A story shouldn’t be “a bunch of things happen to or around our Protagonist, and then at the end, they change for some reason.” That potential for growth should be buried deep within every Main Character from the very beginning. Luckily for us, Dramatica provides some great insights into the most deepest recesses of your Main Character’s soul.

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Where your Main Character starts in a story and where he ends up are crucial for an audience to understand the meaning of your story. It is the similarity or difference between the two that defines the Main Character’s growth. The rest of the story must support this growth. Even if you have a great bit of storytelling - if it confuses the Main Character’s growth, you’ve got to throw it out. Leaving it in would be a problem…as it was for the latest Bond film.

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At the point of crisis, your main character has a decision to make. Should he make that final choice based on his feelings, or based on his intellect? As an author, how can you tell which one is the right answer for your story?

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Powered by a meteoric performance from Denzel Washington, Training Day offers up a complete and riveting story. An analysis of the film and in particular, a deleted scene available on DVD, proves that no matter what you do, the storyform will always win out.

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Inspiration and insight can come from anywhere. When it does, and when you can see something differently for the first time, you get so excited that you have to share it with someone. I had a breakthrough like this last weekend that had to do with the Main Character and the baggage he [...]

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So, if justification is building up, and problem solving is tearing down, how is that different from the building up or tearing down through growth?
First, take this as a given: having a Justification (or having a wall as described here) balances out your world. It hides everything and makes you feel like everything is fine.
Then, [...]

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And the reverse is true as well…
Removing the justification is the Forestory for a Change Main Character and the Backstory for a Steadfast Main Character.
For a Steadfast Main Character this would be more about creating the position he will hold on to. It would be about how he got to where he is through some experience [...]

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Previously I had interpreted what Chris had said about Tearing Down or Building Up to be tied to the Main Character Growth. This was wrong.
Sort of.
It really depends on whether you are talking about resolving the inequity or creating the inequity.
If I don’t have a problem, then I have a problem, but I don’t want to deal [...]

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So where is the Impact Character in all of these analogies about walls and wells?
If I’m a Change Main Character, then the Impact Character is that guy shining that flashlight either down that well or up on that wall - showing me that yes, indeed, I do have a problem.
If I’m a Steadfast Main Character, then the [...]

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After a week or so off for the holiday, I went back to what I’ve written here and found that I was thoroughly confused. On the one hand, I had spent several weeks writing about the four different types of stories - Building Up and Tearing Down for a Change Character and for a [...]

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