In Part 1, I pleaded my case for why it is essential to know how to plot. In Part 2, I’d like to discuss character.

We can all agree that character is king in storytelling. Be it your protagonist or antagonist, developing them is critical for their appeal. And appeal plays a massive role in whether your audience reads your story.

How do we develop character?

There are many methods. What matters most is answer the three following questions;

1. Who is your character?
2. Who will your character become?
3. What gets them there?

1. The ‘Who’

Knowing your character’s starting point is obvious. Now that it’s out of the way, let’s talk about the “How”.

When you meet a new person, what are the burning questions you have in mind? How do you suss out who they are and if you like them? (The emphasis on wanting to like them is there on purpose.)

Questions could include:

• What’s your fondest childhood memory?
• What was your favorite show as a child? What is it now?
• Do you have a top-five for shows, movies, music, etc.?
• What events, people, and works of art have impacted you the most? How? And why?

Those are some examples of questions I would ask. You may have noticed that there is an emphasis on the past. No matter WHEN you meet a person, or in this case, a character, they started somewhere. Those modest beginnings inform the progression you see standing before you. The changes a character makes are defined by how far they start from the endpoint. The greater the distance traveled, the greater the change. Your audience cheers on hard-earned evolution that took time, consistent effort, and hard work. While natural evolution bores your readers.

But knowing is only half the battle. Who your character was as a child is a great start. But how old is that character when your audience meets them? Pre-teen? Teen? Young Adult? Adult? You should know what happens between childhood and the moment your audience meets them. You don’t need all the details, the cornerstone moments are enough.

Let’s say I am writing a story about a young man who had a traumatic childhood. We meet him in his teens. The plot is about his journey to relearn, trusting others through school and a new foster home.

His cornerstone moments from childhood to teen?

A) Born to an abusive couple, let’s say the mother has a substance abuse problem. She gets violent with her partner often and in all ways (emotional, verbal, and physical). He cannot take it and files for divorce. Let’s add another metric. The father has schizophrenia with a history of self-harm. He tries to get custody of our protagonist, but the courts rule against him.

-> Our character is a child; he doesn’t understand the nuances of this event. He knows from the way his mother speaks to him that she does not want him. (Or that’s how he interprets her abusive manner.) Our protagonist feels more abandoned when his father fails to gain custody of him.

B) The mother makes it her mission to ruin any father and son relationship. She blocks calls, tosses letters away, and ruins visits.

-> The young protagonist assumes this is their fault. He is unaware of his mother’s actions.

C) Our protagonist is also poor and gets bullied by his peers. He wears worn down clothes and doesn’t always have food for lunch.

-> Our malnourished protagonist is underdeveloped. He tries to stand up for himself, but he is smaller and lighter than his peers. Undernourished kids also fall behind on their mental development. A fact exacerbated by his abuse (abuse also affects cognitive development in children). Our protagonist grows up learning that pain is normal. He grows up believing he is dumb and bad at school. He believes he is weak because he cannot defend himself.

This is our character’s starting point, and it’s low by design. Remember, the farther a character travels, the more meaningful it is. So, placing him as far from his initial point as is possible is a excellent choice. You might run into issues if you place your character too far. The evolution doesn’t (or will not) seem in line with his character. Like in this case, I have created. Our protagonist is missing a key element, a desire for companionship. Thus, we need one more cornerstone moment.

D) Our protagonist makes a friend in school, another kid like himself who has a tough family life and school life. They bond over Pokémon. This friend loves fire types and shows our protagonist what a Vulpix looks like. Our protagonist is awestruck. A Vulpix is the cute and soft. Soon after social workers get involved in our protagonist’s life. His life is assessed, and he is put in the foster system. He tells his friend of the move and his friend gives him his game boy.

-> Our protagonist learns that not all human interactions are negative. He is better still, deeply touched by the love his friendship shows him. He is motivated to recreate that for himself again as he is moved.

2. The ‘Future-self’

I keep bringing up the distance traveled. How the farther your character goes, the more impactful it will be for your audience. Let’s take our child and turn him into an astronaut!

Go Google how hard it is to become an astronaut. It’s okay. I’ll wait.

