Is there always a lesson that must be learned?

shamguy4

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Someone on here mentioned to read a book Save the Cat!
I started reading it. It's written well, although I'm usually not into forcing my book into a structure, but what do I know. I still have yet to finish my novel.

Anyways the book speaks of your main character and how they MUST have an internal story going on while there is an external main story.
The internal struggle. And this internal struggle must be fixed by the end so the character can fix the external problems.
The character will go on a spiritual journey and learn some sort of lesson by getting what they need not necessarily what they want.

I tried thinking of books with this. While there are some, I do not think all books have this, so I cannot see why it's a MUST.

The Wizard of Oz has one:
"If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with… There's no place like home!"

Most Disney movies have a sort of internal struggle and lesson. Hercules sings about finding the place where he belongs. He learns that while he wants to go to olympus, his true place is down here where he is needed.

However most books I have read don't have massive internal struggles taking place across the book as a main theme. Harry Potter struggles to fit in and constantly needs to be brave, but he doesn't learn any major lesson and most of his struggles seem external. The major themes include Harry being brave and living up the "chosen one" name he has been given. I don't know that there is a lesson to learn though...
In the third book I cant even recall any internal struggle other than facing the dementors, but isn't that external?

Luke Skywalker wants to leave his boring homeworld. He does. And he saves a princess and learns to use the force pretty easily. He does not seem to have an internal struggle.

While I agree there must be conflict I don't know that it must be internal and that it must teach the character some sort of lesson that transforms them. There are definitely themes going on, but they aren't always internal struggles.

The way I have been writing my book is by figuring out the ending and reversing the beginning. If my character uses magic at the end to defeat the evil wizard, than at the beginning he knows nothing of magic. If my character needs to hack a bomb at the end, then maybe there is a struggle in the beginning where he fails to do so.
I guess i could create an internal struggle where he failed because he is nervous and has anxiety. Maybe. Maybe not.

This "reverse the beginning" is what I have focused on in creating my stories. Do you think it is important to include and teach some sort of lesson, or have an internal struggle that runs throughout the book?

Thoughts?
 
I'm not a fan of reading How-To books, nor do I sit and plan my stories to ensure they fit into all the structures demanded by such books. While such prescriptions and techniques are no doubt helpful for some people who can plot in advance, I'd much rather enjoy myself writing and discovering my characters -- that will certainly mean I never become a professional churning out one or two long novels a year as well as a host of other stuff, but I really don't care. I just write on instinct and hope that I can manage to do whatever is necessary to keep any readers reading.

However, the crucial word there is "write". I write and write and re-write. And the more I write, the better I get at ensuring I have conflict and character arcs and peaks and troughs of the plot and whatever else is needed.

So rather than worry about advice given in the books, whether all these things are necessary and whether your plot contains them all, just write. The first draft you produce won't get everything correct, but perhaps the second or third or fourth will. Once you've got some drafts under your belt, get a critique group or beta readers to help you deal with any structural issues that might remain. Use these books and the advice they give as a guide to helping you sort out any problems they think exist. But for now, just write.
 
your main character and how they MUST have an internal story going on while there is an external main story.
I interpret this as meaning that at the start of the story, the main character must be unable to solve the major conflict. The main character must grow or learn something or somehow change. If the problem is solvable from the start, there is no story to be told.
 
But for now, just write.


I know. I'm all over the place. lol. Looking back at my threads you can tell I'm desperate to get this thing written and I am willing to read, pay coaches, and do all sorts of things to get this thing done. I'm trying to write. I am.... I just keep stopping whenever a problem rises up from a plot hole to questioning why a character is where they are and whether the story will work or not.

@Wayne Mack that makes a lot more sense. Yes I agree. The character must change or grow in some way.
 
I don't know. I do have to admit I have not yet read this book.
Anyways the book speaks of your main character and how they MUST have an internal story going on while there is an external main story.
The internal struggle. And this internal struggle must be fixed by the end so the character can fix the external problems.
The character will go on a spiritual journey and learn some sort of lesson by getting what they need not necessarily what they want.
However I've always understood that a character has the internal and external 'stuff'. Often the internal gets shown by interiority or in English--it is the internal monologue that the character has that defines often strengths and weaknesses that are going to be important to the story. It's not so much the idea of resolving those issues as it is of having them there to help explain the external stuff that happens--giving insight into the why to how the character deals with the external conflict.

