Setbacks and Growth Points

If a story doesn't have setbacks for the character, it's not all that interesting. 

Unfortunately, character growth isn't like the rest of the changes that happen to our body from birth to death. The body is programmed to grow, so it can pretty much progress even if we resist it every step of the way.

Character growth occurs, however, when there is a challenge or obstacle to overcome. It requires active participation, which may be why we as humans try to avoid it.    

I am well aware what I need to change about myself, but hey, it's easier to sit on the couch and eat Reese's peanut butter cups instead. (I did choose the mini ones, which have fewer calories, so it's practically a diet food. Add in all the calories I burn by ripping off the outer foil AND that brown paper lining, and I've got quite the impressive training regimen.)

What would happen, though, if a car crashed through my living room wall while I was sitting on my couch avoiding character growth? I'd have to make a choice, and that choice would determine what kind of character traits I possess, as well as what I value in life.

It's the same with our characters. I'm sure they would be perfectly happy to go from Point A to Point B without all that messy "inciting incident" and "black moment" stuff. It's inconvenient, not always a lot of fun, and it gets in the way of what they had planned for their lives. They're probably mumbling under their breath, "Hey, this is who I am, and if you don't like me, that's too damn bad".

But there's no story there. 

How does your character respond when things don't go his way? Does he throw his hands in the air and say, "Oh well!" Or does he grit his teeth and find another way to accomplish his goal? These are things we discover when we force our characters to make choices they would normally avoid. It reveals what they are truly made of when we put them under pressure to act.

When I'm revising my WIP, I create a list I call "Setbacks and Growth Points", which details the obstacles each character experiences, or should experience, in the story. I try to relate these to the "needs improvement" areas of my character's personality, the aspects that require changing before the end of the book. It's a good way to see if I've left out a step in their development, or if the progression doesn't make sense the way I've currently arranged it.

It's hard to be mean to our characters. I know that. The only way I can make myself do it is to tell them, "I'm doing this for your own good". 

They may reach their goal or they may not. Most likely their goal will change along the way. But when they finally do reach Point B, they are going to be a better, and different, person than when they set out at Point A, anticipating an easy journey. 

And they've got me, and their setbacks, to thank for that.

Comments

[Melissa]

Interesting! I was just thinking about something similar to a pattern of setbacks and growth points and how it keeps the story interesting. But getting the pattern STARTED is the hard part for me. In the very beginning, how much sitting on the couch can the character do before the car crashes through the living room is the question! LOL

Recently I read a story that started out ordinary with the heroine arriving to house sit for her boss. A few pages later, she realizes she's walked into a burglary in progress. A big setback! Then I start to wonder if the author agonized at all that the story started too slow. Did she think, heck, I better have my opening line be something like, 'Tess knew something was wrong the minute she pushed open the unlocked door.' Hmm, maybe, but she knew what she was doing to start out with the heroine's normal life and personality before everything turned upside down. It wasn't done with any obvious foreshadowing, unless you count that feeling something must be going to happen soon because...well, something must happen. LOL

So, largely because I usually have similar questions for my own beginnings, and because I’m deep in “student mode” (as in not writing) I wind up analyzing and overlaying all the possibilities of how I would do it. Then I like it just the way she did it. :)

[Donna Cummings]

Melissa, excellent question! I think it's a good idea to analyze that ratio of couch-sitting vs. car-crashing, but I typically do that AFTER the story is done.

And I bet you're right about the "ordinary" setup for the story you read. Sometimes you need those kinds of details, or the surprise will lose its impact -- it wouldn't be as shocking if the regular part of someone's life wasn't shown.

I think it's good to analyze that kind of stuff, in other stories (I do it all the time too!), and in our own. I'm always happy to see that I've intuitively done what I wanted to accomplish, when I go back and analyze these things during revisions. :)

Hope school is going well for you. It's always good to see you here!

[Melissa]

Donna, yes, I think for the surprise to work, there needs to be that contrast, which takes a lot of patience. LOL And so does holding off on revisions. Or is that will power? :)

I have a three week break before fall semester. I've been devouring books (romances of course!) before some evil genie turns them into texts on pre-calculus, hydrology, genetics, economics and ecology. Whew. LOL

[Donna Cummings]

Patience, will power, or perhaps. . .avoidance? LOL

I'm glad you have a three-week break. You definitely deserve it. And it's awesome that you get to read romances after all the tough topics you've tackled for school! I feel like I need to read some more romances just from reading the subjects you've taken. :)