WEBVTT
00:00:59.879 --> 00:01:05.879
If I asked you to tell me what happens in your story, you could probably do it.
00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:17.079
You know the opening, you know how it starts, you know the big plot turns, you may know how it ends, you might even have it outlined chapter by chapter.
00:01:17.479 --> 00:01:21.239
Now, let me ask you a different question.
00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:29.000
Who is your character at the end of your story that she wasn't at the beginning?
00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:36.039
What can she see, face, or do that she couldn't before?
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:48.120
If that's harder to answer, it may be because you've spent more time figuring out what happens to your character than what it changes for her.
00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:56.920
And that's often where a story that is plenty happening still doesn't feel like it holds together.
00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:06.840
In last week's episode, we talked about how one clear event gives your first chapter its shape.
00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:13.240
So today I want to zoom out to the whole story and to the person at the center of it.
00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.759
Think of your story as two lines.
00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:22.359
There's the plot line, the external events, everything that happens.
00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.759
That's the horizontal line.
00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:29.639
Then there's the vertical line running through all those plot events.
00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:45.080
That's your character's inner story, how she understands what's happening, how she responds to it, what she believes about herself and other people, and what she isn't ready to face yet.
00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.359
It's the emotional structure.
00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:52.359
Those two lines are bound together like brick and mortar.
00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.840
The external events are the bricks.
00:02:55.080 --> 00:03:00.439
Your character's inner story is the mortar that holds them together.
00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:04.280
Without the mortar, you've got a pile of bricks.
00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:08.760
Without the bricks, the mortar has nothing to hold.
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.760
But here's the part I want to focus on today.
00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:19.400
Your plot serves your character, not the other way around.
00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:23.879
And many writers focus more on what happens than who it happens to.
00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:32.680
They create all these dramatic events in the plot, and the characters are just reacting, and they're often reacting in predictable ways.
00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:34.520
No surprises there.
00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:43.319
Now, that doesn't mean you have to figure out your character's entire character arc before you start writing.
00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:46.360
You might discover it through the scenes you write.
00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:54.280
You might get halfway through a draft before you begin to understand what this story is asking your character to face.
00:03:56.200 --> 00:04:03.080
But whether you're drafting or revising, the question is the same.
00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:09.640
What do these plot events mean for the person living through them?
00:04:10.200 --> 00:04:17.159
And how do her responses, her choices, shape what happens next?
00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:20.279
How do her choices affect other characters?
00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:25.399
How do their responses change the trajectory of the plot?
00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:28.360
Okay, so let's get into it.
00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:32.599
Here's a question I want you to think about as you write.
00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:37.240
What hangs in the balance for your character?
00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:50.120
There may be something very concrete she could gain or lose: a job, a marriage, her home, her safety, or something less tangible, like her identity.
00:04:50.599 --> 00:04:53.319
But what does that mean to her?
00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:58.199
Losing the job might mean losing the one place where she feels competent.
00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:05.159
A marriage ending might force her to question a version of herself she's held on to for years.
00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:09.079
Falling in love could mean getting hurt again.
00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:15.000
That's where an event begins to matter beyond the fact that it happened.
00:05:15.799 --> 00:05:28.919
Two characters could experience the same event and respond in completely different ways, because different things hang in the balance for each of them.
00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:35.159
One character hears criticism from her mother and thinks, I need to try harder.
00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:38.919
Another thinks, I knew I couldn't trust you.
00:05:39.159 --> 00:05:42.759
And those interpretations lead to different choices.
00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:49.959
So when you're deciding what happens next, don't stop at whether the plot event is interesting.
00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:55.159
Ask what it puts at risk for this particular character.
00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:56.919
What does it challenge?
00:05:57.159 --> 00:06:01.479
What does it make harder for her to avoid?
00:06:01.799 --> 00:06:08.439
When you know that, even a quiet scene can carry enormous tension.
00:06:09.719 --> 00:06:12.359
Change is movement, not a mood.
00:06:12.599 --> 00:06:17.479
A character's inner story isn't just a record of how she feels.
00:06:17.719 --> 00:06:24.120
She can be lonely in chapter one, lonelier in chapter 10, and devastated in chapter 20.
00:06:24.359 --> 00:06:30.120
You've intensified the feeling, but has her understanding changed?
00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:33.959
Has she made a choice that creates a new problem?
00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:38.039
Has she tried something she wouldn't have tried before?
00:06:38.359 --> 00:06:40.919
Has she risked something?
