Write Your Novel
Step by Step


By Melanie Anne Phillips
Creator of StoryWeaver

Click for Table of Contents

Read it free on our web site!

 Also available in Paperback
and for your Kindle

For Story

Structure


Story Structure

Library


Videos on

Structure



For Story

Development


Writing

Tips

Library


Articles on Writing






Read the Science Fiction Thriller

From the founder of Storymind

Man Made follows a mysterious force as it sweeps around the globe erasing anything man made - from buildings, vehicles, and technology to medicines, clothing, and dental work.

Governments stagger under the panic, religions are at a loss for an explanation, scientists strive for any means to stop or divert the phenomenon, and the world’s population from families to individuals struggle to prepare for The Event, which will drive humanity back beyond the stone age.

The Event is coming.

Are you prepared?

Copyright Melanie Anne Phillips


Storymind

Free Writing Resources

~ Step 105 ~



Situational Relationship Growth – Act Two


Each character may have a number of different situational relationships with other characters, and may even have several relationships with single characters.  For example, Jane may be Tom's wife, but also his boss at the bank.  Furthermore, situational relationships can change all the time.  As when Tom gets promoted and is now Jane's boss!


So if you have a cop and a subordinate, what happens if one transfers to a different unit?  What if two brothers find out that one was adopted?  How does a construction worker deal with the discovery that he is really a secret agent with amnesia, and his wife is his control agent, as in "Total Recall?"


Previously, you have determined what you want your characters' situational relationships to be, and how you intend to reveal them.  But that is just a starting point.  Now you should let yourself go!  Consider your plot, incorporate unexpected changes in situational relationships, and list them here for every relationship for every set of characters you wish to explore.


If you usually have your characters maintain their situational relationship throughout the story, you can break free of that plodding predictability and add surprise and life here.


For this step, describe how your characters grow in their situational relationships in act two.  Be sure all situational relationships are addressed, even if you choose to maintain them without growth.