Posts

#7: Create Multiple Relationship Arcs to Show Your Character’s Journey in Relation to Those Around Them

/0 Comments/in /by
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #7: Create Multiple Relationship Arcs to Show Your Character’s Journey in Relation to Those Around Them

Theatrical adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels often eliminate characters in order to shorten, to focus, and/or to interpret the story. Simon Reade’s play Pride and Prejudice eliminates Colonel Fitzwilliam. Kate Hamill’s play Pride and Prejudice eliminates not only Colonel Fitzwilliam, but also Kitty and the Gardiners. Isobel McArthur’s play Pride and Prejudice (sort of) eliminates Colonel Fitzwilliam, but adds a group of named servants: Anne, Clara, Effie, Flo, Maisie, and Tillie. Melissa Leilani Larsen’s adaptation keeps Colonel Fitzwilliam (so if you’re a Colonel fan, this is the one for you); Mrs. Gardiner is maintained as a referenced character but is never seen on stage.

When characters are eliminated in an adaptation, either plot elements must be eliminated or something or someone else must step in to serve the missing role. For instance, in the adaptations that eliminate Colonel Fitzwilliam, Elizabeth must find out through other means that Mr. Darcy separated Jane and Mr. Bingley. (In one adaptation, Darcy himself tells her.)

The chosen cast of characters heavily influences the plot of any novel. Yet characters do more than that:

Each character can help illuminate the main character and their journey for the reader.

In Pride and Prejudice, the main character is Elizabeth Bennet, and the core relationship of the story is with Mr. Darcy, because it is through their relationship that we see most of Elizabeth’s change and growth through the story. Their relationship arc is a definitive component of Elizabeth’s journey.

Elizabeth also experiences relationship arcs with a number of other characters: her relationships with these people progress, develop, change, shift, deepen, weaken, experience betrayal, are challenged, etc.

Characters who have relationship arcs with Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice:

  • Jane
  • Lydia
  • Charlotte Lucas
  • Wickham
  • Bennet
  • Bennet
  • Collins
  • Lady Catherine de Bourgh
  • The Gardiners

There are a number of other characters in the novel whose relationships with Elizabeth don’t change or have an arc over the course of the novel, including:

  • Mary
  • Kitty
  • Phillips
  • Anne de Bourgh
  • Sir William Lucas
  • Lady Lucas

While not all characters need to have a relationship arc with the main character, incorporating multiple relationship arcs in a story makes a richer world and makes the main character seem more complex and nuanced. Relationship arcs show your main character’s journey in relation to those around them.

(Note: There are books with a single character, or just two or three characters, but most books include more. For those books with only a few characters, these relationship arcs tend to be especially important. In short stories it is typically better to only include a handful of characters.)

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

Make a list of people with whom you have interacted with in the last week, either in person or otherwise (phone call, letter, digitally, etc.). Put these people into categories (friends, family, work, school, mortal enemies, acquaintances, salespeople, etc.).

Draw a star next to the three people whose relationships with you have changed or developed the most within the last month or year.

Exercise 2:

Create a list of your favorite supporting characters from books or movies. These should not be main characters, but rather small or medium characters that play a part in the story. For each character you have listed, write down a few attributes that you like about them, as well as details about their relationship with the main character. If you’re willing, share one of these characters in the comments.

Exercise 3:

Option 1: If you are planning out a story, make a chart of character relationships that are important to your main character. This is a standard chart but can be adapted for the type of story you are telling (for example, a mystery novel should have a column titled “suspects”). Some categories may only include one person, while some categories may include a number of individuals.

It is likely that not all of these characters will be in your story, or at least not all of them will play crucial roles in the story. Some of these characters will be main characters, while others will be supporting. Underline the characters who will be most instrumental to the plot, and highlight the characters who will have the most important relationship arcs with the main character.

Option 2: If you are revising a story, use Excel, Google Spreadsheets, or paper and pen to chart your characters over the course of your novel. One way to do this is to put an “X” for every time they are seen in a chapter and an “x” for every time they are mentioned. Another way to do this is to write a brief description of the role each character plays in each chapter. Here’s a sample of what it might look like if I was tracking characters in the first few chapters of Pride and Prejudice.