Yea, that is SOME distance for our boy to travel! It involves a LOT of volunteering and planning! It involves knowing the right people. Becoming a fighter pilot in the military. And earning and STEM or Engineering Master’s diploma. Each step on its own is a massive undertaking. But achieving them all? From such a disadvantaged position in life?! It would be a miracle. And any story written about it would require a LOT of “convenient” things to happen to make it possible.

Thus the mission is to make the travel from beginning to end believable. In our case, it would require starting the story off pretty young.

1. I have established from the above cornerstones in his life that school is not his forté.
2. I have established that his financial situation is in dire straits.
3. At no point have I established a passion for becoming an astronaut. I instead emphasized how this character learns to trust others.

It takes a family to raise a child, the parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. All of the family participates whether they are aware of it or not. Whenever children have lofty dreams, support from peers, and authority figures plays a key role.

So, how do we get our protagonist from his starting point to the finish?

3. The ‘How’

The travel must be arduous, long, and believable. If it’s too far outside of the realm of possibility, the audience won’t accept it. Our setting is a modern world in today’s timeline. By those rules, what does our character need to become an astronaut?

• Be a U.S. citizen
• Possess a master’s degree* in a STEM field. Including engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics. (From an accredited institution.)
• Have at least two years of related professional experience obtained after degree completion. Or at least 1,000 hours pilot-in-command time on jet aircraft.
• Be able to pass the NASA long-duration flight astronaut physical.
• 20/20 vision (either naturally or with corrective lenses)
• blood pressure not more than 140/90 in a sitting position
• a height of between 62 and 75 inches**

*The master’s degree requirements can also be met by two years (36 semester hours or 54 quarter hours) of work toward a doctoral program in a related science, technology, engineering, or math field. A completed Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree.
Completion (or current enrollment that will result in completion by June 2021) of a nationally recognized test pilot school program.
Astronaut candidates must also have skills in leadership, teamwork, and communications. *

**Between 5’2″ and 6’3″ height.

*** As per NASA & space.com sources.

So, our protagonist has our work cut, and so do we as the writer. And that work is done with further cornerstone moments starting from when we meet our protagonist, which will be when he turns 15.

Starting point:

Our protagonist has been floating between homes for years now. He hasn’t made it work, and though he is not delinquent— he is under-performing.

Cornerstone moments:

1. He meets his new family, but it’s not an actual family. He now lives with Dr. Laura Graw-Hill, a physicist. She runs a foster home for difficult teens. Laura is picky with the kids she picks. She prefers quiet kids who are difficult and overlooked. Our protagonist fits that description. Her home has three other fosters because our good doctor is well to do. Laura’s teaching methods are new to our protagonist. She shows him the beauty of space and stars. Laura also shows him kindness and love without ever wanting to become his surrogate mother. She treats him with respect, consideration, and makes her expectations clear and simple.

-> Our protagonist feels at home and it’s weird. Laura speaks plainly but doesn’t treat him like he’s stupid. She spends time with him when he doesn’t understand something and helps him figure it out. His grades and confidence improve. He develops positive bonds with his new foster parent and his foster siblings. He realizes that with the right support, he can exceed expectations. Math, chemistry, physics? They seemed like gibberish, but once explained in a way he can understand, it all makes sense.

2. One of his foster siblings, another boy, declares to the family over dinner that he wants to be an astronaut. All of the kids giggle. Laura nods and begins by measuring his height. She takes him seriously when none of the kids had, and it shocks the kids out of their laughter. This is how Laura does everything, she’s a realist, and she supports with facts.

-> Laura’s reaction encourages our protagonist. He joins his older foster sibling in their quest to become astronauts. Together they volunteer at every occasion. He learns to trust in the safety of his guardian and foster sibling. He develops a healthy friendship with this sibling, and it helps him grow as a person.

3. They go to their community college together for the STEM education they need. The siblings enlist in the military to become pilots. Both are interviewed but only our protagonist succeeds.

-> His first reaction is fear. What is his sibling takes his admission poorly? (they do not). Once the fear dissipated, our protagonist grieves the dream of his sibling. Our protagonist has evolved. He fears leaving the safety of his home and loved ones, but it is in pursuit of his dream. His loved ones encourage him to proceed. The military solves the monetary problem, along with the experience gap.

Plotting character and its evolution is not a paint by numbers process. Knowing your character’s starting point is essential. Understanding that perspective is what leads to effective writing. I hope that the example today shows you another way to do it and that it helps you with your future writing.