So, this is just a random thought. What if ... 1. Character A is a grumpy, egocentric guy, who is selfish because he was abandoned as a child, and had to do everything for himself, just to survive. He also dislikes women because he blames his mother for abandoning him; 2. Character B is a vivacious, extroverted, outgoing woman 'in her prime'; 3. These two are thrown together because of "A Quest" (of course, I've no idea what the quest or setting are. This is only the germ of an idea); 4. They can't stand each other to start with, but they reluctantly cooperate (For The Greater Good); 5. About three-quarters into the quest, character B has an accident and falls a considerable height. (She isn't dead, but character A thinks she may be). 6. Character A starts off by thinking "Good! That useless lump is gone! Now I can do things properly for once!"; 7. He turns away ... and then starts thinking "If I leave without checking on her, what kind of person am I?" ... and then he checks, finds that she's alive, constructs a rudimentary healing system to help her walk, and helps her back to the surface. So here's my question (too late!) ... When character A reaches step #7, what does that make him? Is it: a. Inconsistent writing? He's a selfish pig! b. A face-heel turn? There might be some good in him, after all! c. The start of a beautiful friendship? (Sorry) d. Other? (Please specify). What do you think?
A character who changes. I recently read an interesting article in the Marginalian that described psychoanalyst's Allen Wheelis' ideas about how people change from his book How People Change Basically, the sequence is this: Suffering > insight > will > action > change. So when Character A starts asking "What kind of person am I?" he is at step 2 - insight, which flows from self-reflection. Then, he must take action to effect the change. How he responds to his self-reflection, how he changes, is up to you, the writer.
Kind of depends. There's the run of the mill "selfish pig" type and the "I don't care if people are dead and don't want to do anything to help" type, which is much different. So is he a just a dick or more clinical/sociopathic? That would be where the inconsistency would potentially show up.
I was thinking actually that swapping this up could be more impactful. What if HE falls and hurts himself, and then, realizes he needs other people in his life. And the woman decides to help him because she isn't going to be as shitty as him. Or, just because he's another human being.
I don't think it's inconsistent writing. Character development is a hallmark of good writing, afterall! You've come up with a great scenario that really gets your main character to question his own worldview and to potentially change and this scenario of the woman taking a great fall is a realistic scenario that would get such a person to perform some self introspection. Of course, you don't have to do it the expected cookie-cutter route. Maybe you can have him leave her behind as she's hurt and later he starts to regret his actions and goes back to rescue her, only to find out that she's gone so he goes looking for her. Just an idea.
