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Radu Morare, an author and American expat of Romanian origins whose business failed during the financial crisis, winds up working as a security guard on the French stock market room: a blue-collar worker surrounded by investment bankers in a reality entirely detached from our own. From a spiritual awakening in a stuck elevator to faeces deposited on a superior’s desk, Radu witnesses the bizarre behaviour of those who believe themselves masters of the French economy, and his enquiring mind drives him to demand: why?
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I’ve described how from the beginning of our story until the very end our character is trapped in a cycle or wanting something, being presented by an obstacle that prevents them getting what they want, taking an action that risks something important to them, and then either succeeding or failing depending on how they handle their flaws.
In the last exercise we worked on writing the impact of failure to achieve what they want (they can make progress, by the by – the should make some sort of progress – but ultimate success has to wait until the last pages of the book). So how do we get from their to the next cycle of want/obstacle/action?
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So, we have a conflict (want vs obstacle), an action (driven by a flaw or an attempt to overcome a flaw), and now we need a resolution.
The principal purpose of the resolution is to show the emotional consequences of the character’s flaws being challenged. Remember, a flaw is essentially a harmful world view – and learning that the world is not the way you think it is can easily be one of the most painful things you will ever experience.
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Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, published in 1748, is one of the most important works of philosophy ever written. It systematically established that effect follows cause, an idea that seems so natural to us now that it seems strange it needed to be proved. As it turns out, in the 18th century it was highly controversial. This book is essential reading not only for an example of how a rigorous proof can change the world, but also for the superb introduction by Peter Millican, which is worth the price of the book on its own. Perhaps its greatest success is that it explains why Hume had to go to such efforts to prove cause follows effect, and the arguments (and particularly contemporary religious doctrine) that he had to overcome (even though they seem nonsensical now – an excellent lesson for all of us). Make sure to buy this edition of Hume’s work.
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Around the middle of the story, you’ll have a crisis point where your protagonist realises that they are at least partially responsible for making things work and attempts to change to overcome the antagonist. This does not, however, stop the character flaws from driving their course of action – the only difference is now they are driven by the attempt to overcome their flaws, rather than in ignorance of them.
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