In Creating Character Arcs, by K.M. Weiland, authors are guided to enhance their storytelling by focusing on character development. Using the Three-Act Story Structure and understanding human psychology, Weiland provides a flexible checklist for creating compelling character arcs. The book emphasizes blending plot with character development and avoiding common pitfalls, ultimately aiding authors in crafting more engaging and memorable stories.
Here are some key building blocks of writing a masterful character arc that the book elaborates upon:
The Positive Change Arc
“This is the most popular and often the most resonant character arc. The protagonist will start out with varying levels of personal unfulfillment and denial. Over the course of the story, he will be forced to challenge his beliefs about himself and the world, until finally he conquers his inner demons (and, as a result, probably his outer antagonists as well) and ends his arc having changed in a positive way.“
The Flat Arc
“Many popular stories feature characters who are already essentially complete unto themselves. They’re already heroes and don’t require any noticeable personal growth to gain the inner strength to defeat the external antagonists. These characters experience little to no change over the course of the story, making their arcs static or ‘flat.’ These characters are the catalysts for change in the story world around them, sparking prominent growth arcs in the minor characters.“
The Negative Change Arc
“Negative Change Arcs offer, arguably, more variations than either of the other arcs. However, at their most basic level, the Negative Change Arc is just a Positive Change Arc flipped on its head. Instead of a character who grows out of his faults into a better person, the Negative Change Arc presents a character who ends in a worse state than that in which he began the story.“
The Change Arc
“The Change Arc is all about the Lie Your Character Believes. His life may be horrible, or his life may seem pretty great. But festering under the surface, is the Lie… Your character is incomplete on the inside. He is harboring some deeply held misconception about either himself, the world, or probably both.“
The Lie Your Character Believes
“The Lie is a specific belief, which you should be able to state in one short sentence… How do you find the Lie? First, examine your plot to see if the Lie might already be evident in the conflict… Second, look at the character’s actions—and especially his reactions. See if you can spot any of the following:
– Fear
– Extreme hurt
– Inability to forgive
– Guilt
– Horrible secrets
– Shame over something done or suffered
None of these are the Lie, but they’re often products of the Lie.“
The Thing Your Character Wants
“The Thing Your Character Wants will almost always be something external, something physical. He’s trying to salve his inner emptiness with exterior solutions. His problem is depression, but he’s busily putting a cast on his arm. He thinks if he can just have that new job, that new trophy wife, that new set of golf clubs, everything will be perfect. He’ll be rich, powerful, loved, respected—and fulfilled.“
The Thing Your Character Needs
“In a word, the Thing Your Character Needs is the Truth. He needs the personalized antidote to his Lie. This is the most important thing in his life. If he misses out on this Truth, he is never going to be able to grow in a positive way. He’s either going to remain stuck in his current internal predicament forever, or he’s going to digress into an even worse state… The Thing Your Character Needs usually won’t be something physical—although it can (and usually should) take on a physical or visual manifestation by the end of the story. The Thing Your Character Needs is usually going to be nothing more than a realization. In some stories, this realization may change nothing about his external life, but it will always transform his perspective of himself and the world around him, leaving him more capable of coping with his remaining external problems… Sometimes the story will have to end on that bittersweet note of interior gain and exterior loss. But, other times, once the character has embraced the Thing He Needs, he will then be all the more empowered in his pursuit of What He Wants—allowing him to harmonize both his inner and outer goals in the finale.“
Your Character’s Ghost
“Once you’ve figured out the Lie Your Character Believes, as well as the Thing He Wants and the Thing He Needs, the next question is: Why does the character believe the Lie in the first place? To find the answer, start looking for something ghostly in your character’s past!… What happened to cause him to embrace this obviously damaging Lie? … Often, the wound will be something shocking and traumatic (such as the massacre of the French and Indians at Ft. Charles that haunts Benjamin Martin in Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot or Jason Bourne’s forgotten past as an assassin in Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity). But it can also be something smaller and more ordinary, such as a breakup (Jane Austen’s Persuasion), a stressful parental relationship (Barry Levinson’s Rain Man), or physical inferiority (Mike Wazowski in Dan Scanlon’s Monsters University). The bigger and more destructive the Lie, the more shocking and impactful the Ghost should be. Or to flip that on its head: the bigger the Ghost, the bigger the Lie, the bigger the arc. The Ghost will often be a part of your character’s backstory, and readers will discover it only bit by bit. In these cases, the Ghost can often provide a tantalizing mystery. The why behind your character’s belief in the Lie will hook readers’ curiosity, and you can string them along for most of the book with only little clues, until finally the Ghost is presented in a grand reveal toward the end.“
Your Protagonist’s Characteristic Moment
“The Characteristic Moment must accomplish several tasks. It must:
- Introduce your protagonist.
- (Probably) reveal your protagonist’s name.
- Indicate your protagonist’s gender, age, nationality, and possibly his occupation.
- Indicate important physical characteristics.
- Indicate his role in the story (i.e., that he is the protagonist).
- Demonstrate the prevailing aspect of his personality.
- Hook readers’ sympathy and/or their interest.
- Show the protagonist’s scene goal.
- Indicate the protagonist’s story goal.
- Demonstrate, or at least hint at, the protagonist’s Lie.
- Influence the plot, preferably directly, but at the very least in a way that foreshadows later events…
The Characteristic Moment is a work of art. Don’t settle for opening with your character doing any ol’ thing. Select an event that will:
- Make the protagonist appealing to readers.
- Introduce both his strengths and his weaknesses.
- Build the plot.“
The Normal World
“At its most basic level, the Normal World is—as its name suggests—a setting. This is the place in which your story opens. It is a place in which your character has found contentment—or at least complacency… Think of the Normal World as a symbolic representation of your character’s inner world. The Normal World dramatizes the Lie the Character Believes. It empowers the character in that Lie, giving him no reason to look beyond it. Only when the Normal World is challenged or abandoned at the First Plot Point is the protagonist’s belief in that Lie shaken.“
The Climax
“In character arcs, as in plot, the Climax is the dot on the end of the exclamation point. The Climax is the reason for the story. This is where the author reveals what the journey the character just endured was really all about—and, in a Positive Change Arc, why that journey has turned out to be worth all the heartaches and trauma… The Climax begins near the 90% mark in your story and ends right before the final scene or two. The Climax will sometimes be divided into two climaxes (the first of which is known as a “faux climax”), depending on how complex the conflict is and how many antagonists the protagonist must confront.“
Three Types of Negative Change Arcs
“There are three possible routes your story’s Negative Change Arc may take:
- The Disillusionment Arc… CHARACTER BELIEVES LIE > OVERCOMES LIE > NEW TRUTH IS TRAGIC…
- The Fall Arc… CHARACTER BELIEVES LIE > CLINGS TO LIE > REJECTS NEW TRUTH > BELIEVES STRONGER/WORSE LIE…
- The Corruption Arc… CHARACTER SEES TRUTH > REJECTS TRUTH > EMBRACES LIE“
If any of this intrigues you, the book is worth the reading. Creating Character Arcs delivers specific recipes for formulating your character arcs, answers common questions authors have about employing character arcs in their stories, and provides many specific examples from popular movies.
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