This is Story Fanatic, a collection of articles covering story structure and analysis for
creative writers. Published weekly.
This central character is defined as Steadfast because during the moment of crisis, when their Resolve is most tested, they stick with their approach to solving the story’s problem. This perseverance in no way guarantees a successful outcome. It simply describes a character who maintains their tried and tested paradigm.
What of stories that feature heroes who don’t learn something? The argument might be made that such a situation foretells a story with faulty construction. Authors need not fear if they are on the path to creating such a story as the purpose of narrative fiction is not always to teach the hero some new life understanding. Sometimes (actually all the time) it is simply using the central character’s approach as a means of arguing some greater meaning.
The idea that a Main Character must always change runs counter to many a writer’s intuition. A more productive approach would be to focus on the growth that character undergoes as they deal with the build-up in pressure over the course of the story. This development can be likened to the tender balance that exists when one visits the deep blue sea.
Perception often leads to deception; how one sees the world of story shapes their understanding of it, granting them all sorts of interpretations that may or may not be accurate. As with Christopher Nolan’s dark treatise on dueling magicians, unveiling what is really going on within a story can lead to an emotional catharsis for writers themselves; leading them to even greater expressions of meaningful fiction.
There are two ways to adapt a favorite novel or short story for the silver screen – the right way and the wrong way. The first requires a comprehensive understanding of the original source material. The second only needs an ambivalence towards the mechanism behind what makes great stories great.
Identifying the problem within a screenplay is one thing, offering up a viable workable solution is another. The key is honoring the work that is already there. Healing a false moment, like resolving the differences between two characters, should come as a natural progression of events and inflict the least amount of damage in the process.
No matter how hard one tries, it is damn near impossible to avoid contact with the Hero’s Journey paradigm within the context of story structure. This nearly omniscient presence of the monomyth serves only to further muddle the conversation and mislead potential writers from their true selves. Structure exists to carry the message, not inform it.
While the complaints concerning Avatar’s resemblance to Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas are abundant and well covered, there is one aspect of this story that is not covered in as much detail, and that is the problem with the Main Character, Jake Sully. A well-written Main Character is the key to bringing an audience into a story. Screw it up and you risk losing emotional involvement.
Complete stories, the ones we love and cherish, are those that are trying to say something beyond the spectacle. Where the Main Character ends up at the end of a screenplay or novel plays an essential part in providing that meaning.
Character arc does not mean a character has to change. It simply doesn’t. What it does mean is that a character needs to grow to a point where they are not sure whether to change, or to dig in their heels.
The concept of the character arc is often thought to explain the transformation a Main Character goes through over the course of a story. The problem with this definition is the idea of “transformation”. Not every Main Character completely changes, nor do they have to. Growth can occur without losing oneself.
While the Crucial Element is easy to understand in its application to Change characters, it becomes a little harder to define when used in the context of the Steadfast character.
Tips for writing a Steadfast Main Character.
A quick thought on why Main Characters in most children’s stories do not change.
Continuing exploration of problem-solving and justification. Here we take a look at the nature of the Steadfast Main Character.
Continuing exploration of problem-solving and justification. Here we take a look at the nature of the Steadfast Main Character.
Continuing exploration of problem-solving and justification. Here we take a look at the Steadfast Main Character.
Continuing exploration of problem-solving and justification. Here we clear up the Steadfast Main Character.
The nature of act turns in relation to the growth of the Main Character.
Not all Steadfast characters are created equal.