When you strip 99% of everything away from your protagonist—their age, race, and gender because none of that matters yet—what you have left are their three most essential character traits. Their Wound, Shield, and Sword. Or their scar, their dominant character flaw, and its opposite virtue.
The Wound is a traumatic event, or more typically a past traumatic event, that has emotionally, psychologically, and sometimes also physically scarred the protagonist.
From this Wound you get their Shield, or their dominant character flaw. The Shield is what they carry around and hide behind because they believe, at least on a subconscious level, that it protects them from ever being wounded in that way or any similar kind of way ever again. Think of it as their defense mechanism to every situation you put them in.
And from this Shield we get their Sword, or its opposite virtue. The Sword is the panacea that provides the possibility to alleviate the protagonist from the burden of their dominant character flaw and eventually achieve their full potential through character growth. It doesn’t guarantee it (as with the tragic protagonist), but it does provide that possibility.
The Wound is the reason for the Shield, and the Sword is the panacea virtue of the Shield’s flaw.
Common recurring Wound (scar) = Shield (flaw) vs. Sword (virtue) arguments exist throughout all the staple genres, such as (but not limited to):
Horror: Phobia = Fear vs. Courage
Superhero: Loss = Doubt vs. Faith
Romance: Betrayal = Fear vs. Love
And sometimes the flaw vs. virtue argument is character-role specific, as with the typical selfish vs. selfless Anti-Hero.
Basically the Wound provides an emotional detriment, the Shield an insecurity because of it, and the Sword a panacea to the Shield.
Same as with the story’s dramatic question, Act 1 exists to present your flaw vs. virtue argument, Act 2 exists to debate your flaw vs. virtue argument, and Act 3 exists to reward or punish the Rubicon verdict of your flaw vs. virtue argument.
This is your scarred protagonist’s character growth arc in a nutshell which produces necessary change (whether positive or negative), and once it is complete their story is finished . . . at least for the first novel, though if you plan a sequel then the protagonist’s Wound in the second novel is something traumatic or tragic they experienced and carried over from the previous novel.
Here is the basic 7-point plot outline formula:
Act 1
1. Inciting Incident: The protagonist’s first (not full) awareness of the story’s central conflict.
2. Key Event: The event that locks in the protagonist to the story’s central conflict while becoming half committed.
Act 2A
3. Pinch Point: The protagonist discovers new clues about the story’s central conflict as the stakes are raised.
4. Midpoint: The protagonist realizes the true nature about the story’s central conflict, shifting them from reaction to proaction, while becoming fully committed.
Act 2B
5. Punch Point: The protagonist is forced to question how much they are truly willing to pay to resolve the story’s central conflict.
6. Anchor Point: The stakes are raised and the protagonist’s debt is paid while becoming absolutely committed.
Act 3
7. Climax: The protagonist confronts the external antagonist and either succeeds (triumphant) or fails (tragic) by finally answering the story’s dramatic question with either a resounding Yes (triumphant) or a resounding No (tragic).
?. Rubicon: The protagonist confronts the internal antagonist that is their dominant character flaw and either overcomes it (triumphant) or surrenders to it (tragic), becoming the physical manifestation of either the virtue (triumphant) or the flaw (tragic).
*Although the Rubicon typically takes place at the end of or immediately after the Act 2B Anchor Point, it can just as well happen anywhere in your story during or after the Midpoint, all depending upon your particular story and how you wish to tell it, thus proving that plot is not so paint-by-numbers as many pantsers ignorantly believe. This makes the Rubicon a ‘floater’ plot point which is why I’ve designated it no specific number (?), because its true number depends upon which of the other major plots points (4 thru 7) you decide to attach it to.
(to be continued . . .)