Pride and Prejudice Character Tracking: Jane Austen Writing Lessons #7

Once you’ve completed your chart, you can use it to self-diagnose areas where you can improve. For example, if one of your characters is supposed to have an important relationship arc but they are not present for a six-chapter segment, that could be an important thing to incorporate in your revisions.

Don’t Miss a Lesson: Subscribe to Updates and Giveaways from katherinecowley.com

* indicates required



Which newsletter(s) would you like to receive?

#6: Use a Character Arc to Make Your Character Change and Grow

/0 Comments/in /by
Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #6: Use a Character Arc to Make Your Character Change and Grow

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner is a beautiful new novel about how our favorite authors can save us. It made me cry approximately three times—fine, exactly three times—and is a fabulous read. In the novel, the first character we meet is the farmer Adam Berwick, a man broken by loss of family and dreams. The book begins with him in a death-like pose next to the Chawton cemetery, yet over the course of the first chapter he changes and grows.

Adam is challenged by a visitor to the town to read Jane Austen, and he reluctantly agrees. As he reads Pride and Prejudice, he begins to change:

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

Reading Jane Austen was making him identify with Darcy….It was helping him understand how even someone without much means or agency might demand to be treated. How we can act the fool and no one around us will necessarily clue us in.

He would surely never see the American woman again. But maybe reading Jane Austen could help him gain even a small degree of her contented state.

Maybe reading Austen could give him the key.

The external plot of the story is Adam and others coming together to save Jane Austen’s Chawton home. But each of the characters, including Adam, undergoes internal change and transformation over the course of the novel.

In a novel, the internal journey, or character arc, constantly intersects with the external journey. A character arc is not a straight line of progress. It includes failures and successes, embracing and resisting change. Ultimately though, our characters should learn and grow. (I have the same hope for my children. So far it’s working, except for the fact that my youngest has been coloring on walls for years.)

As you create a character arc, consider how this arc is influenced by:

  • What happens to the character

  • The choices and decisions made by the character

  • Moments of resisting change and moments of progress

  • Who the character needs to become by the end of the novel

All of Jane Austen’s completed novels contain excellently crafted character arcs: all of her main characters change, develop, and transform over the course of their stories.

One example of this is Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey. In the introduction to the Broadview edition of Northanger Abbey, the scholar Claire Grogran writes about Catherine’s transformation: “Catherine becomes an adept reader not only of texts but also of people and of situations.”

Illustration of Catherine Morland reading

An illustration of Catherine Morland reading.
This illustration, by an unknown artist, was included in the 1833 Bentley Edition of Jane Austen’s Novels.

At first, Catherine is innocent and naïve, which allows her to be manipulated by others, including her friend, Isabella Thorpe, and Isabella’s brother, John Thorpe. Even though John consistently interferes with her desires and other friendships, she does not see him for who she is.

The first time Catherine meets John Thorpe, she is “fearful of hazarding an opinion of [her] own in opposition to that of a self-assured man.” She finds herself constantly frustrated by Thorpe’s speech and behavior, yet she distrusts her own judgment, and does not read anything truly wrong into his character:

These manners did not please Catherine; but he was James’ friend and Isabella’s brother; and her judgment was further brought off by Isabella’s assuring her, when they withdrew to see the new hat, that John thought her the most charming girl in the world.

As their relationship progresses, Catherine consciously makes the decision to not read into his character, to ignore his flaws, and to allow him to override her plans. In this, she is resisting change and development. (Characters often resist change because change is hard.)

Little as Catherine was in the habit of judging for herself, and unfixed as her general notions of what men ought to be, she could not entirely repress a doubt, while she bore with the effusions of his endless conceit, of his being altogether completely agreeable.

Yet because of this, she misses the opportunity to spend time with her friend Miss Tilney, and her brother, Mr. Tilney, who she is romantically interested in. This leads her to conclude that “John Thorpe himself was quite disagreeable.”

