Eevee Evolutions from Pokemon (Don’t judge me!)

There’s a bittersweet benefit to doing a series.  As an author, you can gradually craft and mold your characters.  They don’t have to reach their peak by the end of the first book.  In fact, that would probably end the series or at least retire the character, leaving you in a mess.  You keep going with a fully evolved character and you’ll get what I’m going to call the ‘Goku/Ichigo Effect’.  Here it is:

Goku is the main character of the Dragonball Z series and Ichigo is the main character of the Bleach series.  Both series have the story arc pattern of evil guy shows up, evil guy beats everyone up, Goku/Ichigo train for new power level, supporting characters become more interesting, supporting characters beaten up, Goku/Ichigo defeat evil guy, and the whole thing repeats for the next story arc.  This is why I quit these series and don’t even get me started on Naruto.

So, the problem here is that you have fully evolved characters going far beyond their finality in a series.  Sometimes because the author refuses to let them go and other times because the fans do.  What do you do?

Well, you can set milestones for each story arc and plan in advance where they’re going to go.  You can’t end it with the hero getting everything they want and ridding themselves of all flaws.  It doesn’t give the hero anywhere else to go unless you pull a Metroid/Legend of Zelda stunt with them losing their powers or items at the beginning of every book.  Seriously, Samus, what the fuck is wrong with you?  At least Link has the excuse of probably not being the same one from an earlier game.  Anyway, the milestone and slow growth is a great way to bring a single character through a series without making them peak too soon.

And you’ll get shit for it.

Goku form DBZ (meme form)

Don’t worry.  You’ll get shit for peaking early too, but that’s not as frustrating as being told your character isn’t fully developed by the end of the first book of series.  You can believe that some people simply don’t realize it’s a series, but if you have a mention of it or the plot open then that group is small.  Most people that are like this probably don’t realize what will happen if they got what they want.  This isn’t to insult their opinion because it shows an interest in the character.  It also demonstrates a little impatience and a lack of understanding of storytelling.  This is why authors don’t always listen to the desires of their fans.  They know what’s coming and how many books are in the series, so they know how long to draw stuff out for.

My advice to anyone that looks at a series and gets annoyed that a character isn’t growing quick enough is to trust the author.  Complain if the character is the same at the end of the series instead of the middle.  There’s always the strong possibility that the author has something big planned.  Maybe the character is growing differently than what you expect or you’re looking at the ‘big picture’ instead of the steps.  That selfless hero is learning that he doesn’t have to sacrifice himself to help others.  That’s an important realization for him and the fact that he’s still not a ‘true hero’ is part of the story.  Like a real person, a character in a series needs time and nurturing to grow correctly.

Authors are guilty too.  I remember reading a book series where the female lead didn’t change at all.  She became a goddess and got a boyfriend, but she still felt like the same character after everything she went through.  Her boyfriend was even worse with no change in personality or maturity or anything.  I think he died and became a god too at a later date, but I stopped caring.  I muscled through the series.  This shows a lack of growth and authors can also grow characters too quickly.  We can be impatient and remove all flaws from a character by the end of the first book.  This is perfect for a solitary novel, but it hurts a series.

So, all I can say is to give a series author patience and for those authors to realize that some people are going to want full closure at the end of everything book.  Even the slightest plot opening for another book or a trace of flaw in a character can set this minority off.  You simply can’t please everyone and everyone has different perspectives on how a character grows.  Just suck it up and keep writing.