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The Inner and the Outer Character Journey
Why Your Readers Need Both
Even if they haven’t studied creative writing, writers instinctively know that characters go on a journey that will change their lives forever. Having been exposed to movies and books since childhood, we have the character ARC structure imprinted into us, and we have an expectation of how each story will develop. However, when writers begin to plot and envision their stories, they devote most of their attention to the outer journey.
Like in actual life, we often focus on the destination. If a writer is asked what their story is about, they might say, “it’s about a man who fights his domineering family and follows his dream to become a winning race car driver.” We begin with the character working unhappily at a family business. We end with him winning races. Knowing that much, we might plot scenes to get him to the destination.
We’re pretty good at writing the outer journey. Even if we don’t plot extensively, we’re able to put a lot of action into the tale to get the character to the end.
The truth is that the real story is in the inner journey. What happens inside the character as he struggles along his outer journey makes the story.