A few chapters later, Catherine plans a walk with Miss Tilney, but it happens to be at the same time as an outing that John Thorpe wants Catherine to attend. Jealous and vindictive, Thorpe ignores Catherine’s wishes, goes to Miss Tilney, and cancels Catherine’s walk.

When Catherine learns of this, she takes action in a way that begins her path towards transformation and growth:  she decides to trust her own judgement of the people and the situation, and to act decisively. Disregarding all of Isabella’s and John’s entreaties, she declares,

“This will not do. I cannot submit to this. I must run after Miss Tilney directly and set her right.”

Catherine then proceeds to do so. Throughout the rest of the novel, she gains more practice reading people and situations. Sometimes her judgment leads her false (as when Henry finds Catherine in his mother’s room, looking for clues of her supposed murder), but over the course of the novel she does improve in her ability to read situations and she allows this reading to inform and change her behavior.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

Pick a name for a character, any name.

Now choose one of the following attributes:

  • Courage
  • Willingness to sacrifice for others
  • Ambition
  • Persistence
  • Resourcefulness
  • Thriftiness
  • Ability to forgive others

Set a timer for ten minutes, and in that time make a list of the following four events which would create a basic character arc for this character:

  1. An event which shows that the character does not yet possess this attribute
  2. An event which shows the character learning this attribute
  3. An event which shows the character resisting or failing at the implementation of this attribute
  4. An event which shows that the character has learned to incorporate this attribute into their lives

Exercise 2:

Read a book or watch as movie, and as you do so, take notes on the main character. How do they change over the course of the story? What do they learn and how do they develop? How do they resist change? On a piece of paper, plot out the main points of their character arc. Visually, what type of line or arc would you draw to show their development?

Exercise 3:

Take a story of your own that you are currently writing or revising. Write a 2-3 sentence description of who the character must become by the end of the story. Then write a 2-3 sentence description of who the character is at the start of the story.

Now evaluate your character. A few things to consider:

  • There needs to be enough distance between who the character is at the beginning of the story and who the character is at the end. In a novel, this distance will need to be much greater than in a short story.
  • The character may have multiple things they need to learn.
  • If your story is part of a series, the character needs to change or develop in new ways in each book.
  • As the character develops and grows, the goal is not to make them a “perfect” character or eliminate all of the negative attributes that are a core part of their character.
  • Often, more than one character has a character arc, and these arcs can intersect with each other, parallel each other, or interfere with each other.

Don’t Miss a Lesson: Subscribe to Updates and Giveaways from katherinecowley.com

* indicates required



Which newsletter(s) would you like to receive?

#5: Make Things Hard for Your Character

/0 Comments/in /by

In the film Austenland, the main character, Jane, goes shooting with the other guests at an Austen-themed resort. On the way back, her horse refuses to budge, so the others go on without her. She waits alone, and then begins walking back by herself. To make things worse, it begins to rain. Actually, pour.

Mr. Nobley comes to rescue Jane, but her troubles are not over: her skirt’s in the way (he helpfully rips it for her); when they get back, she has trouble getting off the horse and falls awkwardly over Mr. Nobley; finally, Lady Amelia Heartwright ignores Jane and then, once she notices her, she is appalled by her appearance.

The film is delightful and hilarious, in part because there is no end to Jane’s troubles. It’s not just horse trouble, or the rain, or the skirt—it’s obstacle building on obstacle, with small triumphs interspersed (she does, after all, manage to get off the horse).

I used to be afraid to hurt my characters, which greatly limited my stories. Challenge creates the potential for growth.

A great example of a character experiencing hard things is Anne Elliot in Persuasion. She is taking a long walk with a number of family members and friends, including her ex-fiancé Captain Wentworth (who still isn’t over the fact that she broke up with him a decade before), and his current love interest, Louisa Musgrove.

At one point, Anne decides to rest on the hill. Her location accidentally places her in a spot where she is forced to eavesdrop on Captain Wentworth and Louisa’s budding romance. This certainly qualifies as making things hard for your main character.

