The Inner Journey
By Donald Maass | September 1, 2010 |
Have you ever read an action packed thriller that left you breathless yet unmoved? Like a roller coaster, a thrilling ride but one that doesn’t seem to mean anything?
Conversely, have you ever read a literary novel that was fatty with emotional nuance but that couldn’t run ten yards if it tried? All talk and no movement, like a transcript of someone else’s therapy session?
If so you’ve experienced novels that have taken you on only half a journey.
A journey is not like a commute, merely getting from home to work. Nor is it like a tour, an itinerary to follow with sights to see. A journey is longer than a drive, less organized than a march, more personal than a migration, more purpose-driven than a ramble.
A journey needn’t involve travel but it does enact a transformation. For a transformation to occur, two things are needed: outward events and inward change.
Great novels use both. Novelists talk all the time about their characters’ “journeys” but in manuscripts I rarely feel like I’ve taken one. Usually one part or the other is valued, but not both. In fact, so fundamental is this dichotomy that it’s embodied in two terms taken for granted in our business: A novel is said be either “plot-driven” or “character-driven”.
Why not both?
For my next couple of posts I’ll be looking at the integration of the outward events of a story with the inward changes (growth, arc or whatever you want to call it) of characters.
But let’s start with this: A journey can’t matter until a character matters to himself. For a heroine’s transformation to have meaning, she must mean something in the first place.
Here, then, are some questions for your main character to answer: Why do you matter? To whom do you matter? How would the world be poorer if you weren’t in it? What are you better at than anyone else? What do you see or understand that no one else does?
A second set of questions: How do you see yourself? How do you define your biggest personal challenge? What’s getting in your way? What’s the last thing you learned? What’s the last thing you learned about yourself? What’s the worst thing about this moment? What’s the best?
Try picking four points in your story for your character to answer, on the page, the questions immediately above. The answers probably will be different each time. If so that’s good. You’re measuring steps in your character’s inner journey.
By the way, notice that I didn’t ask what is your mission, purpose, obsession or goal? These are terms you hear a lot at writers’ conferences but I think they’ve become empty buzz words.
I’d prefer to keep the conversation simple and human. Kind of like the conversations you have on the last evenings of the summer, the sky turning dark blue, the bonfire turning to coals, the kids chasing fireflies, the last of the wine poured, your friends pulling sweaters around their shoulders, everyone looking back and thinking ahead and talking about it all like it matters.
Because it does.
Donald Maass is president of the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York. His agency sells more than 150 novels every year to major publishers in the U.S. and overseas. He’s also the author of several craft books for writers, including the highly acclaimed Writing the Breakout Novel and The Fire in Fiction.
Photo courtesy Flickr’s WindRanch
Donald Maass (he/him) founded the Donald Maass Literary Agency. in New York in 1980. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996), Writing the Breakout Novel (2001), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004), The Fire in Fiction (2009), The Breakout Novelist (2011), Writing 21st Century Fiction (2012) and The Emotional Craft of Fiction (2019). He has presented hundreds of workshops around the world and is a past president of the American Association of Literary Agents (formerly AAR).
Yes. And when a character matters to himself, then reader cares about what happens, and enjoys the journey.
It seems to me that the best stories in print and visual media are both plot and character driven.
Law and Order–all versions of the tv series, are said to be story-driven by their creators; however, the stories that had the most impact on me as a viewer were the ones that had a character focus, a development in one of the character’s lives such as the final episodes for Clare Kincaid or Adam Schiff’s grief at the loss of his wife.
These specific examples reinforce the concept that it is great to have a combo on plot and character.
For me, it is the same in books or movies.
Patricia
https://pmpoetwriter.blogspot.com/
Perfect. Every time I come across one of those omnipresent character questionnaires, the first thing I ask myself about it is, “At what point in the story am I supposed to be asking my character these questions?” Because I know the answers will be different depending on when I do the asking. I like the idea of putting each main character to the test four separate times with these questions and seeing how they’re doing on their journeys.
I look forward to the rest of the posts in this series.
I always get something out of your posts, but this one makes me feel like you’re looking over my shoulder. Then I noticed the tiny camera–no, seriously, my main character thanks you and I thank you. Again.
Um, this is effing genius. That is all.
