The Emotional Wound Thesaurus Read online

  The State of Their Character Arc

  Another big difference between the hero and the villain is that the antagonist’s character arc doesn’t typically play out during the course of the story. By the time your story begins, the villain is typically uninterested in examining or dealing with his past. He may be ignoring or denying his wound, with no intention of ever doing anything about it. Some villains actually embrace their past; they take the attitude that their wounds have made them stronger, more capable individuals, and they tell themselves that they prefer who they are now to the weak and vulnerable people they used to be.

  In other cases, the villain attempted at one point to overcome the wounding event but failed. This character is no longer interested in addressing the pains of his past to become a better person and is now moving ahead as a wounded, deeply dissatisfied individual—still pursuing goals that he thinks will fulfill him in some way.

  Redemption Is Nigh

  Exceptions to the above come when the villain’s arc is featured within the main storyline. Mostly, this happens in a tale of redemption. While the protagonist is undergoing his own transformation, an event occurs that causes the antagonist to examine his trajectory and reconsider his path, resulting in him returning to his arc. Whatever form this catalyst takes, it will trigger deep and unexpected emotions that lead to a change of heart. The villain sees a future in which the long-suppressed need can at last be met or redemption is possible. Another option is that his eyes are opened to a cause that is greater than himself and justifies the sacrifice of personal desires. The villain either turns back to the light or fails to defeat his demons.

  For a villain choosing redemption, the process is often condensed, and like a switch being flipped, he turns away from darkness in the final pages of the story. This type of reversal usually requires self-sacrifice and may end with the villain’s own death.

  Regardless of how the story finishes for them, characters like Darth Vader (Star Wars) and Benjamin Linus (LOST) prove that recovery through the character arc is as much a possibility for the bad guy as it is for the hero.

  Villains are products of their past, just like everyone else. Genetics and anomalies can play a part, but the overwhelming majority of deranged individuals are that way because of the negative people and events they were exposed to. This is why it’s so important for you, the author, to understand your villain’s history and consider his arc, even if it doesn’t figure into the story. Knowing what’s driving him and why he’s chosen his particular goal helps you to portray a villain who is credible. Again, most of those backstory details won’t be shared with readers, but the more you know, the better you’ll be able to write them so their actions, though reprehensible, will ring true.

  BRAINSTORMING YOUR CHARACTER’S WOUND

  Because wounds are invasive, shaking even the strongest character’s foundation, choosing the right one is no small (or easy) task. While some authors prefer to let a protagonist’s fears and wounds emerge as they write, spending some time up front to dig around in her backstory can save countless hours of revision.

  Many writers fear the word backstory because of generalized advice telling them that it should be avoided. These unfortunate statements fail to acknowledge the different types of backstory. The kind discussed here—character brainstorming—is one of the most vital parts of writing. No matter what your genre, characters should come across as well rounded and authentic, with clear motivations. Everything they do, say, and decide should result from whatever is driving them, be it a fear, unmet need, or other catalyst. What your character wants (outer motivation) and why she wants it (inner motivation) will both be rooted in her past.

  Unless your character introduces herself to you fully formed and ready to go, you’ll need to poke around in her darker places to uncover the emotional trauma she has experienced. As you brainstorm, rather than dredging up every hurtful situation, look for sore spots and a pattern of events that follow a theme. For example, if a character’s past was speckled with sibling rivalry, a need to be the best, and achievement confused with parental acceptance, it may point to a wound involving conditional love in her early years.

  Not all characters will need the same amount of backstory research; depending on who they are and the role they play, you’ll have to decide how much is necessary to write them accurately. When it comes to brainstorming backstory, think of it as an island that can be reached by a variety of routes, including the ones that follow.

  PAST INFLUENCERS

  It’s unfortunately true that those closest to us are in a position to inflict the most pain. In this way, the people our characters interacted with prior to the start of the story are often tied to their wounding events. Caregivers top the list, with their maltreatment birthing deep fears, generating irrational beliefs or biases, creating a legacy of abuse, or even causing unintentional parental failings to be passed through the generations.

  For example, imagine a girl who helplessly watched her four-year-old sibling choke and die. She, in turn, could become a controlling mother, her fear causing her to hover over her own child to keep him safe. She may choose his friends and make most of his decisions for him because she believes she knows what’s best. And her son, growing up in this tightly monitored environment, will likely have lower self-esteem because he doesn’t trust his ability to make good decisions. Place this young man into your story as the main character and you have someone who struggles to be independent, obsesses about what others think, is hypersensitive to criticism, and avoids responsibility because he thinks he’ll screw up.

