Is it a good idea to make the protagonist pull themselves together
Is it a good idea, to make the protagonist pull themselves together at a point in a work of fiction. I've been writing a novel, and for practically the entire first half the main protagonist has been running from everything, scared to kill, generally scared of the battle he has been plunged into. He relies on someone else to help him get through it, that he recently broke away from as he wanted to escape from the thing entirely.
Is it a good idea to have these two characters come back together, fast forward a few weeks and continue the story? After that event, and those few weeks which nothing exciting happens in so I don't need to go through them, the main protagonist thinks "Okay, if I run from everything nothing is going to change. Let's put an end to this once and for all."
Is there a better way to put across such a massive change in attitude? Is this a good move to pull off? I've written this at about 50k words in the novel, so the protagonist has been being scared for a while. I'm worried that the change will be too sudden and the reader would not respond well to it.
If I skip forward one week, is that too far forward to skip?
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First of all, every main character in the history of the world has to change in a certain way.
That's how you know your character has grown.
Whether it be coming out of their shell, growing up, or learning new things, your character has to change and learn something at the end of any story.
Now, your character can't just change.
There has to be buildup, hints at a braver inside, at a stronger personality underneath the fear. A person can't become fearless in a week. They need time to grow and need to have a valid reason to.
This change should take nearly the entire book to work believably, because no one starts as a total introvert and becomes a international singer overnight. They have to face their fears and defeat them.
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I think the previous answers are better than what I am about to tell you but if it was me writing it I'd give my character a REASON to stop running. I would have my character witness something so horrible s/he would realize that there is no running,that they personally would have to do something about it for the sake of others (or even just him/herself) s/he would have to stand and fight because something so terrible cannot be left to rule. For instance:
A Character who is living in a time of slavery has it pretty good even though he himself is a slave. He sees others rebelling against their slavers but doesn't feel the need to fight even though others around him are dying for this cause and he has seen some slight mistreatment around him. Others beg for his help but he doesn't want any part, choosing to remain in his 'sanctuary' until one day he is with someone he loves (who happens to be among the rebels) This person he's with sees a slave child being beaten to death (kinda dark but I'm trying to make a point) s/he goes to the child's rescue and as a result both are killed. The man sees now that this fight cannot be avoided, this evil must be put to an end. Now this man has the revelation, he pulls himself together, joins the fight and he does it for a reason. Not because he's simply rethinking his actions, but because he wants revenge and/or an end to this injustice. He has a REASON to fight now, and thus, a reason to pull himself together. Hope this has helped :)
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First of all, your protagonist almost must change, or there's not much point to your book. If s/he does not at some point stop running and pull him/herself together, your reader will feel like the book is a waste of time.
To make it seem not rushed or fake, you need two things:
- sufficient buildup before the epiphany
- to give enough space to the epiphany that the reader believes it
By "buildup" I mean the protagonist has to be thinking about the things which will lead up to the epiphany before it happens. S/he feels afraid, but you have to show the terrible things and you have to show how the terrible things affect the character. Then the character briefly needs to reflect on or think about the gradual pileup of scary things — and by "brief" I mean a paragraph or two a chapter, but on an ongoing basis — and also to think about how things could be better. If only I could do X or If only Y were different, then the scary things would stop or be defeated.
When the character is finally at rock bottom, then the desire to change will outweigh the fears of not acting. Remember that the fears don't have to go away. The character does not magically have to stop shaking, or stop being afraid. The character just has to push on through the fear and act anyway. This is "pulling it together."
This scene shouldn't be only a few paragraphs; it should probably be a few pages. The reader needs to believe that the protagonist has genuinely weighed the choices and felt that moving forward was better than avoiding risk.
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