Inside Story: The Power of the Transformational Arc

Characteristics like integrity, compassion, ambition, courage, and resiliency only manifest themselves when something challenges their existence. None of us are born brave or cowardly, considerate or neglectful, benevolent or intolerant: These are personal choices we make when faced with situations that demand our involvement. If we choose to rise to a challenge, then we will inevitably engage a new part of our inner being in the struggle. As a result, we expand and grow toward the fullness of our true nature.

The single most important connection authors make with their audience is forged through the protagonist. In effect, the audience enters the story through the protagonist; as the protagonist encounters conflict, hardship, and obstacles, the audience encounters those same problems right along with him or her. This is how we become engaged in a story. As the protagonist makes choices, we in the audience make choices, too. However, this doesn’t mean we make the same choices. As observers rather than as actual participants, we often have a clearer perspective on the events. This gives us the advantage of having more objectivity and insight into the situation. Hence, the story becomes more and more compelling as we watch the characters make emotional decisions that go one way when we know they should go another.

Stories teach us through symbolic experiences how to be human. Therefore, this book will illustrate that when the dramatic tension is focused on the internal conflict, the external action becomes much more powerful and significant because it reflects what we know to be true about our own lives: We (and our characters) grow and evolve internally in direct relationship to the conflicts and obstacles that we face and overcome in the external world.

If our stories are to be potent they must contain the same dynamics that we know to be true about our own internal reality, even if the external factors are completely outlandish and unfamiliar. Few of us will ever fly in a spacecraft and have to fight for interlunar survival. But at some point in each of our lives we will be called upon to fight for what is right, to defend our personal boundaries, to overcome great obstacles, and to persevere against injustices. How will we know that these goals are even attainable if our stories tell us that the road to heroic achievement is reserved only for those who come with their heroic attributes already intact?