Easy Character Arcs 3 Powerful Character Arcs You Can Easily Steal and Implement to Increase Sales and

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Why Character Arcs Matter

I’ve always found it easy to come up with believable characters. You have good traits, bad traits, flaws, history and personality. Those things are reflected by everything: from their job, to their clothing style. But one thing that can be difficult and frequently is difficult, is mapping out how characters change over the course of a story. The way characters change – their personality changes, skills gained (or lost), physical changes – all of it reflects the adventure the character is going on. And the thing is, if the characters don’t change, then the story becomes boring. And a boring story won’t sell – or at least won’t sell for very long, as reviews rip into it claiming it’s boring. We don’t want that. Luckily, a thing called a “character arc” exists to help guide our character’s change. These arcs – or plots – will help guide you on the journey to crafting better told stories and enable you to create unique, interesting characters who mold and adapt throughout the story. In this guide, I’m going to show you three different arcs and how to use them in your stories. I’ll highlight the important bits and demonstrate how each plot point can potentially change your character and how to reflect that in your writing. It’s exciting work so let’s get started.

The Three Character Arcs

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty details of character arcs, I wanted to first cover the basic three arcs so you can decide which arc is appropriate for your story. The three are:

• Hero’s Arc: This is the hero’s journey

• Internal Arc: The character overcomes internal opposition (fears, weakness, his or her past)

• Tragic Arc: The character fails in some way, becoming insane, dying a death or fails on his path.

Note that character arcs do not necessarily have to be the sole domain of the protagonist. These arcs can – and should – be used with other characters (main characters) in your book. Now I know what you might be saying “well, yes, but wouldn’t that make a HUGE book?” Only if you do it with every character you introduce. I would only focus these arcs on the protagonist, antagonist and a possible supporting character, at least at first. As your skill grows at juggling story points, you can grow other characters with these arcs.

So Which Arc is Right For Your Character?

Some characters are going to have an obvious arc. Your antagonist might utilize the tragic arc, the hero arc for the “hero” and an internal arc for the supporting character of the hero. Ultimately, it depends on you and what you want for your story. I want to mention something that is important. The character arc does not have to take place “live” on the page. It could have happened in the past and in fact, likely has. Every character has an arc, whether revealed on page or not. For example: your antagonist might have gone the tragic arc already and is on the final part of the path of destruction. The interesting part you could include in your novel is his or her history – flashbacks of what made this character an antagonist. Of course, my mind instantly navigates to an epic villain in a fantasy novel, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be as simple as a jealous ex-lover going nuts and resulting in their own death or arrest. One arc I enjoy is having the Hero’s Arc for supporting characters. For example – Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings certainly falls in this category. He’s a supporting character for Frodo and he goes on his own hero’s journey in a different way than Frodo does. While Frodo is concerned with destroying the ring, Sam is concerned about supporting and saving his friend. This slightly difference in perspective makes the arc more interesting and unique, enabling you as the storyteller to play with themes inside these arcs. Finally, these arcs can and should play with each other. Nothing happens inside a vacuum and the characters interact with each other, driving change inside of them. So what the hero does will

obviously affect the villain. What the supporting character does will change the protagonist and so forth. This can and will create interesting dynamics inside your story. Be sure to think of these things when writing out the arc for your character.

Picking an Arc – Various Scenarios

You need to ask yourself a few questions in order to choose an arc:

1. Where do you want your character to “be” at, emotionally, mentally, physically, when the story is over.

2. How do you want your character to start. If your character is just your average Joe who becomes a superhero, the obviously the Hero Arc is where you are going. If your character is the leader of a band of rebels then you could either choose the Internal Arc or Fall Arc, depending on how you want the story to go. You need to decide this early on, however, as it will affect the later decisions you and your character makes to move the story forward. Let’s get into the nitty gritty details of each one of these arcs and how you will utilize them!

The Hero’s Arc

You might have heard of the Hero’s Journey and in fact, I’ve taught this plotting arc before. However, I’ve never talked about the character version of the arc – one that focuses less on what the character DOES and more on what they BECOME. (And how they become that) Here is the arc:

1. Hero’s everyday life. Comfortable, safe and yet yearning for something more.

2. Call to adventure. The hero refuses, showing stubbornness, fear and self-doubt.

3. Character is somehow dragged through the process and is forced to face his first fear.

4. Character overcomes first fear, learns something about himself. (The value of patience, wit, strength, friendship, risk, etc.)

5. The character goes through trials, gaining new skills.

6. The character faces his darkest moment yet, his demon’s come out.

7. Facing his demons, he triumphs and gains the most important trait of all: self-worth

8. He faces his final fear and is willing to sacrifice himself for everything. He loses something in the process and gains

further insight.