00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:43.879
That's the movement we're looking for.
00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:54.039
If your character starts out lonely and wants to do something to solve that problem, what decision does she make despite being scared?
00:06:54.359 --> 00:06:56.359
What risks does she take?
00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:01.639
And what complications come out of those risks to challenge her?
00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:07.959
She might still be alone at the end of the story, but perhaps she's not lonely anymore.
00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:12.359
What being alone means to her has changed.
00:07:12.599 --> 00:07:17.000
And change doesn't have to mean becoming happier or wiser.
00:07:17.479 --> 00:07:20.679
A character can become more guarded.
00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:24.439
She can recognize something and refuse to act on it.
00:07:24.599 --> 00:07:29.639
She can make a choice that costs her more than she expected.
00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:41.079
What matters is the experiences of the story have consequences inside her, and those consequences affect what she does.
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:48.279
For example, in Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.
00:07:48.599 --> 00:07:53.000
When we meet Eleanor, her life runs on routine.
00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:59.560
Work, the same meals, vodka on the weekends, Wednesday phone calls with her mother.
00:07:59.799 --> 00:08:05.879
She keeps other people at a distance, and she will tell you she's completely fine.
00:08:06.039 --> 00:08:12.439
But as readers, we begin to see the loneliness she herself doesn't acknowledge.
00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:20.919
So we have the circumstances of her life, and we have the way she understands those circumstances.
00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:23.319
Those aren't quite the same thing.
00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:29.639
Then Eleanor decides she's fallen in love with a musician she's never met.
00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:35.399
She builds a fantasy around him and begins preparing for their future together.
00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:41.159
New clothes, new hair, a plan for becoming the woman she thinks he'll want.
00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:42.919
There's movement there.
00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:45.240
She wants connection.
00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:49.480
But look at the form that connection takes.
00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:54.120
She's imagining a relationship with someone she doesn't know.
00:08:54.360 --> 00:09:02.279
She can give him all the qualities she needs him to have without the uncertainty of getting close to a real person.
00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:11.639
Meanwhile, she and Raymond, a colleague from work, come across an older man who has collapsed on the street.
00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:21.320
They help him, and helping Sammy brings Eleanor into contact with his family, their warmth, their invitations.
00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:27.320
Now she's encountering something she can't control through fantasy.
00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:34.120
Real people who include her, who notice her, who might come to matter to her.
00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:38.279
And that creates its own discomfort.
00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:44.279
Wanting connection doesn't mean she knows how to accept it.
00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.639
Then her fantasy about the musician collapses.
00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:54.600
When she sees him perform, the man in front of her doesn't match the man she's invented.
00:09:55.319 --> 00:10:01.319
That disappointment is devastating because of what she's invested in it.
00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.759
This was supposed to be her way into a different life.
00:10:05.079 --> 00:10:10.120
And when Eleanor reaches her lowest point, Raymond shows up.
00:10:10.439 --> 00:10:12.360
She begins accepting help.
00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:13.959
She starts counseling.
00:10:14.199 --> 00:10:21.159
Slowly, she begins facing the past and questioning things she's treated as true.
00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:32.199
By the end, her life isn't neatly resolved, but her relationship to other people and to her own experience has changed.
00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.720
She's beginning to let herself be known.
00:10:38.199 --> 00:10:41.159
Now here's how the plot serves Eleanor.
00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:43.879
Look at how these events work.
00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:51.639
The musician gives Eleanor somewhere to place her longing without having to navigate an actual relationship.
00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:58.039
Helping Sammy brings her into contact with people she can't simply invent.
00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:03.959
The collapse of her fantasy exposes how much she's been depending on it.
00:11:04.199 --> 00:11:12.600
And Raymond's presence gives her an opportunity to accept the kind of help she spent so much of her life resisting.
00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:18.360
Each plot event puts pressure on something inside her.
00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.799
But Eleanor also shapes the plot.
00:11:21.959 --> 00:11:30.360
She pursues the musician, she participates in helping Sammy, she responds to invitations, she accepts help.
00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.159
What happens affects her.
00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:38.279
What she does in response affects what happens next.
00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.039
That's how the two lines move together.
00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:56.039
If we knew nothing about Eleanor's loneliness or the hopes she's placed in the musician, his disappointing performance wouldn't be that impactful.
00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.679
It would just be another thing happening.
00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:04.279
It matters because we understand what it means to her.
00:12:05.079 --> 00:12:08.120
Choices are where change becomes visible.
