The Connection Between Character Arcs & Plot Structure

Gaining an understanding of how to write character arcs

Creating character arcs was something I learned about after writing at least 30,000 words of my novel. I was desperate to gain some direction for my characters. I knew my plot points, and who my main characters were, but I didn't innately know how to get them to do what they were supposed to within the story.  

Let's call Character "A" Amy. She is supposed to fall in love with Character "B". Let's call him Brad. 

What kind of baggage and life experience is Amy bringing to the table?

What are her fears?

What does she think about herself? 

What are things Brad would do that would make Amy like him, or dislike him?

Is Amy going to have a positive change/growth throughout the story? Is Brad? 

Without defining what kind of arc or trajectory your character will have, you can't move forward in your writing. If you do, their actions might not line up with who you've created them to be, leaving your readers wondering what is going on because it won't feel cohesive.

The most popular character arc is the positive change arc. The protagonist will start out with some unfulfillment and denial of problems, and over the course of the story they will be forced to challenge the beliefs they hold about themselves & the world, until they finally conquer their inner demons, thus ending their arc in a positive way. 

The flat arc is another option. These characters are already complete and don't require any growth, but they can act as catalysts for change to the protagonist or antagonist. 

The negative change arc is the last option, with a lot of variations that can happen. Instead of a character outgrowing their faults, they end up in a worse state than they began. 

Most good stories have a mix of all three. 

Per Joss Whedon, "You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are."

As a reader and writer, I find I have enjoyed stories that have positive character arcs, probably because I prefer a happy ending and closure. But looking deeper into the stories I have liked led me to see that not all characters followed that arc, and for good reason. If everyone in the book is running around having all sorts of positive growth, there's not much conflict or drama. 

Characters need to behave like real people, and real people usually resist change. We like our familiar states of being. What drives the plot is the character's initial resistance or acknowledgment of the inner journey they need to go on, which is followed by their realization they aren't getting what they want out of life, either because they want the wrong thing or their method for achieving it is wrong.

In the next edition we'll dive deeper into all the questions authors need to answer while creating the character arc.