Random Thoughts

Can a person change?

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On My Way by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4163-on-my-way
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I believe a person can change. Change is the basis of every story that has ever been written. I could not be a writer if I didn’t believe in the “character arc. “

But a person doesn’t want to change unless they have to. And they won’t feel they have to unless the pain of change is tremendously outweighed by the pain of keeping the status quo. In other words, it must become too painful to stay the same before a person will want to change. And the easiest thing will almost always be attempted first. There is an axiom in writing I like very much. A character will always choose the path of least resistance to solve a problem because that’s what real people do. So, what must happen is all the paths of least resistance must be blocked to compel the character to start the journey of the big change.

So, yeah a person can change, but if you see someone “changing their ways” you can almost guarantee that they are doing so because not changing has become more painful and easier answers are not available.

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Profile Picture for Philip A. McClimon

Philip A. McClimon is an author who likes to write about the end of the world (post apocalyptic, Sci/Fi), mostly because he thinks the shopping would be awesome (No crowds, everything free). He likes heroes that are the strong, silent type and not necessarily male. By silent he means up until the time there is something snarky to say, usually before, during, and after doing something cool. He writes Urban Fantasy under the name Billy Baltimore for no other reason than that he likes the name. Many of the same rules for his other stories apply to Billy’s, strong silent types, smart mouth, does cool stuff, but these stories take place in a made up town called Hemisphere and involve stuff you only ever hear about on late night conspiracy talk show podcasts, which are, if you think about it, pretty awesome too. So, that’s Phil. He’s not strong, rarely silent, and isn’t known for doing a lot of cool things. But his characters are.