In a post on Writers Helping Writers, Marissa Graff says that your protagonist is often the antagonist in their own story, but needs help realizing it. “One of those most overlooked forms of safeguarding our protagonists is by making their problem an ‘everyone else’ problem,” she says. If only other people changed, everything would be better, your character may think. But treating our characters that way takes away their agency, rather than giving them responsibility for change.
Instead, Graff says we should put our characters in front of a mirror. “If our characters are forced to look at their own behavior, their own choices, and the way those things are blocking them from what they actually need, the hardest obstacle of all emerges—changing themselves,” she writes. Blaming others for our troubles is easy, but self-reflection is harder. “In the world of writing, we want to be conscientious about the way we handle that truth, too,” Graff says. “Our characters become the vehicle for conveying a deeper truth readers then carry into their lives.”
How can you force your character to see that their problems are internal? Graff suggests:
- Introduce characters that show your character what’s possible behavior-wise. Give your protagonist examples of people who have overcome similar challenges or who are successful in a way your hero admires.
- Introduce characters that mimic your protagonist’s detrimental choices. Give your hero bad examples, too. Another character with similar flaws may annoy your hero, and may show them the eventual outcome of their behavior.
- Introduce subplots that invite your character to put energy and heart elsewhere. Push your hero out of their shell and into situations where their bad habits don’t work, where their flaws can be overcome, or where their strengths can shine.
- Present a conflict that moves them away from the rut of missed expectations. Bigger problems require new solutions. “In overcoming an unrelated conflict, they may see themselves in a new light and realize their happiness doesn’t reside in others’ hands,” Graff writes.
- Force them to confront the past despite their journey. While your plot has to move forward, force your character to look backwards and confront whatever happened in their past to create their flaw.
Blaming others for our problems is normal, but characters who are constantly in victim mode are annoying. Eventually, the blame game has to stop working and your hero needs to break their bad habits. That process starts by acknowledging that the problem is within.