As we analyze this scene, we can see Austen implementing three different techniques that are used to make things difficult for characters:

  1. Provide external obstacles and challenges that require action and must be overcome
  2. Give the character successes or triumphs which lead to complications or other difficulties
  3. Use the character’s internal flaws or challenges to make it harder for the character to succeed

External Obstacles and Challenges

External obstacles can be created by other characters, nature, animals, society, technology—in other words, by anything outside of the character’s self.

Anne Elliot still loves Captain Wentworth, so in this scene the external challenge is caused by the romance between Captain Wentworth and Louisa, and by the fact that Anne is forced to witness it. At one point, Wentworth praises Louisa in a way that Anne knows is a direct critique of Anne’s own character and past choices:

“My first wish for all, whom I am interested in, is that they should be firm. If Louisa Musgrove would be beautiful and happy in her November of life, she will cherish all her present powers of mind.”

Anne does not take immediate action against this obstacle, but it is an obstacle that she must overcome over the course of the novel.

Successes or Triumphs

Seemingly good things—successes and triumphs—can also make things harder for the main character. This is counterintuitive because we expect good things to yield good results, yet good things can have a myriad of challenging results, including shallow victories, greater expectations/responsibilities, complicated relationships, and distractions from the real goal.

Not long after Anne eavesdrops on Wentworth and Louisa, the entire group reconvenes and begins the arduous journey home. Captain Wentworth goes out of his way to help Anne by securing her the only spot in a carriage for the ride home, and physically lifting her into the carriage, which could be considered a success or triumph for Anne. Yet this makes things more difficult for her:

This little circumstance seemed the completion of all that had gone before. She understood him. He could not forgive her, — but he could not be unfeeling. Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to another, still he could not see her suffer, without the desire of giving her relief….[It] was a proof of his own warm and amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that she knew not which prevailed.

The novel Persuasion provides many examples of how successes and triumphs can lead to further complications or other difficulties for the main character.

Internal Flaws and Challenges

Internal flaws and challenges also make it harder for characters to succeed at their goals.

During the first half of the novel, Anne’s internal flaws dominate: she still loves Captain Wentworth, but she is not assertive, and she does not make any clear attempts to show her affection to him.

Throughout this scene, Anne places herself and her desires beneath those of others, and she goes out of the way to avoid moments of interaction with Captain Wentworth. Despite her love, she intentionally avoids opportunities which could lead to them rekindling their friendship and romance:

Anne’s object was, not to be in the way of any body, and where the narrow paths across the fields made many separations necessary, to keep with her brother and sister.

Internal flaws and challenges are often harder for characters to overcome than any external obstacles.

In Conclusion

Making things hard for your character creates tension and conflict. It also makes the ultimate triumph of the character more compelling, because of all that they have had to overcome in the process.

In crafting hard things, it is important to avoid making the hard things too big or irrelevant. This scene with Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth doesn’t need an earthquake or an angry villain to make things harder for Anne, because in this scene, these little challenges are emotionally relevant. Austen doesn’t shy away from big events and challenges—for example, Louisa’s terrible fall later in the book—but building to these larger events with other smaller challenges makes them more emotionally resonant.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise #1: Consider what external challenges a character might face when purchasing vegetables. Make a list of at least two large challenges, two medium challenges, and two small challenges they could face. Now choose a few of these challenges and write a paragraph about this character purchasing vegetables. If you would like, share this paragraph in the comments.

Exercise #2: Make a list of some of your own characteristics that might be considered flaws (being prone to anger, perfectionism, etc.). Write a paragraph about a time in your life when one of these characteristics made doing something more difficult for you.

Exercise #3: Take a scene that you have written. Underline or circle all the things that are hard for your character, and label each of the things as an external obstacle/challenge, a success/triumph which leads to other difficulties, or an internal flaw/challenge. Now read through the scene again and consider whether or not you need to add more challenges, big or small.

Don’t Miss a Lesson: Subscribe to Updates and Giveaways from katherinecowley.com

* indicates required



Which newsletter(s) would you like to receive?

