Moving on

OK, so I spent the weekend outlining the first draft of Pere - in other words, scanning it to see what's there (and what's not).

And really, it's not all bad. I mean, my list of sins is long - there's at least one arc that just flatlines there at the end; I have mistaken dialogue for action; and a landfill should be opened for my infodump, it's so rampant.

But there are good things, moments here and there that are actually dramatic and could be built upon. So now I'm looking at arc.

In theory, I am good with arc in general - but in practice, I have a hard time stepping it out. How do you move a person from being the kind of person who allows her controlling mother to run her life to being the kind of person who steps free? That's what I'm dealing with in Pere.

I should say, right up front, that I HATE that she lets her mother run her life. It makes me lose respect for her, and I'm having a hard time with that. So I need to look at that more closely. That reaction tells me there could be hidden gold there.

So I'm going to play around with the idea of arc and character by doing this exercise:
1. Figuring out the main character's primary trait - honesty? greed? ambition? whatever.
2. Stating its opposite.
3. Envisioning a scenario that would force the character to do or become the opposite, however briefly.
4. Then step it out - how does a character move from being entirely honest to lying? What has to change, what forces have to be in play, for that character to do something so out of character?

I'm hoping it'll shake some things loose.