A hero who plows straight ahead, October 13, 2013

Your hero takes a surprising turn.

Does your hero walk straight ahead? If so, he’s not a real man. Heroes (and heroines) must adjust to circumstances. It’s better if the character arcs have stops and starts, up and downs, not necessarily scene by scene. A story that is too smooth is boring, monotonous. For instance, a couple may have decided on principle to wait until they’re married but sometimes the plot or circumstances draw them into each other’s arms before they say I do. The complications resulting from their ‘compromise’ is a story in itself. We’re here to entertain not make stereotypes or stick figures as stiff as cardboard.

I see this type of writing as Baroque art: The Baroque is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted details to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance, and music. (Started in Rome around 1600 . . .)

Try not to create your hero like this guy did using dead parts from here and there.
Frankenstein, 1931