Last week, I taught a class at WorldShift: The Speculative Fiction Writers’ Summit on raising the stakes, and I got a few questions and comments that spoke to some complex concepts, which I couldn’t thoroughly address because it was a < 1-hour presentation, and they went beyond the scope of the class. These related to the concept of “want vs. need,” and implicit in them was this question: What if my character arcs (or doesn’t arc) out of their want?And in a sense, by extension: Does my character have to arc out of their want?
The answer to that is, it depends.
It depends on the story, the character arc, and the want.
But first, let me quickly lay out some groundwork so we are all starting on the same page.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 