What's the secret to keeping your readers turning those pages? A flawed protagonist who transforms into a hero! In this class, Michelle will walk you through six steps that will help you figure out what's at the root of your main character's biggest flaws and how her deepest beliefs push her to make decisions and take action—and drive the plot of your story to a satisfying conclusion.
Lessons include:
-What is a postulate?
- Character postulates
- Behaviors and flaws
- Character compulsions
- Character arcs
- Finding a plot
By the end of this class, you'll have a deeper understanding of your protagonist and her arc, as well as an outline of the major plot beats for your story. This class is for beginner to intermediate writers who know the basics of character development and want to dig a little deeper.
This class includes examples from the writing craft book The Magic Words by Cheryl Klein. (Disclaimer: this is an affiliate link. If you choose to buy the book your price will not be affected but the instructor will receive a small commission.)
Each lesson ends with a short exercise that builds on the previous lesson. The final exercise is your
Character Transformation, which includes your answers to the following questions:
- Describe your protagonist at the beginning of the story. What’s her current situation? Her personality? Her status quo?
- Describe your protagonist’s compulsion or her biggest flaw and a resulting negative behavior, as well as your novel’s theme.
- Describe your protagonist’s want or goal at the beginning of the story.
- Describe the stakes. In other words, if your protagonist doesn’t achieve that goal, what terrible thing will happen?
- Describe at least three of the obstacles your character faces.
- Describe the final obstacle that forces your protagonist to confront her compulsion and change her beliefs. Does she succeed? How? And at what cost?
- Describe how your character is fundamentally changed in the aftermath? This description should be in stark contrast with the way you described her in step one. Remember, this isn’t a small change. It’s a transformation!
Please share your Character Transformations on the class page! I'd love to meet your protagonists.
