Happiness is Wrapping Up Your WIP

In my current work in progress, I use a limited third-person point of view, split between three people: my main protagonist Ellanore; Brenda, the librarian and focus of the romantic sub-plot; and Ellanore's former student and current mentee Cole.

By the penultimate chapter, I'd completed the character arcs for both Cole and Brenda. They each end the book in a much different place than where they started.

Ellanore, though, she's still Ellanore.

Her evolution is much more subtle. So subtle, in fact, that she doesn't see it at all.

In the final chapter, she complains about it to a friend.

Her friend's reaction, of course, is to laugh at her.

Ellanore's problem is that she can't see her new life without an accompanying new title.

She used to be an insurance actuary. That was quantifiable and easy to define.

What is she now?

Writing this book taught me that not all character growth is visible to the character. Ellanore hasn't been transformed into someone new; instead, her position has shifted. She’s gone from being a newcomer to becoming a central figure in the life of the town.

The librarian gets a chance at a new opportunity that she's been striving for since before book one. Ellanore's mentee steps into a larger, more responsible role. Ellanore is at the centre of it. Without her, none of it would have happened. She is the hub from which other lives branch outward.

And that's enough for the people around her.

It's enough for the reader.

It's going to have to be enough for Ellanore.

At least until a future book changes everything.