Photo by Gery Wibowo on Unsplash
Let’s apply the character framework from the day 66 post to a story’s protagonist to see how it works. We’ll use Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island.
We start with five to ten essential characteristics like the examples in the day 30 post with questions from the day 41 post.
Jim is young and innocent, which enables him to bridge social worlds (Jim holds his own in the company of gentlemen, to the hamlet folks and seafaring men who frequent the inn, to violent pirates) and enabling his growth from being naive to being mature.
Jim has keen observation skills and likable nature. These aspects of his personality make him a believable heroic figure and trustworthy narrator of the tale (the story is his account of his adventures)
Jim shows initiative and a willingness to break rules based on personal judgment. This creates tension and conflict, but also his ability to solve the major problem of how to take control of the ship away from the pirates.
Working-class background providing motivation, practical skills, and physical capability. Again, this makes him a believable heroic figure.
Complex relationship with authority/father figures (from deceased father to his three mentors to shadow mentor Silver). Jim’s conflict with each one enables him to integrate these aspects of being a mature adult.
Internal tension between adventure-seeking and moral obligation. This is the problem space he’s navigating (and modeling for the reader): when these two natural desires are in conflict, how does a young person decide what to do?
Developing moral compass as he navigates increasingly complex situations. When Jim is at the inn, his moral quandaries don’t require as much consideration as when he moves out away from home to Squire Trelawney’s hall to Bristol to the Hispaniola, and finally to Treasure Island.
With all of this (and of course the text of the story) in mind, we can develop the character stack. Note: I’ve modified the character stack to take into account the protagonist’s transformation across the story. This is important because a story is about how the protagonist adapts to changing circumstances and changes as a result (or not in a cautionary tale).
Here are the aspects of the character stack:
Worldview: The protagonist’s model of the world shapes their understanding of the goal.
Goal: This is what the protagonist is pursuing, which changes at pivotal moments in the story and informs the strategy the protagonist employs.
Strategy: This is the protagonist’s theory of victory. This is how they think they will achieve the goal given their worldview and guides their tactics.
Tactics: These are context-specific methods used to carry out the strategy, which are executed through tasks.
Tasks: These are measurable units of work that implement tactical choices that can be broken into actions.
Here is Jim’s character stack:
Worldview: Jim’s worldview in the beginning is romantically simple and evolves to an understanding that reality is complex, but integration/balance is possible. Personal judgment must be tested against both rules and experience.
His worldview shapes his goals.
Goals: Initially, Jim seeks adventure, which translates into pursuit of the treasure. Later, he understands that he needs to achieve mature integration of self including shadow aspects. (Note: he’s not consciously aware of this, but he pursues it through his actions later in the story.) Ultimately, Jim embodies successful individuation/maturation.
His goals inform his strategies.
Strategy: Jim moves between order and chaos to test and develop judgment. He learns from multiple father figures (Livesey, Smollett, Trelawney, and shadow mentor Silver) while maintaining independence. He employs his perceived innocence to gain wisdom through observation.
His strategies guide his tactics.
Tactics: Jim observes before acting and tests his decisions against both rules and personal judgment. He maintains connections with both civilized and shadow mentors, but acts independently when inner compass demands.
His tactics are executed through his tasks.
Tasks: Jim performs duties that maintain trust with both sides, makes key autonomous decisions (e.g., leaving stockade, taking the Hispaniola), reports observations to appropriate mentors, and navigates immediate moral choices.
This is a lot of work to break down a character, so what is it actually doing for you? It helps to understand how they relate to one another. The essential characteristics help us understand why Jim can execute his character stack. The character stack shows how his essential characteristics function and are manifest through actions. We can see how changes in worldview, for example, filter down into changes in concrete actions. When combined, these tools help us keep the character on track. They constrain the possibilities for character decisions in a useful and specific way so that character actions are surprising yet inevitable.
This post is part of a 75-day writing challenge and experiment. From September 9 through November 22, I'll be posting daily thoughts on writing, storytelling, and creativity based on recent readings or reflections. While my intention was to keep them very short—250 to 400 words—I've found that this range doesn't give me enough space to cover these topics adequately. I aim to keep them brief enough to be read quickly, but they will often be longer than 400 words.
At the end of the challenge, I will organize and revise the material with intention. For now, the object is to explore and share.