: Re: How to answer questions about my characters? I'm reading KM Weiland's Creating Character Arcs. In it, she lists: Questions to Ask About the Thing the Character Wants and the Thing the Character

@Debbie451

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I sometimes find things that my mind goes up against like a solid wall. It seems that you are having a similar problem with the questions that you listed. After some thought I agree with those who have answered so far. There are a lot of options in this character already. The question is, where do you want to go with it? What sort of story do you want to tell?

It sounds -as you have described it- like the story of a woman who works hard to help her family succeed, but does not seem to realize that there is such a thing as being so helpful that you're in the way. Enablers are one example of this. Enablers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. They don't want to hurt people's feelings, and they want to make sure that everything goes perfectly for those that they love. Enablers are also the ones who would 'give a drunk a drink' and think that they were being nice by doing it. Their lie is that fixing everything for those that they love -or making it so that they have whatever they want- is right and good, and to deny them of these things is selfish and bad. The truth that is needed to break this lie is that tough love is sometimes needed. You have to sometimes look past what an immediate want/need is and determine what this will do to the one who receives the 'help'.

The Enabler might not match your character's problem exactly, but you can see how there was a lie in it. Make a list of possible lies and truths that relate to your character, and choose the one that makes the most sense for her and your story.

Now, if after this you find that the best one -the one you are most excited to tell, and find the most interesting- completely contradicts the story, then perhaps this story is not the one you should be telling right now. Maybe you really need to tell her story, the way she revealed it to you. Some of the best stories have grown in this way, as they are living things.

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