I just wondered what is meant by the above phrase.

I've interpreted it as: As the plot unfolds so the characters change, or there is a link between the plot changes which cause a change in the character/s. So by the end of each chapter chances are the characters (especially mc) will have changed in some way with regards to the end point of the novel.

Sorry, I know I haven't explained myself very well, but is this right?
Is this how other people would describe/see it?

Thanks ahead of time for any opionions - I'm not really stuck, I just want to check it means what I think it means.

Many thanks and happy Friday!

Yes, I think you're right. Aristotle talks about character in action: action reveals character, character shapes action. Deploy that across the time-frame of a novel, and events shape and change the character, which then shapes and changes how they act, and so on.

What you don't want is for the character just to move through the events like an automaton, with events swirling around him/her.

Emma

Fantastic, Emma.
Thank you so much for such a swift reply.
This then is what they mean by the character's emotional arc following the plot arc or vice versa. What a relief!
I really appreciate it - thank you and have a good writing day.

What you don't want is for the character just to move through the events like an automaton, with events swirling around him/her.

Nice one, Emma, I could have used that line in a piece I was just critting (not on WW, I hasten to add). Things were happening to the characters, but their emotional response to it was all wrong - flat, somehow. Probably because the writer was not 'looking through their eyes; living it with them' as he wrote it. Instead he was concentrating on what came next.

- NaomiM

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The other end of the spectrum being the first person naratives, where Everything is a big deal; gets a disproportionally large emotional response.

Hi Naomi, yes - it's that 'living it with them' bit that's so hard sometimes. I put off having to write a death scene for three days because I knew I'd cry my eyes out, but I guess if I don't feel it, the reader won't either.

I've only ever written a short story in the first person, so I don't really know much about it - i've always thought first person writing to be 'ADVANCED' writers only!!!

Hope you're well and thanks for reply.

but I guess if I don't feel it, the reader won't either.

Very true. There are some scenes I can't read out loud because I'll choke up.

i've always thought first person writing to be 'ADVANCED' writers only!!!

Me too. I've only just written my first short story in the first person, and currently on my first novel in 'first'. I find it much more restrictive than 3rd person.


- NaomiM