00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:11.399
This is how readers experience a character's change.
00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:18.519
We can learn a great deal through her thoughts, through what she remembers, notices, judges, or realizes.
00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:24.360
But we also need to see what she does with that understanding.
00:12:25.079 --> 00:12:34.759
Does she answer the phone this time, tell someone the truth, stay when she would usually leave, ask for help, then wish she hadn't?
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.720
Those choices don't have to be dramatic to be significant.
00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:43.639
And they won't necessarily move in one direction.
00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:48.679
Your character can take a risk, feel exposed, and retreat.
00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:53.159
She can recognize an old pattern and repeat it anyway.
00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:59.240
That doesn't erase the movement, it gives you something to work with.
00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:03.639
Now she knows something she didn't know before.
00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:06.840
What will it take for her to act on it?
00:13:07.079 --> 00:13:09.159
Sometimes your character doesn't change.
00:13:09.319 --> 00:13:16.919
The frustrating truth is that sometimes people can't change, sometimes they won't, sometimes they refuse to change.
00:13:17.159 --> 00:13:21.399
For example, Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road is scared to change.
00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:27.480
He holds on to the life he's claimed he wants to escape, and the outcome is tragic.
00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:35.399
His refusal has consequences, and by the end, we understand something about him that we couldn't see at the beginning.
00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:43.559
So when you sit down to write and you're not sure what comes next, return to your character.
00:13:43.959 --> 00:13:50.120
In last week's episode, I asked you to think about what your character wants when we first meet her.
00:13:50.439 --> 00:13:54.120
Now follow that want through the whole story.
00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:56.039
What does she want right now?
00:13:56.199 --> 00:13:58.039
What is she trying to protect?
00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:00.840
What isn't she ready to face?
00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:07.480
Then consider an event that puts pressure on one of those things.
00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:14.039
It might force her to choose between what she wants and what feels safe.
00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:24.039
It might give her exactly what she's been pursuing, only to reveal that it doesn't solve the problem she thought it would.
00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:31.000
Or it might offer her something she needs but isn't ready to accept.
00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:36.439
And once that plot event happens, stay with her response.
00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:38.439
What does she think it means?
00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:42.439
What fear or resistance does it kick up?
00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:45.240
What does she do because of that?
00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.279
What consequence follows?
00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:59.559
You don't need to know every turn before you write, but these questions can help you find the next plot event that grows out of the story you're already telling.
00:14:59.959 --> 00:15:01.399
So let's recap.
00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:04.840
Here are three things to take with you.
00:15:06.199 --> 00:15:16.600
One, your story has an external line and an internal line, the horizontal plot line and the vertical line running through those events.
00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:23.399
The events and what those events mean to your character work together like brick and mortar.
00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.919
Two, ask what hangs in the balance.
00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:32.279
What could she gain or lose and why does that matter to her?
00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:33.159
3.
00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:35.079
Follow her response.
00:15:35.319 --> 00:15:42.199
How she interprets an event shapes her choices, and those choices help create what happens next.
00:15:42.439 --> 00:15:54.039
Your character's inner story gives you a way to decide which events belong and to understand why a scene with plenty happening might still feel empty.
00:15:58.199 --> 00:16:09.000
And if you're struggling to see how the pieces of your draft fit together, I'm hosting a free live masterclass on Tuesday, October 13th, 7 p.m.
00:16:09.319 --> 00:16:09.959
Eastern.
00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:21.959
I'll help you see the structure already taking shape in what you've written, the frame your story hangs on, so you can return to your pages with a clearer sense of where you're going.
00:16:22.199 --> 00:16:30.679
Now I only have 50 spots open, so go to mylivemasterclass.com to hold your spot.
00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:34.279
Mylivemasterclass.com.
00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:45.959
So when you're looking at your draft, don't just ask, does enough happen?
00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:51.639
Ask why does what happens matter to this person?
00:16:53.079 --> 00:16:55.480
What does it ask her to face?
00:16:55.879 --> 00:16:57.720
What does she do in response?
00:16:57.959 --> 00:17:01.000
And what happens because of that choice?
00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:13.160
We keep reading because we want to know what happens next, but we also want to know why it all matters to your character, what it will mean for her.
00:17:14.360 --> 00:17:18.600
That's how your plot begins to hold together.
00:00:59.879 --> 00:01:05.879
If I asked you to tell me what happens in your story, you could probably do it.
00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:17.079
You know the opening, you know how it starts, you know the big plot turns, you may know how it ends, you might even have it outlined chapter by chapter.
