll talk about in a future blog, is the litmus test of character change.)

The Dark Moment Story gives you all the pieces you’ll need for the Character Change journey.

The key is that the DMS must be a relatable, poignant story about a specific event.

Often, in response to asking, “What’s his dark moment story?”  an author will say, “Well, his parents got divorced or his mother died or his brother ran away. . .”  That’s a theme. What we need is a story about a specific event that epitomizes your character’s feelings surrounding this event.

So, instead of telling us his parents got divorced, tell us about a specific event that made that divorce feel real.  Like, the first Christmas he spent divided between families, the long car ride on Christmas day when he should have been eating turkey.  Tell us about how he saw other families out throwing a football together, or sledding, and how his father was in the front seat listening to the news, not talking to him. And worse, how, when he got to his mother’s house, there was another man there, with his children, and he felt like he’d already been replaced.

Make it poignant.  And relatable.  Because if it makes an impact on your character, then it will also impact your reader.

Here’s a hint:  Write the story as if your character is telling it to you. First person.  You can then take a good look at it, in their voice (and use it later in your novel.)

Next week, I’ll tell you what to do with this Dark Moment Story – how suddenly you have all the pieces of a powerful character change journey.

Until then, Go Write Something Brilliant!

 

 

 

 

 

Susie May

PS:  Visit our blog library for over 1000 FREE articles on crafting a brilliant story.  And, join us for this week’s webinar, Thursday April 16th on How to have a fantastic in-person book launch event with marketing expert Melissa Tagg.  Sign up here and try out MBT for a week – FREE!