It's not so much about solving issues as it is of helping the story make sense--they could still fail to get past certain issues they could show some growth or even a breakthrough; all depending on where your story is taking things. The important thing is that the Internal and external meet within the framework and do so in a way that makes sense and make the story work and keep the reader in the story.
 
I will point out that there are classic novels where the main character solves nothing, learns nothing, ends up worse off then they were at the beginning. There are many novels of this sort. Think of Barry Lyndon or Vanity Fair, each of which chronicles a main character's rise and fall. Or think of Madame Bovary, where neither Emma nor Charles accomplishes anything or gains any wisdom before they die.

True, this kind of story is more typical of literary novels than speculative fiction, but even in our genre there can be ambiguity about whether anything was gained or learned.

Take, for instance, Frankenstein. It is impossible for readers to agree where Victor went wrong. Was it in creating the creature? Was it when he rejected it? There are arguments to be made on both sides.

Nevertheless, a story where the main character learns and grows is generally more satisfying.* So if the writer chooses to do the opposite, he or she had better make the tragedy memorable.

_____
*One thing readers don't tend to like is when the character does succeed but without either growing or learning anything, just simply by dumb luck. That can seem much too contrived.
 
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If you wish your characters to feel real, they must act and feel like real people.

Real people have all kinds of internal struggles going on that manifest in some way while dealing with the problems of the external world. Leave out internal struggle and your characters will feel flat and lifeless. Try too hard to fit the internal struggle with the plot and they will feel contrived and inorganic.

If you are having trouble discovering who your characters are, it may help to do some short writing exercises where you place your character in interesting situations and see how they react.

Does there have to be some kind of lesson? Maybe, it just depends on what story you wish to tell.
 
the book speaks of your main character and how they MUST have an internal story going

It's talking about emotional development arcs, where the hero learns to be a better person by the end. This is very common in storytelling, but it's not a requirement in all genres - for example, in detective fiction, it's not important for the detective to change, merely solve the mystery. However, for many other genre books the main character will end up learning new things about themselves and their own strengths and weakness that usually leave them changed in some way at the end of the story.

Additionally, this change usually comes from some form of internal conflict, where the hero feels they want one thing at the start - the purpose of the antagonist is to stand in the way of this - but by the end of the story the hero has overcome all obstacles to achieve this. Again, however, they won't necessarily have what they originally wanted because their worldview and needs may have changed so they have ended up not with what their originally wanted but what they actually needed.

Overall, though, like all guides to writing, it's not something you absolutely must follow to the letter. However, it can prove extremely useful for inspiring you to think more deeply about your story and characters and make adjustments accordingly for what works for you in order to make these stronger.

One warning, though, is that internal struggle can be overdone and make a character seem whiny if not careful. Once pointed out, this can easily be toned down, though. :)

EDIT: Wayne Mack said it even more succinctly!
 
If you are looking for a MUST HAVE internal character struggle, I would say it is this: MOTIVATION.

People don't operate in a vacuum; they have reasons for doing the things they do. Many of the reasons--the motivations--are internal and not readily apparent to the outside world. This is why comparing film to narrative doesn't really work well in this regard: in film the characters internal motivations are difficult to portray.

"If my character uses magic at the end to defeat the evil wizard, than at the beginning he knows nothing of magic. If my character needs to hack a bomb at the end, then maybe there is a struggle in the beginning where he fails to do so.
I guess i could create an internal struggle where he failed because he is nervous and has anxiety. Maybe. Maybe not."


If your character is only learning magic in order to make it so he can fight the evil wizard at the end, that will likely fall flat. They must have a reason, a strong, internal, personal motivation for wanting to learn magic, and for ending up fighting the evil wizard at the end. The evil wizard must also have a strong, internal, personal motivation for standing in the other's way.