00:01:17.479 --> 00:01:21.239
Now, let me ask you a different question.
00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:29.000
Who is your character at the end of your story that she wasn't at the beginning?
00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:36.039
What can she see, face, or do that she couldn't before?
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:48.120
If that's harder to answer, it may be because you've spent more time figuring out what happens to your character than what it changes for her.
00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:56.920
And that's often where a story that is plenty happening still doesn't feel like it holds together.
00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:06.840
In last week's episode, we talked about how one clear event gives your first chapter its shape.
00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:13.240
So today I want to zoom out to the whole story and to the person at the center of it.
00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.759
Think of your story as two lines.
00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:22.359
There's the plot line, the external events, everything that happens.
00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.759
That's the horizontal line.
00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:29.639
Then there's the vertical line running through all those plot events.
00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:45.080
That's your character's inner story, how she understands what's happening, how she responds to it, what she believes about herself and other people, and what she isn't ready to face yet.
00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:48.359
It's the emotional structure.
00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:52.359
Those two lines are bound together like brick and mortar.
00:02:52.599 --> 00:02:54.840
The external events are the bricks.
00:02:55.080 --> 00:03:00.439
Your character's inner story is the mortar that holds them together.
00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:04.280
Without the mortar, you've got a pile of bricks.
00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:08.760
Without the bricks, the mortar has nothing to hold.
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.760
But here's the part I want to focus on today.
00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:19.400
Your plot serves your character, not the other way around.
00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:23.879
And many writers focus more on what happens than who it happens to.
00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:32.680
They create all these dramatic events in the plot, and the characters are just reacting, and they're often reacting in predictable ways.
00:03:32.920 --> 00:03:34.520
No surprises there.
00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:43.319
Now, that doesn't mean you have to figure out your character's entire character arc before you start writing.
00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:46.360
You might discover it through the scenes you write.
00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:54.280
You might get halfway through a draft before you begin to understand what this story is asking your character to face.
00:03:56.200 --> 00:04:03.080
But whether you're drafting or revising, the question is the same.
00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:09.640
What do these plot events mean for the person living through them?
00:04:10.200 --> 00:04:17.159
And how do her responses, her choices, shape what happens next?
00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:20.279
How do her choices affect other characters?
00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:25.399
How do their responses change the trajectory of the plot?
00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:28.360
Okay, so let's get into it.
00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:32.599
Here's a question I want you to think about as you write.
00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:37.240
What hangs in the balance for your character?
00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:50.120
There may be something very concrete she could gain or lose: a job, a marriage, her home, her safety, or something less tangible, like her identity.
00:04:50.599 --> 00:04:53.319
But what does that mean to her?
00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:58.199
Losing the job might mean losing the one place where she feels competent.
00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:05.159
A marriage ending might force her to question a version of herself she's held on to for years.
00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:09.079
Falling in love could mean getting hurt again.
00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:15.000
That's where an event begins to matter beyond the fact that it happened.
00:05:15.799 --> 00:05:28.919
Two characters could experience the same event and respond in completely different ways, because different things hang in the balance for each of them.
00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:35.159
One character hears criticism from her mother and thinks, I need to try harder.
00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:38.919
Another thinks, I knew I couldn't trust you.
00:05:39.159 --> 00:05:42.759
And those interpretations lead to different choices.
00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:49.959
So when you're deciding what happens next, don't stop at whether the plot event is interesting.
00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:55.159
Ask what it puts at risk for this particular character.
00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:56.919
What does it challenge?
00:05:57.159 --> 00:06:01.479
What does it make harder for her to avoid?
00:06:01.799 --> 00:06:08.439
When you know that, even a quiet scene can carry enormous tension.
00:06:09.719 --> 00:06:12.359
Change is movement, not a mood.
00:06:12.599 --> 00:06:17.479
A character's inner story isn't just a record of how she feels.
00:06:17.719 --> 00:06:24.120
She can be lonely in chapter one, lonelier in chapter 10, and devastated in chapter 20.
00:06:24.359 --> 00:06:30.120
You've intensified the feeling, but has her understanding changed?
00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:33.959
Has she made a choice that creates a new problem?
00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:38.039
Has she tried something she wouldn't have tried before?
00:06:38.359 --> 00:06:40.919
Has she risked something?
00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:43.879
That's the movement we're looking for.
00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:54.039
If your character starts out lonely and wants to do something to solve that problem, what decision does she make despite being scared?
