: Re: Is there a story structure for a non-traditional hero (an extreme introvert)? I'm trying to write a story of transformation, in which an extremely introverted and non-confrontational person goes

@Ann1701686

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There's a story structure for almost all characters:

A character has a problem
They learn about the problem and decide that solving it will benefit them in some way
They attempt to solve it. They may either succeed or fail, but the act of attempting changes the character in some way.
If they failed, they may either attempt to solve it again, applying the change in their character to come up with a new approach, or the change in their character may have given them a new, different goal, which they pursue instead.

For any particular kind of character, you need to examine how their situation relates to this structure, what about their specific character and their specific problem is relevant to how they would approach solving it, and how they can change in a way that will be interesting and satisfying to the reader.

For anyone with an extreme characteristic, that characteristic itself can be a problem, so it is tempting to have them work on that problem directly. But this isn't the only, or even necessarily the best way. You can have them simply accept (or even be happy with) their characteristic and then use that unique perspective to generate a different approach to another problem, a way of solving things that the reader may not have ever considered before.

And again, the change in their character can be related to their extreme nature, or it could be entirely different. That is something you'll have to decide.

The one problem characteristic that doesn't work well with this kind of structure is for a character who is passive. For this to work, the character must make an active decision to solve their problem. They can start out passive, and can resist making the decision, but unless they do make a decision, many readers will be unsatisfied: they want to see characters solving problems -- it's an interesting plot (perhaps the most interesting plot), and is so ubiquitous in commercial fiction that when it is absent it is strikingly obvious. Therefore, for a passive character, the story structure needs a slight modification:

A character has a problem
They learn about the problem, but despite being able to appreciate that solving the problem will help them, they do not take any action to resolve it.
Events occur that allow the character to change (ideally as a result of a decision that the character has made, even if that decision is to not do something)
The change causes them to reevaluate their inaction over the original problem, and they begin attempting to solve it. They may either succeed or fail, but if they fail the attempt changes the character still further. (If they succeed, the story is over, so no further change is necessary.)
They may either attempt to solve it again, applying the change in their character to come up with a new approach, or the change in their character may have given them a new, different goal, which they pursue instead.

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