by truli_salope » Sat Mar 04, 2017 5:49 pm
I think personality change is harder to show in a short story than some other things. But, if you make something explicit at the beginning, and then make the reverse implied or explicit at the end, you've pretty much established that something has changed, no matter if it's physical, emotional, psychological, or personality. If you start by saying "X detested people who drummed their fingers on the table," and then, by the end of the story she is driven to undulate on a stripper pole to the sound of the DJ drumming his fingers, you've shown a personality change.
It's rather like the old rule about murder mysteries; if there is a revolver placed in the desk drawer in act one, the revolver must be used to kill or attempt to kill someone in act three. If you set up a personality quirk in the opening paragraphs, you better be able to revise or reprise that quirk by the time you get to the conclusion.
Of course, some personality traits will be easier than others. If someone is a judgmental prude, you can show that the prudishness is gone by having them take part in a gangbang. That may imply the judgmental part is gone, too. But, by itself, that would be a lot harder to show.