One reason why people love reading fiction is for the satisfaction of seeing a protagonist overcome adversity. This could come in the form of solving a mystery, winning a battle or war, or defeating a big-bad evil. But the most fascinating (and I think fulfilling) story is that of the protagonist who overcomes the adversity of themselves.
People (and especially fictional people) are frequently their own worst enemy. Whether it be insecurity holding them back, imposter syndrome, a misbelief about themselves or the world due to a wound suffered earlier in their life, or any one of a thousand other neurosis, people do not allow themselves to thrive, trust, and/or fall in love.
Reading a story where the protagonist is suffering from something that stops them from fulfilling their dreams and goals and triumphs over this conflict or grows beyond it in order to be successful is cathartic and satisfying. We all want to overcome our fears and wounds and reading a novel where the protagonist does just that is wonderful.
We don’t even need to suffer ourselves from whatever it is that stopping the protagonist from achieving their goals, just watching someone learn and grow through experience is enough. So, how do we write such novels?
First, you need to know exactly what it is that is holding the protagonist back. Is it their own insecurity? Is it imposter syndrome? Is it something that they have “learned” through a negative experience?
The last is the easiest to write and solve.
Many authors (me included) have been taught to find the wound suffered by our protagonist and the belief that wound created. For example, in the story I am currently writing, the hero’s father died when he was a small boy. After that, three more step-fathers were all killed or died as the hero grew up. Based on these experiences he absolutely “knows” it to be true that he should never allow himself to care too much about anyone because they are just going to die and leave him. This makes for a great conflict in a romance.
One way to combat this “knowledge” of the hero’s is for the heroine—through actions and experiences—to prove to the hero that she is not going to leave him.
We learn through our experiences so it is vital that the protagonist have experiences that will teach him that his belief is wrong. These experiences are, naturally, the plot of the book so that by the end of the story the protagonist has grown and changed and come to understand that what he previously believed was false. The story ends happily with a more secure and happy protagonist (and the all-important HEA—Happily Ever After).
So, when you begin to plot or contemplate writing your novel, stop and consider what your protagonist’s belief is and where it comes from. What is it that is holding your character back from being the best they can be? How are they going to grow and change and develop into a better person? And then, find ways that they can learn this lesson through experience and action and that will be your story.