Novels are about characters. Their journeys are what keeps us turning the pages to find out what happens. But it’s more than that; we want to see how the events of the novel change the characters. This change is known as the character arc.
What Are Character Arcs, and Why Are They Important?
A character arc is simply the way a character changes over the course of a story. In many cases, it is this change that drives the story and informs what happens. These are linear, in that they have a beginning, a middle and an end, but they don’t necessarily occur in the same order as you tell your story (because your story timeline may jump around if you use flashbacks or other non-linear narrative techniques). Character arcs help readers identify with the characters; when we know what a character has to lose if they fail, we route for them. Alternatively, when they are going down the path of destruction, we learn from them and try not to repeat their mistakes.
There are numerous ways a character can change over the course of a novel, but they largely fall into one of three categories: positive, negative or flat/neutral.
Positive Character Arcs
The most popular and common character arc is the positive character arc. In these arcs, your main character will change for the better. They are sometimes called growth arcs (because a character grows over the story). This does not necessarily mean that they are completely different people, although they can be (think of Scrooge at the end compared to the beginning), but they have overcome an inner struggle that has plagued them. This can be a toned-down version of the Hero’s Journey, or you can go full Dickensian.
Examples: Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby
Negative Character Arcs
At the other end of the spectrum is the negative character arc, also called a fall arc. Your protagonist will become a worse person over the course of the novel; they experience a fall from grace. The character makes poor decisions or becomes greedy and selfish; whatever the reason, your character ruins their life and ultimately fails in whatever they set out to do. Many of these stories end in death.
Examples: Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray
Flat Character Arcs
Not all characters go through a massive change; some remain the same throughout the novel. This is known as a flat character arc. Many minor characters go through flat character arcs, but some main characters also do, although this is rarer. Flat character arcs are more common in adventure, mystery and spy novels, which tend to focus more on the plot. You should be careful when writing flat character arcs because the flatness of their arc doesn’t mean that the character, themselves, should be flat. They should still be well-developed and interesting. It’s just they don’t undergo massive change.
Examples: Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, James Bond in the James Bond series, Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes series
Which Characters Need an Arc?
Not every character needs to have an arc. Your protagonist absolutely does, your antagonist also does if you write from their POV, and the other important characters might need an arc, if it’s relevant to your story. Minor characters, however, do not need to have arcs. There’s no need to create an arc for a character that only appears in one or two scenes. These characters might help one of the more major characters with their arc, but they don’t need one of their own.
Summary
Good characters will undergo arcs that see them change for the better or for the worse. In some rare cases, the character will remain unchanged, even as the events rage around them. These changes are known as character arcs, and they are a vitally important aspect of novel writing. Character arcs help us feel closer to the characters and drive the story forward. Without these character arcs, your characters will feel uninteresting and underdeveloped, so you should take some time to figure out and write your character’s arc.
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