If you are giving your character anxiety in order to create internal conflict that matches your plot, it will also likely fall flat. Why would someone with bad anxiety be in a situation where they must hack a bomb? There must be a strong, internal, personal motivation for your character to be there and having to do that.
 
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Well, first up, it's much harder to depict an internal struggle in a film than a book, so a lot of characters in films won't have one and it won't matter, as the film can make up for it with spectacle and action. I've not read Save the Cat, but many of the things I've heard about it make it sound very prescriptive. And isn't it for screenwriting rather than novels?

Plenty of characters don't have an internal struggle: one example might be a hero who finds it a challenge to be a hero, but doesn't really question whether he should be. Another example is the lone-gunslinger type character who arrives in town, changes and ends the lives of a lot of people, and then rides out again. And, as Brian says, a detective in a mystery often won't.

It is, however, a good way to make the character interesting. But there are a lot of ways to do that and I wouldn't get hung up on this. It's quite likely that, if you just write the story as you want, by the end you'll either have ticked this box or come up with an equally entertaining alternative.
 
@Toby Frost There is a new save the cat book.
 
Save the Cat was written as a guide on how to write a commercial Hollywood film. It's got a lot of applicability to all sorts of stories but it's not for everything.

However, I think that the Internal Struggle is a really big thing and improves most stories. I also think a lot of successful stories have it, regardless of whether it was intended or not - and it doesn't always have to be big and profound. To use OP's example - Harry Potter has to learn how to control his anger and make peace with himself; Luke Skywalker has to confront his feelings for his long thought dead father. They don't have to be deep and weighty.

I wouldn't worry too much about it when writing. But when editing? I think themes and internal conflicts and so on are always worth looking at when editing. The best stories work on multiple levels. Why reject a level if you don't have to?
 
Of course sometimes people see things in a book the author never intended.
 
Of course sometimes people see things in a book the author never intended.

That's hilarious. I once had a reader list half a dozen themes in my first novel. I didn't argue with him, though, as I had no idea any of them were there.
 
Someone on here mentioned to read a book Save the Cat!
I started reading it. It's written well, although I'm usually not into forcing my book into a structure, but what do I know. I still have yet to finish my novel.

Anyways the book speaks of your main character and how they MUST have an internal story going on while there is an external main story.
The internal struggle. And this internal struggle must be fixed by the end so the character can fix the external problems.
The character will go on a spiritual journey and learn some sort of lesson by getting what they need not necessarily what they want.

I tried thinking of books with this. While there are some, I do not think all books have this, so I cannot see why it's a MUST.

The Wizard of Oz has one:
"If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with… There's no place like home!"

Most Disney movies have a sort of internal struggle and lesson. Hercules sings about finding the place where he belongs. He learns that while he wants to go to olympus, his true place is down here where he is needed.

However most books I have read don't have massive internal struggles taking place across the book as a main theme. Harry Potter struggles to fit in and constantly needs to be brave, but he doesn't learn any major lesson and most of his struggles seem external. The major themes include Harry being brave and living up the "chosen one" name he has been given. I don't know that there is a lesson to learn though...
In the third book I cant even recall any internal struggle other than facing the dementors, but isn't that external?

Luke Skywalker wants to leave his boring homeworld. He does. And he saves a princess and learns to use the force pretty easily. He does not seem to have an internal struggle.

While I agree there must be conflict I don't know that it must be internal and that it must teach the character some sort of lesson that transforms them. There are definitely themes going on, but they aren't always internal struggles.

The way I have been writing my book is by figuring out the ending and reversing the beginning. If my character uses magic at the end to defeat the evil wizard, than at the beginning he knows nothing of magic. If my character needs to hack a bomb at the end, then maybe there is a struggle in the beginning where he fails to do so.
I guess i could create an internal struggle where he failed because he is nervous and has anxiety. Maybe. Maybe not.

This "reverse the beginning" is what I have focused on in creating my stories. Do you think it is important to include and teach some sort of lesson, or have an internal struggle that runs throughout the book?

Thoughts?

I think Harry Potter does learn - he learns to forgive and work with his enemies. And Luke Skywalker learns patience, just like Yoda instructs him to.:)

I think having such a struggle helps make characters more three-dimensional.
 

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