A couple of months ago, my undergraduate school
had a tennis reunion and honored the team from when I was captain. While I don’t make too many school reunions, I decided to go to this one. Two of the players from those years had died, but the remaining members showed up.
Amazingly, even after fifty years, I immediately recognized one of the old team. George had changed. Considerably. His slender frame had given way to a more robust body, carrying thirty or forty more pounds than when he scurried around the court protecting a weak backhand and winning most points with a sweeping forehand. But, he had the same, playful, infectious smile, a feature more prominent than his forehand cross court.
George went on to become a ranked player in the state and then a popular tennis instructor, eventually opening his own tennis facility and teaching hundreds of people the finer points of the game.
Then there was Juve. He had come in as a freshman, short, thin, and confident. He was still short, still confident, and not quite as thin. But, looking closely, you could see the same friendly, kind face. He had spent many years coaching in high school. He’d coached championship teams, just as he had been a conference champion before he graduated college.
And of course, me. In fact, I didn’t weigh any more than I did in my college days. But I have redistributed it a bit. I coached high school tennis for a few years, played tournament tennis, switched from an English undergraduate degree to graduate degrees in mathematics.
We had all changed, aged, grown, filled out in one way or another. And yet, at some core level, we are the same. George is still the fun-loving guy with the big smile. Juve is still the kind person you’re happy to call a friend. And I am back to English and writing.
So, what does this have to do with writing? Your characters need to change. They may not get much older if your book doesn’t cover years. But they need to grow, learn, be changed by the events you put in the book, in their story. If the events of the book have no effect on your major characters, what were they doing? Were they merely observers, watching a video game, oblivious of any impact those events had on people? If so, perhaps you need to rework the latter part of the book.
And yet, there should be certain core values that remain the same. This is the same person, but changed. The moral compass may have wiggled a little, but it has not rotated 180 degrees. The reader can tell it is 
the same person, but changed by the plot you have constructed.
In my book Character: The Heartbeat of the Novel, I call this the fourth dimension. We make a three-dimensional character, and then we add change. If you r characters don’t change, you are robbing them of a very human characteristic. Use a character arc. Make four-dimensional characters. Your characters and your readers will appreciate it.
Just click on the cover to branch to Amazon to purchase this book.
Callan’s website is: http://www.jamesrcallan.com
Jim, your reunion is a clever way to illustrate character change. Mostly, your friends changed physically. I find it easy to depict physical change but much harder to convey emotional or psychological changes in my characters. It would be easy if I could just write, “Phyllis had gained confidence because of this adventure.” When I write about actions that show my character having more confidence, it happens gradually throughout the story. I can only hope the reader “gets” it.
Right on the money. The emotional and psychological changes are much more difficult. And we do need to show and not tell. Much tougher. But, hey, we wouldn’t want it to be easy, would we? Thanks for an insightful comment.
As always, on the money, Jim. Change is a fact of life. We may not like it, but must accept it. And that applies equally to our characters.
Thanks, John. Of course, some of these changes we can embrace, and recognize that we have, like fine wine, indeed “improved with age.”
Great blog, Jim and great info. Love how you segued your reunion into promoting your book!! You’re getting good at this.
~Ann
Thanks, Ann. Unfortunately, I am still near the bottom when it comes to promoting my books. But I do appreciate your encouragement.
I appreciate Jim’s insight to characters. I’m writing a series and in the process of putting the third story together. The growth of characters and events in their life’s that change them can breathe realism in the story. It’s fun to hear from readers who like a characters changes and others who are disappointed in the new direction of the same characters. THANKS Jim
I guess it’s inevitable that some changes proceed in a direction we would not have chosen. (Sometimes I proceed in a direction I didn’t mean to chose.) Thanks, Whit, for the comment. We will all be looking for that third book.