Advanced Plotting
Character vs. Plot = CONFLICT!

PLOT ARC -- The events that happen while the characters make other plans.
CHARACTER ARC -- The emotional roller-coaster that the character suffers while dealing with the Plot.

I’m sure, most of you have noticed by now is that most movie characters, and far too many book characters, are One-Dimensional. They do stuff, but they don’t face any personality issues: a hang-up, a fear, paranoia, a moral code, a love interest, a strong dislike… Without hang-ups to deal with, and face down, those characters are not PEOPLE. They’re pretty card-board cutouts moving around on a pretty stage.

Or worse – they DO have all these things, but it never shows up in the story.

The rule of Mystery Fiction states:
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“If the gun is shown in Chapter One, it better go off by Chapter Three -- and there had better be a damned good reason for that gun to be there.”

The Rule of Erotic Fiction:
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“If the Kiss is shown in Chapter One, the Sex better happen by chapter three -- and there had better be a damned good reason for that Kiss to be there.”

These rules should apply to ANYTHING you put in a story. That includes mental, emotional, and physical ISSUES. Ahem...

The Rule of CONFLICT in Fiction:
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“If the character has an emotion or physical Issue in Chapter One, the Conflict better happen by chapter three -- and there had better be a damned good reason for that Issue to be there.”

If you have it in the story, no matter WHAT it is, you better have a use for it fairly quickly, and that use had better turn the plot. If it DOESN’T, you’ve just made a PLOT HOLE, and I guarantee that someone will not only see it, they’ll call you on it. It could be a fan who writes you a concerned letter, “Whatever happened with…?” or worse, a Reviewer read by thousands.


Adding CONFLICT
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There are many kinds of conflict one can add to a story. Here are some of the more commonly known ones.

More than one GOAL in the story.
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A well-placed REVERSAL does wonders to knock your characters right off the road and goal they’ve chosen and into the face of Looming Danger -- and a different goal entirely. (Repeat as necessary.)

Every major event in the story goes AGAINST their physical and/or mental hang-ups.
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If you have a serious tough-guy character like Riddick in Pitch Black, give them a handicap you can take advantage of. Riddick's handicaps were the inability to see in ordinary light AND the fact that no one would trust him because he was a Convict.

Use the events around them to put your character in situations where their handicaps can be used against them -- putting them in PHYSICAL DANGER - each time. Don’t forget to force them to expose their emotional soft spots – a hang-up, a fear, a paranoia, a moral code, a love interest, a strong dislike -- putting them in EMOTIONAL danger too.

The Adversary and the Ally have Physical and Mental traits that go AGAINST the Proponent’s traits!
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In a medieval-style RPG (role-playing game,) you will often see a hulking Paladin Knight (normally ACTION/Fix-it-driven), paired with a slender but highly dexterous Elvish bowman, or knife-throwing Thief, (normally EMOTION/Impulse-Driven,) and a physically weak but highly intelligent and powerful Mage, (normally MOTIVE-Driven). Each of the three characters possesses physical traits that overlap to cover most monstrous encounters -- and strong differences in temperament making for very lively chit-chat.

By the way, RPG books on Character Creation are a great way to dig up mental and physical traits for characters!


Making Issues HAPPEN in a Story
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My Issue/Plot Template (Cheat-Sheet)

Example: SECRETARY
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The Mirrored Issue: Pain & Love
• Her Issue: She uses Physical Pain to relieve her Emotional Pain. (She hurts herself.)
• His Issue: He uses Physical Pain as a disciplinary tool.

0 - Introduction: Talented & Troubled
Boy meets Girl – Mirrored Issues trigger Emotional Conflict
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• A wonderful typist, but otherwise clueless, girl becomes a secretary for a dominating, but soft-hearted, lawyer.

1 - Inciting Event: Denial – Instigation
Response to Emotional Conflict exposes Issues.
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• Her desire to please him drives her to cut her clothing.
• He sees this and recognizes her “self-punishment”. He demands that she stop her self-destructive behavior.

2 - Defiance: Anger – Provoked
Issues instigate a Dilemma prompting a Fight/Flight response
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• She goes on a date and is seen by her Lawyer. The lawyer’s emotional conflict (his growing feelings for her,) drives him to begin disciplining her at work. He spanks her for a typing mistake.
• The secretary discovers that his spanking brings her an emotional release and an emotional connection to her lawyer. She begins to encourage his discipline by making more mistakes.

3 - Reversal: Bargaining – Intolerable Surrender or Unacceptable Rescue
Conditional compliance to resolve Dilemma
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• Despite the fact that his secretary is blooming right before his eyes, the lawyer sees his behavior as being destructive. He decides that he is wrong in his discipline and stops.

4 - Crisis: Despair - Reversal - Worst Case Scenario
Disaster strikes bringing Emotional Consequences - Issues Surface
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• Desperate to get her lawyer to discipline her, and give her the emotional connection she craves, she mails him a worm. (He truly hates bugs.)
• The lawyer discovers that he cannot stop disciplining her, (she won’t let him,) and fires her.

5 - Ordeal: Sacrifice – Forfeit & Surrender
Desperation forces confrontation of Issues & Emotional Conflict
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• Her boyfriend proposes marriage.
• Out of guilt over HIS feelings for her, and pain at losing her lawyer, she agrees. In her wedding dress, she realizes that she does not love her boyfriend, she loves her lawyer.


6 - Confrontation: Acceptance - Bitter-sweet Revelation & Talents Reborn
Acceptance of Issues presents solution to Crisis.
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• In her wedding dress, she confronts her lawyer. She demands that he love her. He insists that what he’s doing is wrong. She insists that it’s not – that it’s just a different kind of love. They belong together.
• He demands that she sit at his desk – with her hands flat on the surface -- until he comes for her. (It’s a test.) He doesn’t believe that she could possibly love him.

0 - Resolution: A Promise Kept
Emotional Conflict resolved - Relationship secured
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• She sits at his desk for days, dealing with family and friends about her personal choices concerning who she loves, and why.
• The lawyer has been monitoring her progress the entire time and realizes that she does love him, just as he is and for what he is. He comes for her.
• Happily ever after – for them.


In Conclusion...
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The best way to give your characters depth is to Plot Against them! Make the events around them and the people they come in contact with force them to show off ALL aspects of their character, positive and negative.

Conflict isn't just the best way -- it's the Only way.

Enjoy!

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DISCLAIMER: As with all advice, take what you can use and throw out the rest. As a multi-published author, I have been taught some fairly rigid rules on what is publishable and what is not. If my rather straight-laced (and occasionally snotty,) advice does not suit your creative style, by all means, IGNORE IT.

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Ookami Kasumi
http://ookami-kasumi.livejournal.com/