On the first Friday of the
month, Novelista Annie Burrows shares insights into the life of a writer -
alphabetically. As we reach the turn of
the year, she has reached the letter J...
The kind of stories I enjoy
the most are ones in which the main character changes and grows, emotionally,
during the course of whatever adventure the author has sent them on. There are various ways of describing this
aspect of story-telling. Often writers
refer to it as "the character arc".
I prefer to think of it as the "emotional journey", (probably
because the word "arc" conjures up an image in my head of an object
which curves right up, then ends up on the same level as where it
started.) I like to think I'm sending my
characters on a journey, in which they not only have an adventure, but also
learn to abandon their prejudices and hang-ups along the way, and end up better
people.
Perhaps the most obvious
example of a story like this is "A Christmas Carol", by Charles
Dickens. At the start, Scrooge is a
miserable skinflint - a man who makes everyone around him almost equally as miserable. By the end, he's giving away turkeys, raising
his clerk's wages, and generally spreading Christmas cheer. The story is so powerful, and spreads such a
touching message of hope for even the most hardened cynic, that it has been
adapted over and over again, for retelling to a modern audience. Over this Christmas season alone, four
different adaptations have been aired on TV (that I've noticed) including my
family's favourite - A Muppets Christmas Carol.
The story of this one man's emotional transformation never seems to grow
stale.
It is particularly suited to
telling at Christmas time. Don't we all
make New Year's resolutions? Isn't the
turn of the year the time when we examine ourselves, take stock, and vow that
this is the year when we'll do better?
Stories such as A Christmas Carol, that show a character overcoming his
own flaws and weaknesses, give us hope that we can do something similar. Though I have to confess, I'd broken every one
of my resolutions before the end of January 1st! And yes, they did all involve eating habits,
and exercise.
Scrooge changed (literally
overnight!) because of intervention by supernatural beings - the ghosts of
Christmas Past, Present, and Future. But
there are many other classic stories where the central character is transformed
by the (often healing) power of love. As
a writer of romance, these are the ones that have always particularly inspired
me. As a child I couldn't get enough of
fairy stories, such as Rapunzel - where the hero's blindness is cured by the
tears of his beloved falling onto his eyes, and The Snow Queen, where Gerda's
tears wash the splinters of the troll mirror from his heart. (Oh, dear, it's always tears, isn't it?), or
Beauty and the Beast, where the heroine learns not to judge by outward
appearances, and breaks the curse to find the Prince inside the Beast.
Then, as I grew older, it was
stories that contained a more romantic love that I enjoyed the most. The ones where the hero's character and
actions helped to unfreeze the heroine's heart in some way. Or vice versa. I think that is one reason why I love reading
Harlequin romances - fairly often the heroine's integrity is what persuades the
cynical hero to soften and open his own heart to love. She "rescues" him from a life of
cynical isolation.
On reflection that's probably
what I love about Rapunzel, and Beauty and the Beast, and The Snow Queen. Although the hero starts out with all the
notional power, it is the woman who comes to the rescue in the end. Rapunzel cures the Prince's blindness,
Beauty breaks the curse holding the Beast in thrall, and Gerda travels through
the Arctic to rescue Kai from the Queen's ice palace.
Gerda is the one fairy tale
heroine who goes on an actual journey. My own characters rarely do. It is their inner journey, often from a dark
place, that I love to describe. I was
half way through writing A Mistress for Major Bartlett (release date June 2015)
before I realized my heroine was very like Rapunzel. Although she isn't under a real curse, she
has shut herself up in a psychological tower, into which nobody has access,
apart from her beloved twin brother. It
takes a real shock to jolt her out of her self-imposed isolation, set out on a
path to self-awareness, and open her heart and mind to the possibility of love.
Her hero, the Major Bartlett
of the title, also has his own emotional journey to undertake. Like the prince in Rapunzel, he has been
wandering in darkness for a very long time.
And it (sort of) takes the heroine's tears to open his eyes to not only
what he is, but what he could become.
Wishing you all the best as
you journey into this New Year.
Annie
x
I'm with you on this, Annie, my favourite being Pride & Prejudice, where both Lizzie and Darcy are changed (for the better) by knowing each other. I'll have to try the Harlequin romances.
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