Why You Need To Find Your Character's Tipping Point

by Stephanie Morrill

Stephanie writes young adult contemporary novels and is the creator of GoTeenWriters.com. Her novels include The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt series (Revell) and the newly released The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet (Playlist). You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and check out samples of her work on her author website.

Trying to build contradictions into your characters can feel like an awkward exercise. Especially because we've likely all had the experience of enjoying a story, only to be ripped out of it by a character saying or doing something that seems completely off the wall for them, that seems "out of character."

We experience this in real life too ("Stephanie is just not acting like herself today") but the difference between real life and fiction, as I've heard many say, is that fiction has to make sense. 

So while contradictions breathe life into a character . . . how do you create them in a way that makes sense? You figure out their motivations and their tipping point.

What do I mean by tipping point?

I mean this: I'm a person who runs from conflict, and who feels uncomfortable being anything other than friendly with a store clerk. But when Piercing Pagoda and their careless employee botched my 4-year-olds ear piercing, and then when their customer service refused to deal with the situation, I discovered I can get rather nasty on the phone. When it comes to the defense of my daughter - she is my tipping point.

Even as I type this, the anger bubbles up in my chest. I remember being in the doctor's office holding down my screaming child while they tried to remove the earring. I think of all the times Kathleen in customer service made promises to me that never materialized. And how finally she just stopped answering the phone when I called.

Y'all can't see me in my office right now, but within minutes, I've become more like a vicious, snarling mother bear than my normal let's-all-get-along self.

Do you see what I mean? I'm a nice person. Except when I'm not.

Let's talk about your characters now. What about that warrior in your story? He's always brave in the face of danger. But something could make him tuck tail and run. And it's your job to figure out what and make it happen, to push him into a corner where running seems logical to him.

Or what about the girl in your book who doesn't believe in dating? What would change her mind?

In his book Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, Donald Maass poses the question, "What's something your character would never do?" And after you answer, you're supposed to brainstorm ways to back them into a corner and make them do it.

What's something Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice would never do? Marry beneath his rank.

And then he meets Elizabeth Bennett and everything changes. Right?

What about Tally from The Uglies? She would never turn away the chance to be a Pretty.

Until she does.

And doesn't it make the character's store so much more interesting, so much more real?

So what about your character? What's something they would never do?