Hi everyone,

It’s been a minute. I’ve been working furiously on edits to two books, so have been lax in sharing my thoughts.  Perhaps I don’t have many thoughts right now, other than “If I see another oxford comma you’ve missed…”  Perhaps we are always harder on ourselves than others. Anyway, I wanted to share a quick story from my professional days.

I remember starting a new job, just as the company was rolling out changes to how the job was performed and measured. I joined my first team meeting, and the other team members were up in arms! “Ridiculous,” they cried.  “Who made this decision?” and “This makes no sense.” Those may not have been their exact words, but the sentiment was the same. These were senior professionals, who had led large organizations and were doing a job they loved. I remember sitting there, still nervous as it was my first week, thinking “This doesn’t seem like such a big deal to me.”

Anyway, the changes were implement, and over the course of the next year, I discovered this was an annual practice the company did, in the spirit of continuous improvement. So we fast forward a year, and in the same meeting, I found myself saying “Ridiculous,” “Who made this decision?”, and “This makes no sense.” The reality is that the changes DID make sense. But over the course of the year, I had become efficient at the way things were, and now I was being faced with change. And no one I’ve ever met really likes change – especially when it is being implemented on us, rather than our choice.

Except in story.

Because in story, the characters HAVE To change, and that change needs to be earned and necessary. I was watching a comedy show recently – ten short episodes – and by the time we reached episode six, I was thoroughly bored. Why? Because the characters didn’t change. Of course, they were put in new and challenging situations. Their circumstances changes. But they didn’t. The main character remained a needy narcissist, the secondary character remained a directionless martyr, and on they went. When they eventually did show some measure of change, it was already episode ten, and the change just “happened,” within the space of a few minutes. It was earned or necessary.

So, as storytellers, even though we may resist change ourselves, we have to ensure our characters DO change, and if we can manage it, show the moment where they go “Ridiculous,” “Who made this decision?” and “This makes no sense.”

David