  The ability to inflict pain is not just reserved for parents and caregivers or even family in general. Think about people who left a negative mark on your character, perhaps restricting her growth, sabotaging her self-worth, inflicting a humiliation, or undermining her self-confidence. Mentors, past lovers, ex-friends, and people in positions of power may have imparted negative life lessons or acted as bad role models, which could have led to a wound. To prompt ideas about possible influencers, look for the answer to this question: Whom from your character’s past would she never want to run into again and why?

  UNPLEASANT MEMORIES

  Wounds hide within negative past experiences, such as a particular time of hardship, an event that cannot be forgotten, or a moment your character wishes she could utterly erase. Don’t be afraid to interview her about difficult situations she’s endured. Every person’s past is littered with mistakes, failures, disappointments, feelings of inferiority, and fear, so try your best to learn about these painful memories.

  PERSONALITY FLAWS

  Some writers find that as they brainstorm a character, personality is the first thing to emerge. Maybe she has an amazing sense of humor, loves to learn, and is the most unmaterialistic person you might meet. But along with these qualities, she’s incredibly temperamental, going from hot to cold in a flash and taking offense when none was meant. Do some digging to uncover the why behind this flaw. What causes that reactiveness and hypersensitivity? Why is she so quick to see enemies where none exist? Identifying the situations that lead to this knee-jerk response will help you spot the emotions the character doesn’t want to feel, which will help you brainstorm the wounds that could be the cause of her emotional armor. This can also be a helpful exercise to determine a character’s fatal flaw, the lynchpin in her emotional shielding that holds her back more than anything else—the one problematic aspect of herself that she must overcome in order to have a chance at achieving her goal.

  FEARS

  Fear is something most people hate, or at the very least are reluctant to experience, because while it can push us to strive harder for what we want, it also comes with a host of uncomfortable emotions. Clearly, your character will have a deep fear sitting at the heart of the defining wound that must be faced, but other fears and worries can also be markers of a wounding event. If during the character brainstorming process you realize that your protagonist is afraid of water, why is thi
s? If she tenses every time she encounters a stranger on the sidewalk, or her heart rate picks up when her sister calls, delve into that response for more information. Fears don’t manifest by themselves, so search for their underlying reasons.

  UNMET NEEDS

  A quick flip back to Maslow’s pyramid can reveal what’s missing from your character’s life, which can be a signpost for an emotional wound. If you know what need is going unmet, think about why that is. Is it being sacrificed for another need, or is it merely absent? If the character is avoiding a need (such as love and belonging), there’s a reason she’s convinced herself she’s better off without it.

  If you’re beginning to get to know your character and don’t see a missing need right away, ask yourself what might be causing her to feel dissatisfaction. Is there an aspect of her life that she dislikes, avoids, or even dreads? Chances are this touches on an unmet need, which can help guide you to the type of wound she may bear. When ferreting out a character’s missing need, it can also be helpful to first identify the outer motivation. If you know what she’s overtly pursuing, you can then figure out why she’s pursuing it, which will point to the lack she’s seeking to fill.

  SECRETS

  One thing experience teaches us is that everyone keeps secrets. It’s second nature to hide the things that embarrass us, cause shame and guilt, or leave us feeling exposed and vulnerable. Often a character’s secret will mask her wound, so ask yourself what your character is hiding. What information does she guard closely and would never want others to discover? This most likely touches on a shard of emotional trauma that she wishes to keep buried in the past.

  INSECURITIES

  Self-doubt is, to some degree, a problem for everyone. Worrying about not measuring up, making a mistake that impacts others, and disappointing loved ones can eat away at our self-worth. If your character is insecure about fitting in and being accepted, why is that? In which situations is she reluctant to make decisions or take risks? Thinking about her doubts and worries will create a starting point for brainstorming the negative experiences and influencers who left her feeling this way.

  BIASES OR A JADED OUTLOOK

  Even the most optimistic and open-minded individual can’t display tolerance and patience all the time. Most likely, she’ll have a few built-in prejudices. Some characters have an entire closet of biases and negative beliefs based on their past experiences and observations. Think about what skewed viewpoints your character may have, the types of people she has no patience for, and the situations that cause her to disengage. Every effect has a cause, so follow these trails and find the negative experience or exposure that encouraged this dark outlook to form.

  OVERCOMPENSATION

  Another way to unearth painful backstory elements is to look for ways your character overcompensates. Does she work hard to please a certain person, putting more time and energy into the relationship than the other party? Does she make excuses for someone, shrugging off bad behavior or “rescuing” them by continually solving their problems and fighting their battles? Overcompensation can come in other varieties, too, such as falling over backward to be generous, working extra hard to fit in, or doing anything to win the approval of someone important. If your character overcompensates, look for the why to see if self-blame or fear is at the heart of her actions.

