Writing Tip: Character Arc Overview
You can probably relate, but I’m not the same person I was ten years ago. Hell, I’m not even the person I was one year ago. One week ago!
Even when it doesn’t feel like it’s the case, stasis is an illusion. This is true in real life, and it’s true in the stories we write. One of the primary ways we connect with this universal theme of change as writers is by paying attention to how we craft our character arcs. Whether they have a positive change journey, a failed one, or something else entirely, our characters—like us—should always be in a state of movement. Unless we’ve intentionally written a flat arc (more on this later), reading a character who is stagnant will often leave us trapped in a story that feels unsatisfying. We don’t want that!
This post will be focusing on character arcs as an overview, and in future posts I’ll do a deep dive into some of the more common ones we see in popular media and literature.
What is a character arc?
In the simplest of terms, it’s the internal transformation a character undergoes throughout the story, usually in response to external plot pressure.
Readers want to witness change, especially the kind that reflects something true about themselves or humanity as a whole. This is where we cultivate that strong emotional investment and payoff.
The Psychology of Change
“Change alone is unchanging.”
If you do a quick search of quotes related to change, you’ll find hundreds of them that all express a similar concept to what Heraclitus put so simply. And that’s because it’s literally how we’re wired, and how this world works. It’s universal. But paradoxically, we’re also wired to resist it. This is why most character arcs start with denial or lack of awareness of something crucial. But whether we want to acknowledge it or not, change is inevitable for all of us, and that’s true for our characters as well.
The inciting incident is that psychological push—the catalyst which moves them toward something new or different, forcing them to challenge, confront, accept, or reject some new information or belief. Regardless of their choice, it sends them on a journey of change. As writers, it’s our responsibility to guide this process. It can be really powerful to see the cognitive dissonance explored through fiction. When that internal character growth mimics real life processing or healing, this fictional journey can bring real world change as well.
Common Character Arcs
We’ve got the advantage of endless resources when it comes to crafting our stories, but I’ll do a quick overview of the 3 common character arc structures we’ll see in popular culture and literary work. Over the coming weeks, I’ll do a deeper dive into each one. Keep in mind that these are tools, not rules, because character growth isn’t always linear or perfectly executed.
Positive Change Arc
This is the most common type we see in popular fiction, where the character becomes more aware, learns to love, steps into courage, or finds healing as a result of what’s happening to them in the plot. They overcome their flaws, challenges, and misbeliefs. This is often messy and painful, and can be transformational or redemptive, but ultimately they change for the better.
Character examples:
January Scaller from The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place
Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender
Negative Arc
In negative arcs, the character experiences a change for the worse. They double down on their misbeliefs, embrace their harmful flaws, ignore or reject love/redemption, and give into darker impulses. These characters serve as a cautionary tale.
Character examples:
Rielle Dardenne from Furyborn
Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars
* I want to add a caveat. There’s one arc in particular which is classified as negative (the disillusionment arc), where the character must come to terms with a “negative” truth about themselves or their world, but ultimately this realization and acceptance needs to happen in order for them to grow. Many (myself included) would see this as a positive thing, rather than a negative one but it is considered a negative arc because they often must exchange their comfortable lie for a horrible truth, which is inherently destabilizing. We don’t get a full resolution with this one, and the character is usually still grappling with the reality of this truth by the end, even if they’ve accepted it.
Character examples:
Syenite from The Fifth Season
Haymitch from Sunrise on the Reaping
Flat Arc
Although less common, the flat arc is when the character doesn’t necessarily change. They should experience a questioning of their beliefs at some point, but ultimately they realize they’re who they needed to be all along, and perhaps it’s the world that needs to change. This is an external arc where the change happens to the world around them as a result of their steady convictions/beliefs/actions.
Character examples:
Zelie from Children of Blood and Bone
Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender
Stories mirror our real world culture, politics, and values, which is why we resonate so strongly with characters who are moving through seasons of change which call some of their beliefs and identity into question. As someone who went to school for psychology, I’m really fascinated by which types of character arcs we gravitate toward. What does it say if I tend to be drawn to disillusionment and other negative arcs? What does it say if I prefer redemptive positive arcs? In my experience, the arcs we feel pulled toward tell us a lot about ourselves as the reader. More than we’d think.
“A character is what he does, yes—but also what he survives.”
As a final thought, I want to emphasize that the best character arcs are honest, not perfect. As readers, we want to feel connected emotionally to our characters and their lives. We want to go with them on that journey. And in the end, we want to feel like we’ve gotten somewhere, for better or worse.
Keep an eye out for future posts where we’ll look at different character arcs and dive deeper into each one.
Happy writing!
