Tag Archives: character arcs

Character arcs are an important part of making any story satisfying. As we said yesterday, it’s as simple as making sure a character grows and changes throughout the course of the story. It’s important to remember that these changes, too, are most effective if they’re brought about by the external plot (more on that later).

Every character, and every character, has to start somewhere. We know that in the ordinary world, something is amiss—something is missing from the protagonist’s life. That doesn’t just mean a love interest or a murderer that needs to be brought to justice—there’s something deeper, on an emotional level, that the character needs.

That could be love or justice—or it could be forgiveness, healing, resolve, courage, wisdom, etc. (Alicia Rasley has a great list in her article “The Internal Journey.”) This is what they gain in the end— what the story events mean to the character.

This is another instance where knowing the end from the beginning really pays off—if you know what the character will end up with, you know set them up in the opposite place: if they need love, they start off lonely. If they need healing, they start off damaged; resolve, dissolute; courage, afraid; wisdom, naive.

This also works the other way around—if you have the flaw at the beginning, you can look for ways to “fix” it throughout the story events.

A major part of the “elixir” a hero returns with is this internal journey—the process of fixing what is wrong in his life. It’s what makes a book truly compelling, and something that we continue to contemplate beyond the basic events of the plot.

What do you think? How have you crafted your characters’ arcs? What are your favorite character arcs to read?

Photo by Richard Johnstone

This week, I’m looking to cover an oft-mentioned, seldom-explained part of storytelling: character arcs.

It’s easy to get caught up on the plotting and planning of a new story’s events that we don’t think as much about the characters. I’ve made a habit of getting started on a story’s events and in the middle, stopping to really think about how the characters are going to grow and change (I do get to know them well that way, though—fewer surprises from there on out).

I don’t think there’s a wrong way to implement a character arc, whether you plan them from the beginning, figure them out along the way, or add it all in edits. But there’s no denying that a character must grow and change along the way for the story to truly appeal to readers.

What do you think? How would you define a character arc? When do you think about your character arcs—or do you plan them at all?

Photo by Ruth and Dave