Plotting Your Hero's Emotional Journey: Plot-to-Page method

You may already be familiar with the Hero's Inner Journey:

What you may not realize is how this ties into EVERY type of novel - not just epic fantasy.

I found an absolutely fabulous post by Allen Palmer that brakes these steps down into 12 easily digestible ones, which I highly recommend reading. To sum it up (no really - read the post; my summary doesn't do it justice):

The hero is:

• Incomplete (Ordinary World)
Two dimensions to the hero's incomplete world: something they’re aware of (a want), and something not aware (their flaw).

• Unsettled (Call to Adventure)
A problem or an opportunity. Suddenly their world just isn’t the same any longer.






Resistant (Refusal of the Call)
Hero is resistant to the problem or opportunity. If the hero does want the call, others will express the fear for them.





Encouraged (Meeting with the Mentor)
Hero is “Encouraged” into reconsidering the challenge thrown down. Note: the “Mentor” doesn’t have to be old or wise, just someone to push hero into next step.





Committed (Crossing the first threshold)
Hero is “committed” to tackling the goal, problem or opportunity with which they’ve been presented.




Disoriented (Tests, Allies & Enemies)
Hero begins to pursue goal or fix problem & world is upside down. Hero challenged (don't make these too big of challenges - leave room to escalate at Ordeal and Resurrection). Could work out who they can trust and who they should be wary of in new world





Inauthentic (The Approach)
As hero begins tackling the problem or opportunity, it is done so with the hero's main flaw still in action - tackling this inauthentically. Often where friendships are forged and love interests introduced, BUT Hero is “inauthentic” – reader is reminded of exactly what the hero’s flaw is.





Confronted (The Ordeal)
The hero is “confronted” with their flaw - a mirror is held up to them and flaw pointed out.





Reborn (The Reward)
Old, flawed Hero dies, and “reborn” Hero emerges. Transformation revealed through perceptions of others (this may be a moment, as there's still the next step of...)





Desperate (Road Back)
Hero must choose between what they want and what they need (to act on Reborn or not) - stuck between a rock and a hard place. To change and confront flaw, but perhaps that is at the risk of losing something else.





Decisive (Resurrection – the Climax)
Hero proves that they have been transformed…or not (either decided to change or remain the same - a tragedy, hero remains the same and there are consequences). Hero MUST be the active agent here; can’t be rescued by external forces because that would deny ultimate character test to draw on new strength or fall back into weaknesses
 



Complete (Return with the Elixir)
The HEA scene

The first thing, of course, is making sure your hero/heroine progresses through each step.

But WHEN should these steps occur? In other words -  where in your plot arc should these development points fall?

Building off of my previous post with the Plot Dot Test, this is how your hero/heroine's emotional journey should progress:

I used a 125 page novel in the above; yours is likely different. So to set this proportionally to your novel, use the following rough* percentage guidelines:


Incomplete (~1%)
Unsettled (~4%)
Resistant (~8%)
Encouraged (~12%)
Committed (~16%)
Disoriented (~20%)
Inauthentic (~28%)
Confronted (~50%) - midpoint!
Reborn (~62%)
Desperate (~72%)
Decisive (~88%) - climax!
Complete (~98%)

*i.e., don't freak out if you're 5% off - the important parts are hitting these moments, and the decisive moment being in the climax.


How to figure this out using your manuscript:

1. Locate the page number each journey step starts
2. Divide page # by total pages to get step %
3. Place dots on lined paper
X: page (can be by 5’s or 10’s), Y: %
4. Graph

Does it look like a character arc? Go back and revise as needed!