Character Development 101: Find Your Protagonist’s Beliefs
The most important thing to know about your book is its point, but once you know your point, you need to find your protagonist’s character arc.
Let’s take a second to discuss why character arc is so important.
Check out the Story Tree.
See that swing? That’s where the reader sits. Now look at the branch the swing hangs on. That branch is your protagonist.
Your protagonist is the most important branch of your story tree. The protagonist is the lens through which your reader experiences the story, and if you want to impact your reader on an emotional level, you need to ensure that your protagonist changes.
This is what a character arc is: how your protagonist changes and grows during the course of the book.
If you can identify what your protagonist believes at the beginning of the book and what they believe at the end, you can build a story that facilitates their change in belief. And then, blamo, you’ve got a book that punches your reader where it hurts, in the heart.
Two Kinds of Beliefs
There are two primary beliefs we’re concerned with—a misbelief and a final belief.
The misbelief is what your character believes at the beginning of the book.
The misbelief is formed by a wound from the past (that’s backstory) and results in a flawed behavior (which they’ll act on during the book). The misbelief is the opposite of your point. It’s a skewed or contrary version of your point.
The final belief is what your character believes at the end of the book. The final belief develops as the protagonist heals their wound and enables them to change their behavior. It mirrors your point in some way.
Here are a few examples of a misbelief and final belief in relation to the novel’s point:
Point: We are inherently valuable apart from our achievements
Misbelief: The world rewards people according to their effort, so if I want to have any value, I can never relax and will do whatever I must to climb the corporate ladder.
Final Belief: Because I am valuable apart from anything I do or achieve, I can let myself rest, forget the corporate ladder, and focus on connecting with myself and others.
Point: We can only embrace our power once we have embraced ourselves.
Misbelief: At my core, I am broken, and I must do all I can to hide that brokenness.
Final Belief: I do not need to hide my flaws. My brokenness is where my power lies.
Find Your Character’s Beliefs
To identify your character’s beliefs, you first need to know your point. If you don’t know your novel’s point, check out this post.
We’re going to start at the end, with your protagonist’s final belief.
1. Based on your point, what does your character believe at the end of the book?
What have they learned? Write their misbelief in one or two sentences.
Now that you know the final belief, let’s find their misbelief.
2. What false belief does your character hold at the beginning of the story?
What skewed version of the point do they believe? Write their misbelief in one or two sentences.
Assess the Beliefs
Here are a few questions to help you know if your character beliefs are solid and relevant to your book.
Do the beliefs relate to your point?
The protagonist’s change in belief is how the reader experiences the point, so you want the beliefs to tie to your point. Sometimes, the beliefs give us more clarity on what we really want to say through our book. It’s okay to adjust your point if you need to.
Are the beliefs parallel?
The beliefs should relate to each other. If the misbelief is “love hurts” and the final belief is “everyone must take responsibility for their actions,” how do those relate to each other? How does love inform responsibility or vice versa?
Do the beliefs resonate with you?
Your protagonists' beliefs will likely speak to a wound, truth, or struggle in your own life. Do you want to spend 80,000 words exploring these beliefs?
And that’s it! You now have the pillars of your protagonist’s character arc.
With these, you can know who your main character is when the story begins and how they’re going to change through the course of the story events.
Tracking how the protagonist’s belief changes over the course of the book will enable you to write a book that isn’t simply entertaining but one that is also impactful.
What are your character’s beliefs? Tell me in the comments.