In a post on Writer Unboxed, David Corbett discusses how to layer your protagonist’s challenges: internal, external, and interpersonal. “At some point as you’re planning or reworking your story, you should take a moment to analyze which level of dramatic action you intend to emphasize: External, Internal, or Interpersonal,” Corbett says. “The various levels of dramatic action reveal different aspects of character, and elicit different responses from readers and audiences.”
Your MC’s external challenges – reaching a goal, catching the bad guy – create curiosity. Will your hero do the thing or not? The internal and interpersonal challenges create empathy. Those those challenges work in concert, you can create compelling characters and stories. In this post, Corbett discusses his methodology for creating and developing that interdependence.
“Whenever more than one struggle level exists, you should try to weave them together so that solving a problem on one level has material repercussions on the other,” he says. “A satisfying conclusion to the story usually requires the integrated resolution of all the levels of dramatic action in the story—unless the point is to show how success on one level makes success on the other(s) elusive or impossible.” If your challenges don’t intersect, your story could feel disjointed and plot point could feel gratuitous.
Corbett suggests using your MC’s intrinsic longings to weave these threads together. For example, an internal need for fulfillment or authenticity can be underscored by an external struggle for freedom or adventure and interpersonal challenges involving a need for belonging or respect. “The internal needs motivating the character’s actions can only be gratified through success on the external or interpersonal level, respectively,” Corbett says.
Notably, Corbett says these challenges are not mutually exclusive. A person who craves adventure may have a desire to test her limits as well as a need to gain the respect of a loved one. A simple example, but one that demonstrates how three challenges can be expressed in one path. Corbett examines some example storylines, as well as James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” and the TV program Breaking Bad.