  DYSFUNCTION

  No one has a perfect life, least of all our characters, and thanks to their dysfunctional emotional shielding, they are often the source of their own problems. Think about the areas of friction in your character’s life. Is she bad with money? Does she have problems with authority that get her into trouble at work? Does she drink too much? Does she lie about trivial things without understanding why she does it? Negative behaviors and friction points aren’t the result of some random cosmic machine; it starts and ends with the character. Look at how she gets in her own way, and follow this string to a past moment that created her reflexive responses or negative coping mechanisms.

  EXPLORING WOUND CATEGORIES

  A sad fact of the human experience is that there are seemingly innumerable ways for people to inflict emotional pain on one another and themselves. The wounds we profile in this book are by no means exhaustive and can play out in endless variations to suit a character’s backstory. They’ve been grouped into categories of universally painful themes, so if you’re struggling to choose a particular wound for your character, it can help to understand the common areas of psychological damage.

  Disabilities and Disfigurements

  This kind of wound centers on a condition outside of the perceived societal norm that the character believes puts him at a disadvantage. It may be physical, cognitive, or a mixture of both and can result from an accident, a birth defect, a condition or disease, or an act of violence. A character with this type of wound often feels “less” or different and questions his self-worth, especially if the disability is not something he’s always had.

  This wound’s impact will depend on the individual trials the character faces in the story, how old he was when it happened, and the severity of the disfigurement or disability. Many people with these types of wounds feel a sense of shame and try to hide the extent of their impairment. They fear being labeled, ridiculed, and rejected, and have the added burden of needing to function in a world that isn’t always accommodating to their particular challenges.

  Injustice and Hardship

  These emotional traumas shine a light on inequities and differences, making the character feel targeted. This impacts his self-worth, and because he suffers in ways others do not, it causes him to question the moral fiber of humanity, can challenge his religious faith (if it exists), and in some cases may damage his ability to empathize with others. These wounds usually lead to disillusionment and bitterness rather than self-blame, since the fault lies with others and is beyond the individual’s control.

  If the character’s loved ones suffer collateral damage due to this wound, or the injustice or hardship stretches into a long-term circumstance, the distress will increase, creating an unmet need that must be filled more quickly. Because imbalance is not a natural state, the character will be driven to do something to right the situation, even if it is only to sacrifice one need for another.

  Failures and Mistakes

  Wounds that involve a personal failing are common and are often deeply internalized, since most characters are their own worst critics. Self-esteem is impacted, as these wounds can quickly evolve from “I made a mistake” to “I am a mistake,” leading the character to feel deficient or defective. This can spawn the belief that he deserves to be punished, resulting in various forms of self-castigation, impacting core needs, and keeping the character from finding happiness and fulfillment.

  The significance of this backstory wound will depend on the kind of mistake, how personal it was, and whom it affected. The character may shy away from future responsibilities out of fear or overcompensate through perfectionistic tendencies to try to atone for what happened. Often, a strong catalyst will be needed to push him to risk failure again, especially in situations in which other people may pay the price.

  Misplaced Trust and Betrayals

  These are caused by the people closest to the character who exploited his love and vulnerability. Trust-based wounds can be especially difficult to move past because the character is no longer able to rely on his intuition about people, believing his judgment to be flawed. Due to their innate sense of connectedness as maternal nurturers, women can be more deeply affected by these wounds than men.

  This type of trauma often results in the character becoming overly sensitive to real or perceived betrayals. Small offenses tend to take on more meaning and reinforce the need for him to protect himself and hold back. The character finds it nearly impossible to give people the benefit of the doubt, and forgiveness becomes a mountain to climb. The closer and more personal the relationship was that involved the betrayal, the more bitterness and resentment will set up camp, and t
he harder it will be for the character to move on.

  Crime and Victimization

  Wounds of this nature awaken fears of death or pain, leave a character feeling violated, and shake his faith in people and the world at large. While he might blame the perpetrator (say, a drug addict who stole his car), the character sometimes ends up finding fault with something greater, such as the government, an established social system, or humanity in general. This can lead to fear and resentment directed at multiple sources, along with a high level of disillusionment. In this case, the character feels let down and unprotected by a world that should care and do more to keep people safe.

  Victims of crime also may blame themselves unfairly; a woman who was raped may believe that her flirting was a contributing factor, or a man whose home was robbed might blame himself for leaving the door unlocked. In this circumstance, the underserved and self-directed blame is very often (if not always) part of the lie the character believes to be true.