Reader Question: What do I do when my Protagonist and the plot aren’t in sync?
A question from Robert:
Hi Scott,
I’ve been struggling with an issue I was hoping you may have some experience with. I essentially have a plot with “a lot of cool shit” happening along with a twist that should really surprise the reader. I also have a protag with a unique personal flaw that he needs to overcome.
With that, both of these entities are completely disconnected. I want so badly to seamlessly intertwine this flawed character with this compelling story but it doesn’t seem to be. I just can’t seem to find a way for my protag to work out and deal with his flaw via the twists and turns I’ve plotted out for him.
Are there any exercises you can recommend to help me bring these two together?
Thanks for taking the time Scott and I love the blog!
Robert, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall observing your development process on this story. Ideally when we’re brainstorming plot, there is a natural intermingling of ideas tied to the Protagonist and their journey. But it appears that a sort of ‘divorce’ occurred for you, where the events of your story’s External World (Plotline) were somehow disconnected from the emotional arc your Protagonist would or should be taking in the Internal World (Themeline).
As you are experiencing, that’s not a good thing for many reasons, not the least of which is that the events that occur in the Plotline carry most of their emotional meaning precisely due to the fact that they are connected to the Protagonist’s psychological journey. And that’s the case even if the Plotline is loaded with a “lot of cool shit.”
I would recommend you go back to basics — and for me that starts with character, specifically your Protagonist. Imagine that your Protagonist has been living in your story world for the entirety of their life. Moreover everything that has happened to the Protagonist up to the point where you type FADE IN has created the unique circumstance in which the P finds him/herself as your story opens. Given that frame, ask yourself this:
Why does this story have to happen to this character at this time?
In my view, most stories arise from the behavioral, emotional, and/or spiritual issues that exist as part of the Protagonist’s psyche. In other words, a story can be thought of as a psychological journey. The characters that exist and the events that happen in the story do so as part of the Protagonist’s psychological journey. Which is why in a way this story must happen to the Protagonist now. It is an inevitability, something that has to occur in order for the Protagonist to confront their Disunity state and go through a process of metamorphosis toward Unity (the traditional Protagonist’s transformation arc).
Which leads to two more questions you can ask:
What does my Protagonist want?
What does my Protagonist need?
In a typical movie, the Protagonist begins with a conscious goal, something they know they want. They may not express that desire or acknowledge it until the end of Act One, but even if it’s not clear from P. 1, it is present as part of their observable behavior, and becomes clear in time.
It’s also true in most movies that there exists within the Protagonist an even deeper need, something about which they are often unconscious at the beginning of the story. This need is a powerful one, a part of their psyche that has been in existence for a long time, tied to the core essence of who that character is in their Internal World. They may have struggled with it in the past. They may be actively suppressing it or inactively ignoring it — but that need exists. And the fact that they P has not dealt with it is at the root of their Disunity.
They have a conscious want and an unconscious need. Almost always, the two stand in conflict of each other.
In Shakespeare in Love, the Protagonist (Will Shakespeare) is very clear about what he wants: To be a famous playwright. We learn this from the very first moment we meet him:
INT. WILL’S ROOM. DAY
A small cramped space in the eaves of a building. A cluttered shelf containing various objects, wedged between crumpled pieces of paper. Among those we have time to observe: a skull, a mug that says A PRESENT FROM STRATFORD-UPON-AVON.
At infrequent intervals further pieces of crumpled paper are tossed towards the shelf. The man who is throwing them, WILL SHAKESPEARE, is bent over a table, writing studiously with a quill.
Now we see what he is writing: Will is practising his signature, over and over again. “Will Shagsbeard…W Shakspur…William Shasper…” Each time he is dissatisfied, and each time he crumples, and tosses it away.
He is practicing his signature, presumably with fantasies of adoring crowds thronging around him clamoring for his autograph. And yet even in this simple little moment, we see his Disunity at work: By testing out various signatures, he is symbolically searching for his identity. His Disunity is underscored when he visits the local ‘shrink’ and admits to being blocked creatively (“I have lost my gift”). In other words, a writer who can not write.
What does Will want? To be a famous playwright. But he’s never going to be a great writer unless he stops living at the ‘surface’ of his life (e.g., penning meaningless comedic romps to keep the unending string of bill collectors at bay, engaging in a series of uninspiring dalliances with unenlightened women) and goes deeper into Life Itself and his Own Life.
The key, of course, is Viola, and so once their romance begins, Will would probably think that what he needs is true love. And that is accurate, but true love of a particular sort. He needs to experience the loss of true love, the tragedy of having found his beloved, then lost her. It is the pain of that grief and sorrow which causes him to go deeper into life, enabling him to tap into the wellspring of talent that has been roiling within Will for years, waiting for this story to happen so it could emerge into Will’s consciousness.
So, Robert, back to your situation.
* Why does this story have to happen to this character (your Protagonist) at this time?
* What does your Protagonist want?
* What does your Protagonist need?
Hopefully by asking these basic questions, you’ll start to see some points of connection between your P’s psychological journey and the events of your Plotline. If not, then your task seems clear: Brainstorm other “cool shit” that can happen to and with your Protagonist that does facilitate their metamorphosis, where their need can emerge and transform their want into a unified goal.