My character was too good. Not as in “Makes Francis of Assisi question his own worth” perfect, but too many things were going for him. He had no enemies, had no personality conflicts. When he got mad and did harsh things, it was for justifiable and rightious reasons that everyone else recognized and accepted. After 20K words, this had become a major problem. He’s not Mary Poppins, and the story, aside from world building, was boring. The plot arc had gone flat.

Note, he’s not a Mary Sue/Marty Stu. He’s not the author gender switched. He’s not supposed to be the best at everything, honored by everyone, and out to save the world. For one, the world doesn’t need saving yet at that point in the book. For two, I didn’t know that it would need saving. What I could tell is that, well, he was boring sort of. And if the author thinks the protagonist is boring (and is not supposed to be), readers are not going to make it that far. He needed to trip over his own feet, OR make mistakes that lead into trouble, but do so in a believable way. No idiot balls, please.

I’ve had this happen before, sort of. In Blackbird, Matthew “Blackbird” Malatesta had things going too well, sort of. He needed something embarrassing, awkward, but not lethal, in order to bring him down a little. It also had to work in a way that let him gain respect he’d only been loaned, so to speak. I considered the circumstances and found a way. Physically painful but not really dangerous? Yup. Easy for those in the know to tell what he’d done (or not done)? Yup. Did he gain respect from the troopers for keeping his mouth shut and enduring the results of his lack of awareness? Very yup.

So, what to do in the WIP? How do I shake the protagonist and make him grow when he’s a master craftsman, has high rank for other reasons, and is really good at his calling? Toss in someone who has more knowledge, and who has reasons to doubt the MC’s abilities. Oh, not all of them, just the ones where the two men’s skill-sets overlap. Add a third party who decides the rules don’t apply to everyone, and the problems that ensue. However, this might not be enough to really drop the MC a peg or twelve, since it’s not his fault that Third Party was less-than-wise.

Which brings up back to one of the basic questions: What motivates your character(s)? After the three basics (food, water, shelter*), what drives them? Care and love for family? Desire for honor and prestige, for glory? To regain honor or respect from someone? Revenge? Love for someone, or to impress a person in hopes of winning her affection and hand in marriage? Creating a haven for a person or group of people? Finding a long lost McGuffin, or looking over the next hill because of all-devouring curiosity? Escaping trouble? Yes?

My MC needed a new motivation, one that I would have to go back and work into the earlier parts of the story, once I found out what it was. I may have found it, but I need the MC to find it as well. That’s the hard part. He’s got to fall hard, find what really matters, and decide what he’s willing to do to preserve or gain that thing. I’m perhaps ninety percent there sorting out how that might work. Or might not.

I’ve got an MC, an antagonist, a villain (perhaps. He’s working hard to take on the role, so I should probably get out of his way), and a double-edged gift from a powerful perhaps-ally. Perhaps. I’ve got the crisis or series of crises. Now I have to link them all together by forcing the MC to grow, suffer, and decide what the most important thing is, the thing he is willing to sacrifice other things on order to obtain or achieve. And it must be a real sacrifice. “Cheap grace” ain’t going to cut it.

Have I mentioned I really do NOT like books that make me work this hard? Spending the next year writing 65K word formula romances is taking on greater and greater appeal the more I work on this book. Learning experiences are no fun. IMHO.

But the book now has a shape, and a goal, and I know what the hero has to do and what the price will be. I just have to write it.

*Yes, you giggling in the back, quit it. What you are thinking of is not strictly necessary for individual survival. Species survival, yes, but not individual. Get your mind out of the gutter.