: Re: Why is character lifetime proportional to character development so often? Hollywood movies are a good example of this, but also many books feature the rule. When the plot revolves around life

@Miguel976

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All good answers so far. Let me add one concept that helps me:

History is written by the victors.

Everyone is the hero of their own story. All those people who died along the way did not survive to tell their stories. That's why the protagonist/narrator survives. If he hadn't survived, we would have gone to someone else to relate the events in question.

Imagine a news story which is later made into a book. The reporter interviews eyewitnesses and survivors. When it comes time to write the book, those people's views and experiences will disproportionately affect the final product.

The survivor determines which events are most meaningful, and the people who most impacted those events might have larger parts in the narrator/survivor's mind. Also, the people who either impacted or continue to influence the narrator/survivor/writer the most will receive the most character development.

This concept takes something that would otherwise seem like story contrivance, and paints it as a logical necessity.

Edit: Consider the concepts of Selection Bias and Survivor's Bias. (Thank you @Vorac .)

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