 Drama: January 08, 2013 Issue [#5448] |
  Drama
This week: The Importance of the Inner Journey Edited by: Joy  
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Make sure you aren't so dazzled by the climax and the conclusion of [your] plot that you abandon the conclusion of your character's long internal struggle.
Elizabeth Lyon
"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
Jean de La Fontaine
"Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations."
Ray Bradbury
A perfect character is not engaging. Character transformation can be one of the most powerful effects in any story.
Donald Maass
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. Our discussion in this issue is about the inner journey the characters take. .
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Sometimes, readers are left only half-satisfied by stories such as an action-packed thriller or a literary novel with psychiatric questioning and introspection. What is usually missing is the inner journey, or in other words, the emotional transformation of the characters, especially the main character. This is because, as humans, our deepest search is meaning, and the author's most important task is to send his characters on that search.
A character, especially if he's the protagonist, has to travel both outwardly and inwardly to complete the effect of the story. The best fiction happens when a character changes in some significant way inside himself.
As writers, we know we need to put the character through a wringer and give him a hard time. We must also be able to break through his outer shell. When we do that, what we usually find underneath the shell is fear. Even a source of strength conceals a weakness; thus, what matters most for the character will have to be tested. Anything important and dear to him can be his Achilles' heel.
Planning an inner journey begins with discovering where the character needs to go. True, the character may have a goal in the beginning of a story. This is where he consciously wants to go, but what about where he needs to go?
An inner journey is not a lone trek. The character's struggles are shared with others around him. Surely, there will be inner moments when the character will face himself, but for an inner moment to work fully, an observable action should be introduced as well. For example, in the Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale is convinced that Satan is in Salem, and he entices the people there get him out. Later, he faces the fact that there is no Satan in the village, and that the death warrants he has signed are unjust ones. This weighs heavily on his conscience and he tries to save John Proctor's life.
To achieve a probable inner journey, here are some suggestions for the writer to ask and answer.
 What does this character fear the most inwardly, whether he is aware of his fear or not?
How does his world work in the beginning of the story and what suddenly makes sense (to him) about the way it will be working at (or toward) the end?
Has someone earned his revengefulness, love, hate, or any other emotion, and why?
What is the most dramatic thing this character can do to reflect his intentions or his fears?
What is too painful for him to admit?
What the hardest truth or the most fearful idea or experience for him to accept?
When his belief system or any other thing let him down, what does he hold on to? From where or whom does he get his strength? Which of his existing principles is solid enough so he can face the storm?
How does the purpose of his story life become clear to him at the end?
To reach the end of his inner journey, what do I need to make my character do? What don't I want my character do?
For most of us, reading fiction can serve as a life experience. Readers can lose themselves inside the world of fictional characters and may end up changing or facing their own behaviors, thoughts, or beliefs. This is an incentive for us, as writers, to put in that meaning in our fiction.
Wishing you all a happy, productive, and successful 2013...
Until next time. 
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