9. He returns back to his original world a changed person – one knows his worth, value, has new skills and is patient.

After the journey, the hero frequently loses something too. Loses love, part of his soul, gains an injury, a mental defect, etc. This is all part of being a hero. “Sacrifice” is the ultimate name of the game. While on the journey, the hero changes for the better, by the end, he still comes out flawed, though in a dramatically different way than before. These personality changes are easy enough to show through the hero’s actions. Braver, takes more risk, has more skill, more confidence, etc. But it can also be shown through inner or outer dialog. His monologue, conversations, thoughts and feelings. The pacing of this change reflects the complexity of the novel, including the target audience. Obviously a children’s book will be far less dramatic in both its execution and the hero’s change. But an epic fantasy, such as Lord of the Rings, everything will be subtle and drawn out, with large “pivot points” in which spark huge changes in the character. This is no different than real life, if you think about it. Most of our personality and skill changes happen slowly. They build up to a point which a major event pushes us over the edge and produces a noticeable shift in our personality.

An example from my real life: I had an employee who made specific threats against my business and family. While I had been struggling some for years with anxiety and depression, that had pushed me into the realm of the paranoid, which has taken months to recover from. These drastic events help define who we are and inside your plot you will need to define these events and the change they have on the character.

Plot Used for these Examples (For all examples)

1. Hero is a wood cutter, does his stuff choppin’ wood.

2. Dragon attacks his village – “Call to Adventure”

3. He manages to kill it, after it’s death he absorbs the dragon’s

power somehow.

4. Villagers are both relieved, call him hero, then kick him out

because they fear the wrath of the Dragon Overlord

5. He denies he has any power.

6. Along the way he meets an old warrior who heard rumors of

this dragon slayer. Decides to train hero.

7. Gathers allies

8. Fights battles

9. Prepares to enter the “Cave”.

10. Enters the “cave” where he discovers something about

himself, probably true courage.

11. Fights his way out.

12. Final battle with Dragon Overlord

13. Returns with the riches.

Hero Arc (Protagonist):

1. Feels comfortable in his life as a wood cutter. Never had any

adventures or did anything remarkable.

2. He refuses to fight, instead tries to run. It’s the girl he loves.

3. By the girl he loves, he saves her and the dragon pursues

him. He does battle with the dragon.

4. He learns he is clever through defeating this dragon.

5. He learns skills – with the training of the old warrior

6. At his darkest, he faces his demons of fear, doubt and

repression.

7. He learns self-worth.

8. Faces final fear, defeats the dragon overlord.

9. He has new skills as he returns, confident, skilled, has

values.

The Internal Arc

This type of character arc doesn’t rely on a lot of action like the Hero’s arc. Instead, it ties closer in to a more character driven story style, like a historical drama, romance, comedies and the like.

1. The character is pursuing some goal they think they want. They assume this goal is the most important thing to them.

2. A change happens, however, that makes them question their choices. (This change is much subtler than in the Hero’s Arc)

3. The character then does something that forces them on a completely different path. Usually a mistake or perceived mistake.

4. The new goal brings a load of issues and they try to flee the problem or go back to their old life.

5. Suddenly, the character gets new information that changes their perspective. This potentially changes their tactics and strategy.

6. They try to do things right for the first time, but screw it up. Whatever is opposing them rears its head. (Could be an external or more likely, internal, opposition)

7. Another bit of information is revealed (or the character reaches rock bottom) and finally makes the right decision and moves forward.

8. With all the bits and pieces together, the character faces his problem head on.

9. The character enjoys the reward! This one might be a bit tricky to nail down, considering it’s so internally driven. The example below might help you figure out how to plot your novel:

Example (Old Warrior From Story Above):

1. Dragons killed his family. He’s on a quest for revenge. He

believes this dragon slayer (the young wood chopper) can

help him achieve this goal.

2. He finds said wood chopper and finds him to NOT be the

warrior he thought he was.

3. Taking on a new path, the old warrior must learn patience

and find new love in training this wood chopper if his goal is

to be completed. Mistake made in perception.

4. He gets frustrated trying to train, believes the young man is

worthless as a warrior, but knows that he needs to train him

if there is any hope. Perhaps he tries to flee.

5. Gets new information – he witnesses the destruction of

another dragon by the hand of this young man. Discovers

that young man has a natural talent for battles tactics.

6. Attempts to assault a dragon cult temple to learn more about

this mythical hero who seemingly can absorb dragon power.

It almost fails. Causes him to doubt. (Maybe they are

captured)

7. Another new bit – this wood chopper has been predicted to

appear. Gives full confidence in the old warrior!

8. Warrior understands what HE must do – sacrifice himself in

some way, in order for the hero to do what THEY must do.

9. The reward then is brought – the destruction of the dragon

overlord.

The Tragic Arc

The tragic arc is old, at least as old as Greek tragedy and likely

older than that. Humans have a fascination with a riches to rags story, probably just as much as a rag to riches story.

I believe this must do with the fact that we all fail at things,

sometimes failing spectacularly. It can be nice to see someone else “fail harder”, to the point of complete tragedy. It reminds us that,

maybe we don’t have it that bad.

