How to Write Meaningful Character Growth

Storytelling can be highly satisfying when readers can experience characters evolve.

Heroines are meant to grow, villains can find redemption, and side characters can have their moment in the spotlight. Characters are meant to change with the story in an impactful way.

The tricky part? Making that transformation memorable for the reader and the character. Here are some tips on how to make it happen.

Your Character Should Be Flawed, Yet Relatable

To experience growth, your character needs room to grow. A perfect character cannot go on a journey because they are already at the end. Your reader is more likely to connect with a flawed character. We are all flawed. It is what makes a character lovable.

Ask yourself what your character's biggest flaw is, and make it a constant throughout your story. What about their past has wounded them? Do they have a particular belief or mindset holding them back from accomplishing their goals? How will they be motivated to go on their journey?

Establish Stakes that Make Them Change

There has to be a reason for your character to grow and change. Create stakes that will force your character to grow for their survival, success, and/or happiness.

Introduce a crisis. This will force your character out of their comfort zone. Their old mindset and beliefs will fail to help them conquer this crisis. This should happen during a critical moment. Use this crisis to also threaten something your character loves, whether that be a person, dream, home, etc.

Growth is Not Made to be Instant - LET THEM STRUGGLE

If you're someone who hates to see your character struggle, I understand. You want them to be happy, but believable change is also supposed to be hard.

Let your character's efforts be resisted. They should struggle, endure setbacks, and experience self-doubt. Everyone fails before they succeed. Let their old habits die hard, and their conflicts (both external and internal) challenge them in ways they are forced to think about. Having other characters call out their flaws is also a very real way to challenge your characters.

Key Moments Should Mark Growth

Make sure there is a certain timeline for your reader to follow. Pivotal moments will show your reader and your character that they have grown. Your character will have choices to make, and they will start to choose for the better, rather than for what they believed in.

These pivotal moments do not always have to be a monumental display. A small act, such as choosing kindness or trust, can show that your character has grown. There can be confrontations that remind the characters of their old self and create a point of self-reflection. Sacrifices are also great ways to prove that the character has a different set of priorities than before.

Make Sure Your Ending Reflects Their Growth

The last thing you want to do is have your character revert to their old mindset toward the end. By the end of the story, your character should have earned their transformation. It should come naturally to them. Now, this transformation doesn't have to be perfect. No one is meant to be perfect, but they do have to be fundamentally changed.

There should be a clear contrast between who your character was and who they became by the end. There should be a moment when they actively choose and follow their new path. There should also be consequences as a result of their growth. This can be a good or a bad thing.

I hope you all took some fundamental tips from this article and aren't afraid to put your characters through the grinder. I promise it will be worthwhile at the end of the day!