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Q&A "Calm" vs Adventurous Main Protagonist

One thing to keep in mind is that in terms of conflict and moving the story along, a reactive character can work just fine. There's plenty of conflict in trying not to do anything! Many a good work...

posted 6y ago by jeffrgq‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:32:05Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35076
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar jeffrgq‭ · 2019-12-08T08:32:05Z (about 5 years ago)
One thing to keep in mind is that in terms of conflict and moving the story along, a reactive character can work just fine. There's plenty of conflict in trying not to do anything! Many a good work has come from this conflict.

Even in the hobbits example, the very fact that Frodo/Sam/Bilbo/et al don't want to go on adventures at all makes for an engaging conflict. Trouble finds them and they have to deal with it. That's an interesting story in and of itself.

I.e., just because a character is avoiding conflict or being proactive doesn't mean no conflict can occur. Among other things, it's a classic set-up for humor!

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-04-14T18:15:54Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 2