TV shows such as Breaking Bad are a great example of a Tragic arc.

1. The main character is happy, safe and fulfilled.

2. Something interferes with their happiness, a past event, a

tragic event (sickness or death), a new person enters their

life.

3. Old internal issues surface after the trigger point happens. It shows the character is not as happy or their life as successful

as it appears.

4. The character finds evidence that something is wrong with

themselves, someone close to them, or everyone else.

5. The character confronts the issue and realizes their suspicion

is correct.

6. The character does something horrific to protect themselves

or others they love. This is the point of no return.

7. The final piece of evidence confirms everything – something is wrong with them or everyone else. But it’s too late, their

actions have spoken, they are on this path.

8. The final action is taken which seals everything. They take

their place in an act of evil or destruction of their life.

9. The character is now a villain.

I love the fallen character arc – it is great to use in any story,

especially to explain a villain or antagonist in a story. Of course, it

shines as a story of its own, where the protagonist falls.

Example (Dragon Overlord)

1. Happy, safe and fulfilled as a youngling. (Human form)

2. A new dragon enters the youngling’s life – hails from a

different land, seeking power.

3. The youngling witnesses the raping of his mother and death

of his father.

4. Harms his psyche

5. He isn’t fully formed, which means he cannot protect his

parents.

6. He lives a tough life, finding things wrong with the world. He

believes that the world needs a strong guiding hand to

prevent evil.

7. So as he grows, he uses his power to try and make good!

8. He falls in love with a person – who then betrays them

(cheating). He goes, angry. He begins to regret the world.

9. Nothing but a need to subjugate. His first act is to murder

the girl and cheater. No return. He’s committed evil himself

and is locked on the path.

10. He formulates a plan to dominate the human world.

11. He gathers and teaches dark arts to various underlings,

builds a following and dominates the world as a Dragon

Overlord.

Fractal Method of Character Arc Design

You may or may not be familiar with my Fractal Method of

writing. If not, it goes something like this:

Story Seed ->

Story Premise -> Plot Outline ->

Plot Point Details ->

Scene Outline -> Scene Writing ->

Editing -> Publishing

Each “step” becomes more and more detailed. The story “seed” starts as a line or two. It describes the basic seed of the story.

The story premise elaborates on the seed and adds more details.

Then you outline a basic plot. From the basic plot, you then fill in details (paragraph) of each plot point.

Next you outline scenes in a very “step by step” action play of what happens. From there, you write the scene in detail.

You then edit the manuscript and then publish.

This is the Fractal Writing Method in a nutshell. But there is more

we can do with that. We can add in a few more steps to further improve our story.

Story Seed ->

Story Premise -> Plot Outline ->

- Main Character Arc - Supporting Character Arc

- Antagonist Character Arc

Plot Point Details -> - Main Character Arc Details

- Supporting Character Arc Details - Antagonist Character Arc Details

Scene Outline ->

Scene Writing -> Editing -> Publishing

The pattern remains the same – after you outline the plot, you

then outline the three or four primary characters, plotting out their story, following the main plot you’ve already outlined.

From there, you add in the details.

With the main plot detailed in, and the main characters arcs detailed in, you have a complete story ready to just fill in the rest. The action that needs to happen.

Here is a short example of what I mean:

- Bob wants to be a weather man.

- Bob fears being in front of a camera. The fear comes out the first week in college when he joins the school AV tech club.

- Bob meets Betty, a student studying to be a scientist.

- Bob gets back in front of camera and botches up forecast in

front of live audience and embarrasses himself in front of Betty

This would follow the plot outline to some degree, but the focus being more on the internal feelings/problems and what is happening with the individual instead of the plot at large.

The next step, after filling in the plot details, is to fill in the character arc details.

Here is what that might look like:

- Bob wants to be a weather man.

o He’s always wanted to be a weather man. As a child, Bob would love the spring and summer storms, and

always watch the weathermen on TV talk about the storms moving through the area.

o He felt the excitement, fear and awe at the weather and

the people who reported on it. o His favorite channel was the Weather Channel

As you can see, details flesh out the character and give Bob some history and depth.

Over-The-Shoulder Examples!

I hope providing the templates and examples will help you

improve your stories, as adding character arcs to your story

building process will make increase the value of your story. That will help build better reviews and increase sales.

But I always understand that, perhaps, you might need a bit more. Don’t worry! Help is here.

If you’d like to watch me go through the process of:

1. Building a basic plot

2. Adding a basic character arc 3. And Adding details…

…for all three-character style arcs, then look no further.

Click here to grab this video set.

It’s a set of three 10-minute videos that show me creating the

examples used in this report. I show you my process for crafting amazing characters and their arcs, giving you more information and insight into the process.

At the time of this writing, the videos are priced very affordably.

So click here and grab them!

I hope this guide will help further increase your story value.

See you inside the Over-The-Shoulder Examples!