Do You Believe in Evolution? (Aka: Character Arc)

Welcome to the Write for a Reason podcast. My name is Janet Wilson; I'm a publisher of Christian fiction for young people with Dernier Publishing. If you are a Christian, and new to writing stories for kids and teens, stay tuned for encouragement, creative writing tips and actionable strategies you can implement immediately to become a better writer. Thanks for coming over, now let’s jump straight in to today’s writing tip – the title is:

Do you Believe in Evolution?

I know, that’s a really silly title, but at the end of the day, I’m talking about change.

Between the beginning and end of your novel, if your main character hasn't evolved ('moved on/changed' if you prefer!), your story probably lacks dynamism.

It may not be true to life, either, because as human beings every event we go through changes us in some way. You might have a great plot for your story, but if it doesn't affect your main character in some way it will lack depth. Perhaps your protagonist might have learnt something about themselves along the way, come to a particular decision, found a new and needed skill, or in some way improved themselves or decided to improve the lives of others.

If, during the process of your story, your character becomes a Christian, you will have needed to move them on from perhaps being diffident or antagonistic to realising their need for a saviour, to recognising that Jesus is the way. You don't, of course, have to do that, just because you are writing 'Christian fiction' – that's just by way of example. Equally, your protagonist may have gone through a process from being fearful of a particular situation to finding peace. They may have gone from being excluded from school due to their destructive anger to channelling their anger into working for a positive change in attitudes at their community . . . the possibilities are, of course, endless.

If you have a manuscript already written, have a read through and see how your main character if different at the beginning of your story than at the end. Is the change obvious, realistic, inspirational? Will it encourage your readers?

I hope you found this helpful! If you did, please subscribe to make sure you don’t miss future episodes, then share with your writer friends and hop on over to write-for-a-reason.com, where you will find lots more resources and encouragement to help you write excellent, relevant, fun novels and get them into your readers’ hands. 

If you haven’t yet done my free course, Gripping Beginnings, you can sign up and start immediately. This will help you grip your readers from the very first page of your story.

Don't put it off – today is a gift to use wisely! Only you can write your book, and if you have been called to write, someone's waiting for it.

Visit the Write for a Reason website, or follow Janet on instagram: @janetfromwriteforareason