The Inner Journey of Scrooge

I’ve been dwelling a lot on inner journeys (inner arcs, character change, etc) recently. It’s a fascinating part of story telling, and I’ve got a work-in-progress that features a character with an interesting inner journey that I’m not sure I can pull off. So I’ve been studying again, and sharing what I’ve studied.   Kristen … Continue reading →

Character Change Part III

My last two posts have included excerpts from an article in this month’s Writer’s Digest by David Corbett called “The Science of Character Change.”  I’ve always been interested in the inner journey, or character arc, or character change, whatever you want to call it. It’s the meat of every story, the element that creates a powerful emotional experience for … Continue reading →

Character Change Part II

This month’s Writer’s Digest contains an article by David Corbett called “The Science of Character Change.”  I shared some of the goodness from the article in my last post, and I want to continue the discussion here. In summary, every character should begin (in the novel) in a state of ignorance or deceit, a place that he’s devised for … Continue reading →

Character Change

I’ve written before about the importance of an inner journey (or inner arc or character change), and it’s one of my favorite topics to study. Imagine my joy when I discovered this month’s Writer’s Digest contains an article by David Corbett called “The Science of Character Change.” It’s worth the price to subscribe to the magazine, but if you’re … Continue reading →

Building Characters – Overview of the Inner Journey

I’m continuing the discussion on building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke’s book Plot vs. Character. In the last post, I stated there are five major phases to a character’s inner journey: the Initial Condition, the Inciting Event, Escalati… Continue reading →

Building Characters – Inner Journey

I’m four months (or more) into this series on building believable characters, using Jeff Gerke’s book Plot vs. Character. It would be wrong to give you everything he says in the book–if you want to know it all, buy the book. It’s worth it. But th… Continue reading →