00:06:54.359 --> 00:06:56.359
What risks does she take?
00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:01.639
And what complications come out of those risks to challenge her?
00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:07.959
She might still be alone at the end of the story, but perhaps she's not lonely anymore.
00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:12.359
What being alone means to her has changed.
00:07:12.599 --> 00:07:17.000
And change doesn't have to mean becoming happier or wiser.
00:07:17.479 --> 00:07:20.679
A character can become more guarded.
00:07:20.839 --> 00:07:24.439
She can recognize something and refuse to act on it.
00:07:24.599 --> 00:07:29.639
She can make a choice that costs her more than she expected.
00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:41.079
What matters is the experiences of the story have consequences inside her, and those consequences affect what she does.
00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:48.279
For example, in Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.
00:07:48.599 --> 00:07:53.000
When we meet Eleanor, her life runs on routine.
00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:59.560
Work, the same meals, vodka on the weekends, Wednesday phone calls with her mother.
00:07:59.799 --> 00:08:05.879
She keeps other people at a distance, and she will tell you she's completely fine.
00:08:06.039 --> 00:08:12.439
But as readers, we begin to see the loneliness she herself doesn't acknowledge.
00:08:12.759 --> 00:08:20.919
So we have the circumstances of her life, and we have the way she understands those circumstances.
00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:23.319
Those aren't quite the same thing.
00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:29.639
Then Eleanor decides she's fallen in love with a musician she's never met.
00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:35.399
She builds a fantasy around him and begins preparing for their future together.
00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:41.159
New clothes, new hair, a plan for becoming the woman she thinks he'll want.
00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:42.919
There's movement there.
00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:45.240
She wants connection.
00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:49.480
But look at the form that connection takes.
00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:54.120
She's imagining a relationship with someone she doesn't know.
00:08:54.360 --> 00:09:02.279
She can give him all the qualities she needs him to have without the uncertainty of getting close to a real person.
00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:11.639
Meanwhile, she and Raymond, a colleague from work, come across an older man who has collapsed on the street.
00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:21.320
They help him, and helping Sammy brings Eleanor into contact with his family, their warmth, their invitations.
00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:27.320
Now she's encountering something she can't control through fantasy.
00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:34.120
Real people who include her, who notice her, who might come to matter to her.
00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:38.279
And that creates its own discomfort.
00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:44.279
Wanting connection doesn't mean she knows how to accept it.
00:09:44.600 --> 00:09:47.639
Then her fantasy about the musician collapses.
00:09:47.799 --> 00:09:54.600
When she sees him perform, the man in front of her doesn't match the man she's invented.
00:09:55.319 --> 00:10:01.319
That disappointment is devastating because of what she's invested in it.
00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.759
This was supposed to be her way into a different life.
00:10:05.079 --> 00:10:10.120
And when Eleanor reaches her lowest point, Raymond shows up.
00:10:10.439 --> 00:10:12.360
She begins accepting help.
00:10:12.519 --> 00:10:13.959
She starts counseling.
00:10:14.199 --> 00:10:21.159
Slowly, she begins facing the past and questioning things she's treated as true.
00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:32.199
By the end, her life isn't neatly resolved, but her relationship to other people and to her own experience has changed.
00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.720
She's beginning to let herself be known.
00:10:38.199 --> 00:10:41.159
Now here's how the plot serves Eleanor.
00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:43.879
Look at how these events work.
00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:51.639
The musician gives Eleanor somewhere to place her longing without having to navigate an actual relationship.
00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:58.039
Helping Sammy brings her into contact with people she can't simply invent.
00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:03.959
The collapse of her fantasy exposes how much she's been depending on it.
00:11:04.199 --> 00:11:12.600
And Raymond's presence gives her an opportunity to accept the kind of help she spent so much of her life resisting.
00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:18.360
Each plot event puts pressure on something inside her.
00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.799
But Eleanor also shapes the plot.
00:11:21.959 --> 00:11:30.360
She pursues the musician, she participates in helping Sammy, she responds to invitations, she accepts help.
00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.159
What happens affects her.
00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:38.279
What she does in response affects what happens next.
00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.039
That's how the two lines move together.
00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:56.039
If we knew nothing about Eleanor's loneliness or the hopes she's placed in the musician, his disappointing performance wouldn't be that impactful.
00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:58.679
It would just be another thing happening.
00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:04.279
It matters because we understand what it means to her.
00:12:05.079 --> 00:12:08.120
Choices are where change becomes visible.
