: Re: Needing Help Fleshing Out Male Character So He's Not Just a Stock Character I have been working on a fantasy novel for the past twelve years, during which time there have been drastic changes.

@Jamie945

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There is lots of potential there. The male protagonist is clearly conflicted and will learn to see his own family and upbringing with different eyes. The relationship with the female protagonist will transform him. That will also change what he envisions his son to become like.

Then there is the classic loyalty conflict between parent family and partner/own family; he will have to choose. Mabe he'll have to betray his father to prevent great injustice? Leave the reader unclear whether he'll do the right thing — it's not easy for him! Realizations are painful if they shatter assumed truths. Perhaps he'll even make the choice to forfeit his inheritance? He may have to work for a living, a whole new experience... although that may be too much change this late in the writing.

Generally we are interested in how our protagonists navigate the challenges of life, and how their experiences and their relationships with people change them. Great literature displays their protagonists not as static but as dynamic entities who are transformed, for better or worse, in the course of events.

Your setting opens a great space for such dynamic character development.

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