Asserts character growth is essential to telling a story.<p>Sure for some characters and some stories. Consider: did SuperMan progress emotionally during the first 50 or 100 comic books? No? Did that retard the storytelling (reduce the sales)? No?<p>I find that 'emotional growth' happens in TV series these days at about the same time 'shark-jumping' happens. See, the essential plot devices of the series grow stale so they 'make it personal'. The main detective has a family crisis, or a crisis of faith, or goes bad, or turns a new leaf.<p>In some series this can be entertaining/engrossing. In others, it's damned annoying. Instead of being about superheroes or whatever, it becomes a silly sitcom/drama/soap opera. What happened to the heroes doing super things? Instead we get whole story arcs in a motel arguing about who's turn it is to wash the dishes.<p>Stories can be all sorts of things. The characters are sometimes like props, there to let us experience a novel situation or landscape or society. In that case, leave them alone, and write about the damn plot please.