A tale of promises

New years are born bearing the weight of expectations. So many promises made overnight, from kilograms to lose to languages to learn, books to read or trips to go on.

I had retired from new year’s resolutions, disheartened by ranking so low at keeping them, yet the problem does not lie on not fulfilling such promises, but on what was promised. Expecting to change a behavior without considering where it stems from is as effective as pruning the leaves of a struggling potted plant. It may change how it looks; you are still not addressing the root rot.

“Addressing the root rot” is a familiar logic so perfectly applied to character development in stories. A character acts in search of a want, the thing or feeling they wish to obtain on their journey. A story, though, carries the character through lessons, the things they in fact need to learn, so often opposite or far away from whatever is it they want. The compelling power of a character arc is in this motif of learning a lesson (or their need, however you prefer to call it), and how this lesson affects the character at their core. They can choose not to change at all, or to even ignore the lesson. This is a character who promises to go to the gym in this new year, and doesn’t. Frustrating and also truthful. Real.

Consider this: the root of so many of human being wants can be fear. Humans wish for the antitheses to drown away their innermost worries. To see the world, for fear of not living. To buy a house, for fear of not owning any marker of their value. Cheap psychology, but aren’t writers just sitting there pretending to therapize their own creations? We create these complex creatures, full of fears and emotions and potential growth. We give them voices, catalysts, allow them to blossom and mold into their new selves. We control the future of imaginary people, speed it up for entertainment sake. Predict the outcomes, because we ourselves dictate them. Because life - our life - isn’t predictable, or drawn in a perfect development arc.

There is a point to structure in how we tell stories, from Aristotles to the short, feverish formats born in apps like TikTok. We, the collective humanity of us, found creative ways to compress the unpredictability of life, the ups and downs that make it interesting, into compelling tales. Art is nothing if not a reflection on how much can you say through the most unexpected mediums. We see parallels in everything, from the seasons of the year to character arcs, because stories are drawn with the same lines that delineate our world. Our lives connect to fiction, and fiction connects to us.

For this year, my own character doesn’t have resolutions. Challenges, perhaps. Obstacles placed on my own course, not with the intent of jumping over them, but removing them entirely. Here’s to this year; may it grant interesting stories to look back to in the future.

-Maíra

Thanks to a very successful “let’s unplug during the holidays”, recommendations are taking a break for this issue.

See you next time!