Analyzing how your characters respond to major cataclysmic events, such as asteroid impacts, deadly plagues, devastating tsunamis, or robot uprisings, can indeed offer valuable insights into their character and behavior when faced with more relatable, human-level jeopardy. This approach allows you to delve into the depths of your character’s resilience, decision-making, and emotional responses. To gain a better understanding, let’s explore the process of “blowing things up,” figuratively speaking, and the insights it can provide:

  1. Testing Resilience and Resourcefulness: When a cataclysmic event strikes on a global scale, your character’s response provides a window into their resilience and resourcefulness. They may need to adapt quickly, make tough choices, and rely on their skills to survive. By observing how they navigate these extreme circumstances, you gain insights into their problem-solving abilities and determination.

  2. Uncovering Values and Priorities: Cataclysmic events force characters to confront their values and priorities. What do they hold dear when faced with the potential end of the world? Do they prioritize their own survival, the well-being of loved ones, or the greater good of humanity? This exploration reveals the core of your protagonist’s character and the moral compass that guides their actions.

  3. Revealing Vulnerabilities: Extreme situations can expose vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your character’s, character. Whether it’s fear, guilt, or a past trauma resurfacing, these moments of crisis provide opportunities to delve into the emotional facets of your hero’s personality. How do they grapple with these vulnerabilities? How do they overcome or succumb to them?

  4. Assessing Leadership and Decision-Making: Catastrophes often thrust characters into leadership roles, where they must make critical decisions that affect the survival of others. Your character’s ability to lead, inspire, and make tough choices can shine during these moments. Their decisions and the consequences that follow provide valuable insights into their leadership style and ethics.

  5. Exploring Relationships and Bonds: Extreme circumstances test the bonds between characters. Whether it’s the character’s relationship with allies, friends, or family, these trials can strengthen or strain these connections. By examining how your character interacts with others in times of crisis, you can deepen the dynamics and development of these relationships.

  6. Demonstrating Growth and Transformation: Cataclysmic events often serve as catalysts for personal growth and transformation. Your character may evolve in response to the challenges they face, developing new skills, values, or perspectives. These moments of transformation offer opportunities for character arcs and development throughout your story.

  7. Elevating Stakes in Human-Level Jeopardy: Understanding how your character responds to global cataclysms provides a foundation for portraying their reactions in situations of more human-level jeopardy. The stakes may be lower, but the insights gained from examining extreme scenarios can inform their actions, choices, and emotions in smaller-scale conflicts and challenges.

In summary, “blowing things up” in your narrative—putting your character through catastrophic events—allows you to explore their character from multiple angles. It unveils their strengths, weaknesses, values, and potential for growth, ultimately enriching the depth and authenticity of their journey in both cataclysmic and everyday circumstances. By examining how your character faces the end of the world, you can better understand how they navigate the complexities of the human experience.

The Exercise: Consider the Following Questions: What’s important to the character? Who would they save? Who would they leave behind? Where would they go in the aftermath? Once there, would they lead the resistance, or keep their head down? How would a cataclysm change the character’s interaction with the main or minor antagonist? Would they still be on opposing sides or would they find themselves helping each other? What if the character was the invader? Consider the story if they were the conqueror rather than the conquered.

Now, Consider These Scenarios: A comet will smash into the Earth in twenty-four hours. What would the character do?

Imagine your story in a post-apocalyptic world. What would change? What might stay the same?

Imagine aliens have come to conquer the Earth? What would the protagonist do? Would they run and hide or would they lead the charge to take back the planet?

What if the building that the protagonist was working in, was bombed. Would they immediately flee the building after the bombing or would they stay and help other survivors get out of the building?

Envision that a genetically engineered virus has emerged and it threatens to wipe out humanity unless a cure is found. Would the protagonist hold up in their bunker safe from harm or would they venture forth to find the cure for everyone?

Consider Adding the Following Elements: Character Journals: Create journals, diaries or random entries from the perspective of different characters (including the protagonist) as they navigate these cataclysmic scenarios. This journaling allows you to delve deeply into their character’s inner thoughts, emotions, and decision-making processes during moments of crisis. It can provide valuable insights into the character’s voice and mindset.

Dialogue Exploration: Imagine key dialogues or conversations that your protagonist might have with other characters in each scenario. How would these dialogues reveal the character’s motivations, conflicts, and evolving relationships? Write out sample dialogues to explore these dynamics further.

Flashback Sequences: Introduce the concept of flashback sequences within each cataclysmic scenario. This adds depth to the character’s backstory and emotional development.

Write a flashback to delve into the protagonist’s past experiences, traumas, or significant memories that influence their decisions and responses during each crisis.

Alternative Endings: Envision alternative endings or resolutions for each scenario based on different choices the could make. What if the character’s decisions were radically different? How would these alternative outcomes impact the story’s direction and themes? Create a Choice Map to determine the alternative paths that can be taken by the characters, via the choices they make.

Character Map:

Reader Perspective: Consider how readers might perceive and connect with the character’s responses to cataclysmic events. How can the character’s experiences and emotions resonate with readers on a personal level? Reflect on universal themes that readers can relate to, such as resilience, hope, or the human capacity for survival.

Symbolic Objects: Identify symbolic objects or items that hold significance for their character in each scenario. These objects can serve as storytelling tools to convey emotions, memories, or character development. You can explore how these objects evolve or change throughout the cataclysmic events.

Moral Dilemmas: Present your characters with moral dilemmas or ethical challenges that they may encounter within each scenario. How does the character navigate these dilemmas, and what choices do they ultimately make? You can delve into the character’s ethical framework and the consequences of their decisions.

List Five Potential Moral Dilemmas For Each of the Five Scenario:

Consider the Following: Character Dilemmas: Delve deeper into the character’s moral and ethical dilemmas. For each scenario, explore not only what the character would do but also the internal conflicts and decisions they would grapple with. How would the character reconcile their actions with their values and beliefs?

List Three Potential Internal Conflicts For Each of the Five Scenario:

Multiple Perspectives: Consider how different characters in their story might respond to the same cataclysmic events. How would your character’s decisions align or conflict with those of other key characters, including allies, antagonists, or supporting cast members? This can add complexity to interpersonal dynamics.

Examine Other Character Responses Compared to That of the Protagonist:

Emotional Arcs: Map out the emotional journey of the character throughout these scenarios. How would the character’s emotions evolve from the initial shock of the cataclysm to the final resolution? What pivotal moments might trigger shifts in their emotional state? You can achieve this quite easily in Scapple with a Scene Emotion Map.

The Scene Emotion Map:

Subplots and Relationships: Explore how cataclysmic events might impact subplots and relationships within the story. How would the character’s actions affect their relationships with other characters? Are there new subplots or conflicts that arise as a result of the cataclysm?

Parallel Storylines: Think about how cataclysmic events might lead to parallel storylines or subplots that involve different groups of characters. How do these parallel storylines intersect or diverge? What impact do they have on the overall narrative?

Symbolism and Themes: Explore any symbolic elements or overarching themes that emerge from the character’s responses to cataclysmic events. How do these events contribute to the exploration of larger themes in the story, such as survival, sacrifice, resilience, or the human condition.

Consequences: Consider the consequences of the character’s actions in these scenarios. What are the short-term and long-term repercussions of their decisions? How might these consequences ripple through the story and influence future events?

What do you think of this exercise? Throw a comment at me down below. I would love to hear your thoughts.