Those are great questions to ask of oneself as well. For writers, life and story are constantly intersecting. Thanks for the insights.
Before I can ask my main character these questions, I have to ask them of myself. Thanks for a post that’s helpful on so many levels.
Thank YOU for your post. Realy. You help me, and my writing. Have a good day. Annie from Québec, Canada. :o)
What a fantastic last line. “Because it does.” That’s it, isn’t it? What happens to us matters. What we experience, and how we change because of it — and how others change – that matters. The big things, the seemingly insignificant things, the connections we make that last a moment or a lifetime – all matter.
Capturing that…and putting that attitude, that approach to life in one’s work (any kind of writing) is the trick.
Catherine
Nuggets like these are why your Writing the Breakout Novel and companion workbook are the best items in my writers tool box.
What an awesome post, thank you.
You’ve hit it here — I recently read a “thriller” by a best-selling author, but it was anything but “thrilling” for me because he couldn’t make me care about the characters. It was just “stuff” happening.
But it must work for some people, because he’s cranking out books and people are buying them.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Thank You. Good advice for writing as well as daily living.
[…] subtle but mind-blowing genius, check out agent Donald Maass’s post on “The Inner Journey” at Writer Unboxed today: A journey needn’t involve travel but it does enact a transformation. For […]
[…] Donald Maas writes a reminder (or maybe a first telling for some authors), that a good novel should … […]
Simple and fundamental. I often find myself reaching the end of a story and thinking, well stuff happened but why did it matter? Internal change is what makes us feel a story has mattered.
I agree that a character must demonstrate a sense of self and his or her purpose in a story’s plot. The reader must come to love or dislike the essence of the character. Either way, the story is a winner amongst readers.
Sharalyne King,
Aspiring Writer
Awesome. I’m embarking on a new WIP right now and this happens to align with what I want to do (balance plot and character!). I’m looking forward to this.
The part about a character mattering to him/herself is great. Thinking on it, I realize one of my characters already does very much. The other I may need to work on a little more, but he definitely has a transformative arc in my outline, so I should be able to work it out.
Thanks.
I started reading this without knowing who wrote it, and I was thinking, “Wow, this is a great post.” Then I saw who wrote it, and I thought, “Oh, well sure.” :D
My favorite books end up being ones that are a combination of plot and character driven. I agree, why does their have to be such a separating between the two?
Another great inspirational post sir, Thank You!
“A journey is longer than a drive, less organized than a march, more personal than a migration, more purpose-driven than a ramble.”
I love this sentence, and the idea of brushing aside that word “journey” to get right to the heart of the story. Sometimes it’s the simple, stripping away of everything but the characters that populate a scene, that elevates what the author is trying to convey.
“I’d prefer to keep the conversation simple and human. Kind of like the conversations you have on the last evenings of the summer, the sky turning dark blue, the bonfire turning to coals, the kids chasing fireflies, the last of the wine poured, your friends pulling sweaters around their shoulders, everyone looking back and thinking ahead and talking about it all like it matters.
Because it does.”
I love this image as much as the advice. ;)
Great post. I like the idea of embracing both “plot-driven” and “character-driven.” My favorite line: “like a transcript of someone else’s therapy session.” Hilarious.
I so agree that the inner journey is crucial for the story to be engaging. I generally think in terms of archetypes and I really liked how your questions accessed that journey in another way. Thanks for the great article!
Great post and freakishly in tune with what I’m asking of my story today. Answering those questions ultimately ties to journey stakes. “Why do I matter?” Good question little protagonist. Let’s find out.
Thank you for a very insightful post. I do start my books with a few of those questions in mind, but you’ve pointed out some more that I’ll definitely use in my own novels. I have always used a combination of plot and characters – Indian characters.
Shobhan Bantwal
http://www.shobhanbantwal.com
THE UNEXPECTED SON – Kensington 2010
I agree that novels should both be plot and character driven. The great ones are.
Thanks for the thought provoking advice.
Linda
Thanks for the insights. Looking forward to future articles in the series.
Thank you for another set of questions to apply to my characters. One of the most important parts of the story to me is how the characters relate to each other, and the events going on around them. Having a more fine measure of that is always welcome!
[…] Ask Your Character: Why Do You Matter? by Donald Maass at Writer Unboxed […]