10 Things I Hate About You: Writing a Believable Character Arc

As a writer, the last thing you want is to have your character arc confuse your readers. Your character’s emotional journey is one of the most important parts of your stories, but writing them smoothly is easier said than done. It can seem easy to write  the protagonist’s main flaw in the beginning of your story, put them through a chaotic plot, and then write your character miraculously changed. But only giving your reader the bookends of your character’s internal journey can completely ruin a story. You can’t just show a major flaw in your character, show their problem resolved in the end, and then expect the plot to fill in the rest. The audience will be left to wonder how your character could’ve gone from being so selfish to so loving, from being so cowardly to being a brave champion. There has to be some indication of change between your character’s appearance and their final scene. 

A while ago, Mara wrote about how you can prove that your character has changed in the end, but how do you make it clear in the middle? How can you show the progression between point A and point B? How can you clearly show the plot radically changing your character forever?

Here to answer all these questions is a classic rom-com, 10 Things I Hate About You. 

10 Things I Hate About You

Patrick Verona is a reclusive high schooler that nearly everyone is terrified of. He smokes regularly, barely talks to anyone in class, and is even rumored to have sold his liver for drug money. He doesn’t seem to have any relations with anyone else, and just seems to drift through high school without a single care in the world. 

Kat is a feisty high school senior who assumes the worst about men and constantly defies the social norm. She was hurt by an awful guy in the past, and she’s determined to never date again. Besides, it’s not like anyone would want to date her, anyways. Everyone lives in fear of her sarcastic comments and prickly personality. 

However, this all changes when Patrick is paid to go out with Kat. He’s being offered a lot of cash in exchange for the seemingly impossible feat, so accepts, thinking it will be easy money. Patrick begins by tossing some flirtatious lines at her to test the waters, and he immediately realizes that he is in way over his head. Kat is clever, and even worse, stubbornly set on the kind of guy she wants to date after high school. 

Intrigued by the challenge Kat has brought to his life, and motivated by the cash, Patrick decides to try and become that guy. He quits smoking, becomes a vegetarian out of respect for her diet, becomes more social and charming, and even does a song and dance routine for Kat. He gradually becomes more genuine and begins to fall in love with Kat for real, instead of just seeing her as a challenge. As the movie progresses, you slowly see Patrick become less greedy and more of a better person who’s willing to do anything for his girlfriend. In the end, he feels incredibly guilty about taking any money for dating her, and instead of using it for himself, spends all of it to buy her a guitar. 

How To Show Your Characters Changing

 Patrick’s character development clearly presents us with a beginning, a middle, and an end. At first, he is reclusive and greedy, he takes on a challenge that requires him to reflect on his behavior and figure out what needs to change, and by the end he has given away all his money to buy Kat a guitar. Like any well-written story, no one needs to proclaim a dramatic speech to make this clear to the audience. Patrick’s changes are subtle, yet not so subtle that the viewers are left wondering how he got from point A to point B. 

If you want to make your character’s development as smooth and crystal clear as this one, you have to focus on the smaller details. In this movie’s instance, Patrick doesn’t immediately decide to fix his major flaw (otherwise that would make for a pretty short movie.) Instead, the writers weaved in little imperfections for him to fix throughout the film. First he drops his smoking, then he begins listening to some of the music Kat enjoys, then he tries to act more polite, etc, etc. By the end, he ends up buying an expensive gift for her, without any concern with how much cigarette money he’d be losing. 

Instead of picking one large flaw for your character to overcome and then trying to show that inward change overtime, try picking a few smaller flaws and show those being affected instead. Both in stories and in real life, large leaps are accomplished by making small steps. You can show your character drastically changing by showing the smaller things that come first. 

Additionally, your character’ development will be much more clear if those small flaws are represented by tangible things. When the reader has a concrete image of bad habits being broken or favorite objects being destroyed, they’re able to see the change happening right in front of them. There will no longer be any confusion about how your protagonist started out so differently then how they ended. 

The events of 10 Things I Hate About You forced Patrick to take a look at his behavior and ask: “What can I do better?” He became less and less greedy  until his major flaw was finally resolved. Don’t just give your readers a beginning state and then a resolution. Show the changing process by resolving smaller, tangible flaws over time. Those small habits will make a big change in your character once they’re put aside for good. 

Let us know:

What books have you read that did a great job at showing the middle of their character arcs?