Enhancing Character Growth

Character growth—the Holy Grail of writing. Even in a largely plot-driven narrative, novels which also depict their characters evolving add a richness and depth to the story.

I’m not a big fan of knowing exactly how your protagonist will develop. Oh, you might have a vague idea—a story of redemption, for example. But I think it works best if you start with an opening scene—depicting a greedy and callous man, for example—and letting things flow from there.

But you knew that I’d say that, didn’t you, since I generally advocate a haphazard approach to writing?

So, it follows that enhancing character growth is a post-first draft activity. Naturally, you’ve already spent a good deal of time developing and growing your character while writing the novel. This post helps you enhance or highlight the development to strengthen the story.

Character growth questions

Isolate the scenes where your target character appears. I often create separate file with them. Then, answer these questions:

How do you feel about the protagonist?

Really, do you like him? Or, with a really dark character, do you want him to get his comeuppance? Because if you don’t care, how will readers? There has to be enough, even from the beginning, to keep the reader hanging in. If you don’t glom onto the protagonist (can we call him Ben to save me typing?) fairly early, identify scenes which would do this.

What are the critical scenes where Ben grows?

Is this the way you want him to grow?

• If so, are there any scenes which need to be strengthened?
• If not, how would you like Ben to grow?
• Identify some new scenes which might show the intent better.

Is the growth credible?

If Ben goes from crotchety old man to the life of the party in six pages, we have a problem.

• Do the scenes transition Ben gradually to the desired end state?
• Does each move build on what came before? Say Ben rescues a puppy (I’m not saying it’s a good novel). If this scene happens early on, Ben might hide his good deed because he thinks it shows weakness. The next spurt of growth needs to develop naturally from that point. He might buy better food for the dog, while complaining about the price and threatening to send him to the pound.
• What scenes do you need to add or modify so that the evolution is credible?

Is the growth consistent?

Surprisingly, the answer to this question can often be ‘no’ when you read just Ben’s scenes. You may need him to further the plot by punching a cop which doesn’t jive with where he is in his personal growth. If you allow the plot to dominate, you damage the credibility of Ben’s journey of self-discovery because he’ll be seen to be jumping back and forth erratically.

Although this isn’t easy, identify the scenes where Ben’s actions aren’t consistent with his personal growth and figure out how to change the scenes to credibly accommodate both plot and character development.

You can follow this procedure for any character, but it’s a lot of work so I usually stick to the protagonist and characters whose essence eludes me at the moment.

This process may seem a bit mechanical and honestly, it is. But remember, this is not about creating the character. That is all about imagination and inspiration. This is enhancing what you’ve written to strengthen your intent.