00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:11.399
This is how readers experience a character's change.
00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:18.519
We can learn a great deal through her thoughts, through what she remembers, notices, judges, or realizes.
00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:24.360
But we also need to see what she does with that understanding.
00:12:25.079 --> 00:12:34.759
Does she answer the phone this time, tell someone the truth, stay when she would usually leave, ask for help, then wish she hadn't?
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.720
Those choices don't have to be dramatic to be significant.
00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:43.639
And they won't necessarily move in one direction.
00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:48.679
Your character can take a risk, feel exposed, and retreat.
00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:53.159
She can recognize an old pattern and repeat it anyway.
00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:59.240
That doesn't erase the movement, it gives you something to work with.
00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:03.639
Now she knows something she didn't know before.
00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:06.840
What will it take for her to act on it?
00:13:07.079 --> 00:13:09.159
Sometimes your character doesn't change.
00:13:09.319 --> 00:13:16.919
The frustrating truth is that sometimes people can't change, sometimes they won't, sometimes they refuse to change.
00:13:17.159 --> 00:13:21.399
For example, Frank Wheeler in Revolutionary Road is scared to change.
00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:27.480
He holds on to the life he's claimed he wants to escape, and the outcome is tragic.
00:13:27.720 --> 00:13:35.399
His refusal has consequences, and by the end, we understand something about him that we couldn't see at the beginning.
00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:43.559
So when you sit down to write and you're not sure what comes next, return to your character.
00:13:43.959 --> 00:13:50.120
In last week's episode, I asked you to think about what your character wants when we first meet her.
00:13:50.439 --> 00:13:54.120
Now follow that want through the whole story.
00:13:54.360 --> 00:13:56.039
What does she want right now?
00:13:56.199 --> 00:13:58.039
What is she trying to protect?
00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:00.840
What isn't she ready to face?
00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:07.480
Then consider an event that puts pressure on one of those things.
00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:14.039
It might force her to choose between what she wants and what feels safe.
00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:24.039
It might give her exactly what she's been pursuing, only to reveal that it doesn't solve the problem she thought it would.
00:14:24.519 --> 00:14:31.000
Or it might offer her something she needs but isn't ready to accept.
00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:36.439
And once that plot event happens, stay with her response.
00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:38.439
What does she think it means?
00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:42.439
What fear or resistance does it kick up?
00:14:42.679 --> 00:14:45.240
What does she do because of that?
00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:48.279
What consequence follows?
00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:59.559
You don't need to know every turn before you write, but these questions can help you find the next plot event that grows out of the story you're already telling.
00:14:59.959 --> 00:15:01.399
So let's recap.
00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:04.840
Here are three things to take with you.
00:15:06.199 --> 00:15:16.600
One, your story has an external line and an internal line, the horizontal plot line and the vertical line running through those events.
00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:23.399
The events and what those events mean to your character work together like brick and mortar.
00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.919
Two, ask what hangs in the balance.
00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:32.279
What could she gain or lose and why does that matter to her?
00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:33.159
3.
00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:35.079
Follow her response.
00:15:35.319 --> 00:15:42.199
How she interprets an event shapes her choices, and those choices help create what happens next.
00:15:42.439 --> 00:15:54.039
Your character's inner story gives you a way to decide which events belong and to understand why a scene with plenty happening might still feel empty.
00:15:58.199 --> 00:16:09.000
And if you're struggling to see how the pieces of your draft fit together, I'm hosting a free live masterclass on Tuesday, October 13th, 7 p.m.
00:16:09.319 --> 00:16:09.959
Eastern.
00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:21.959
I'll help you see the structure already taking shape in what you've written, the frame your story hangs on, so you can return to your pages with a clearer sense of where you're going.
00:16:22.199 --> 00:16:30.679
Now I only have 50 spots open, so go to mylivemasterclass.com to hold your spot.
00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:34.279
Mylivemasterclass.com.
00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:45.959
So when you're looking at your draft, don't just ask, does enough happen?
00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:51.639
Ask why does what happens matter to this person?
00:16:53.079 --> 00:16:55.480
What does it ask her to face?
00:16:55.879 --> 00:16:57.720
What does she do in response?
00:16:57.959 --> 00:17:01.000
And what happens because of that choice?
00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:13.160
We keep reading because we want to know what happens next, but we also want to know why it all matters to your character, what it will mean for her.
00:17:14.360 --> 00:17:18.600
That's how your plot begins to hold together.