#1: Make Your Character Want Something

/0 Comments/in /by

The key components of story: plot character

At the heart of any story are two fundamental components: character and plot. There is a lot of debate about whether character or plot is more important, and both need to be addressed at every stage of the writing process. Yet there is an underlying principle that distills both character and plot.

Your main character needs to want something.

In Jane Austen’s novel Emma, the main character, Emma Woodhouse, wants to bring others happiness (and herself entertainment) by playing matchmaker. At the beginning of the book she sets herself on this path while speaking of her success in matching her dear friend and governess, Miss Taylor, to Mr. Weston:

“I made the match myself. I made the match, you know, four years ago; and to have it take place, and be proved in the right, when so many people said Mr. Weston would never marry again, may comfort me for any thing.”

Mr. Knightley shook his head at her. Her father fondly replied, “Ah! my dear, I wish you would not make matches and foretell things, for whatever you say always comes to pass. Pray do not make any more matches.”

“I promise you to make none for myself, papa; but I must, indeed, for other people. It is the greatest amusement in the world! And after such success you know!”

Make Your Character Want Something

Illustration by C.E. Brock, from a 1909 edition of Emma

The wants of a character reveal their internal character and personality.

Emma believes she can be a matchmaker because she believes she understands people better than they understand themselves. Not only does she find herself superior to others, but she is used to getting what she wants.

The wants of a character create plot.

Emma’s desire to make matches leads to most of the action (and comedy) of the novel, such as her prolonged attempt to set her friend Harriet Smith up with the vicar, Mr. Elton.

Whether you’re brainstorming or revising a story, make sure your main character wants something, and that this want is manifest throughout the narrative.

How do you show character wants and motivations?

One of the most powerful ways to show what a character wants is through their dialogue, as seen in the example from Emma. Dialogue is not just about communication: it is a tool we use to assert our identities in the world, to create change, and to influence other characters.

What a character wants should also be shown through action. Emma arranges endless opportunities for Harriet and Mr. Elton to spend time together. At one point she is on a walk with them and she intentionally breaks her shoelace so she can fall behind, giving them the opportunity to be alone.

A further method that can be used to show character wants and motivation is through description. Emma notices every time Mr. Elton looks in Harriet’s direction, and the description reflects her motivation and hopes.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Think of one of your favorite books or movies. What does the main character really want? Share your response in the comments.

Exercise 2: Whether you’re writing a novel, a short story, or a picture book, your main character should want something. Write a manifesto from their point of view about what they want, why they want it, and what they are willing to do to get it. This could be a single paragraph or a full page.

Exercise 3: Rewrite the following short scene about a woman named Mariah. The catch: you must add a strong character want. This could be any want, in any genre. For example:

  • To be a matchmaker
  • To find a valuable clue that will help her stop an assassin
  • To be on time to something in her life, for once

Whether you choose one of these sample wants or your own, the character’s want should have an impact on the dialogue, the action, and the description.

Mariah walked up to the ticket counter. “One ticket for Ocean’s 8. The 7:00.”

The man at the counter nodded, not even looking up at her. As he made the selections on his computer, her eyes fell on his name tag. “Markus.” Her eyes moved back up to his face, and this time, she looked past the glasses and the beard. It really was Markus. She hadn’t seen him in years, not since high school graduation.

“Markus Santos?”

At this, he looked up from the screen. It took a moment, but realization dawned on his face. “Mariah. How are you?”

“Pretty good. How about you?”

“Great,” he said, but not very convincingly. “That’ll be $10.25.”

She inserted her credit card.

“Are you seeing this by yourself?” he asked.

“No, I’m meeting friends. They already have their tickets.”

She removed her credit card and he handed her the ticket.

“Have a nice night,” he said with a nod. There was no trace of the smiles he used to give to everyone.

“You too,” she said. She entered the theater.

Don’t Miss a Lesson: Subscribe to Updates and Giveaways from katherinecowley.com

* indicates required



Which newsletter(s) would you like to receive?