by Sally Morem

Created on: March 18, 2009   Last Updated: March 23, 2009

You, the fiction writer, have created an interesting milieu for your characters and the story is just rolling along. But at some point, things begin to bog down and your characters have become boring.

Somethin's gotta give. You feel like giving up on your story. What will you do?

Realize that the most important thing in a character-driven story is character change. If your character fails to change, your readers will yawn and close the book. How do you create change in your character without making it look like authorial meddling?

The best way to trigger the greatest character change is to give your character an epiphany.

What is an epiphany?

James Joyce, author of "Finnegans Wake," coined the term. He combined two Greek words, meaning "to" and "show." The resulting word means "revelation."

At a very specific point in the story, usually occurring in mere minutes, the character reassesses his or her own life. In that moment, the character embraces a new vision of the future. The character's deep-seated beliefs change as to what goals are desirable and what actions should be avoided. As a result, the character begins to take a series of unexpected actions.

As you can tell by this brief description, the epiphany will help your character grow by rounding him or her out a bit, making your character more quirky, more like a real person one who responds to change over time by changing. It will also add spice to your plot. Your readers will not know what to expect and may be happily surprised at ensuing developments.

Joyce liked to use the epiphany near the end of his stories, but don't consider yourself so limited as a writer. You may find it very helpful to give your main character an epiphany in the middle of your story, right when you feel the plot is sagging.

But remember, the epiphany must flow out of earlier events in the story, and possibly even out of much earlier events your story alludes to, or it will seem contrived. Think about who your character is at that point in the story. What kind of epiphany would jolt your character out of a behavioral rut? What kind would make the most sense considering your character's history? Precisely what event, perhaps an apparently insignificant one, but one that is very significant to your character, could quickly set off an epiphany?

After writing your epiphany scene, you may consider adding a few hints of what is to come earlier in the story. This is called foreshadowing. This is an extremely effective writing technique when practiced in moderation. Perhaps you may add a short scene in which your character may become unexpectedly annoyed with something, and then another scene in which he or she begins to question some ordinary phenomenon usually taken for granted by people near and dear to your character. Like a real person, your character can be shown as a growing, feeling individual, one who is becoming more aware of life and who may be ripe for an epiphany.

Also, consider writing the rest of your story as an exploration of the ramifications of your character's epiphany. If you think through carefully the consequences of your character's new series of actions, and describe them clearly and honestly, you may wind up creating a work of fiction that will plant seeds for future epiphanies in your readers' minds.

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