#the despair of suddenly losing a big part of your daily life. the power of figuring out what's wrong and correcting it. exhilarating. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

echodrops · 6 years

Note

Hi, I‘m the one who asked for writing advice. Could you please outline the different types of character arcs that exist, and whether they can be mixed together? My central storyline is a romance, and I wanted to develop their growing feelings with hints of future plot development before it becomes more plot-driven. At first, I thought maybe my character writing was bad, because I could tell character B had was changing and had an arc while A doesn't. now i think i might have been writing pt1

This is a big question,so I hope my response does the ask some justice. I’ll do my best to cover asmuch as I can, but if you have more questions, just let me know.

First, I want to makesure we’re on the same page when we talk about “character arcs,” because Ithink that term gets used a lot of different ways in different areas and Idon’t want to confuse anyone.

When I talk about character arcs what I mean, and I thinkwhat you mean too, is the path acharacter takes through the narrative—from Point A all the way to Point Zin their personal story, whichdoesn’t necessarily have to line up with your main plot. Generally characterarcs correspond with major changes in acharacter (also known as character growth), but that isn’t always the case.

Probably the easiest wayto approach character arcs is to think about them visually. We call them “arcs”because that’s how they tend to graph out:

(If you write a lot, youprobably recognize this same arc as the “narrative arc” most stories gothrough—that’s because the path stories take and the paths characters takeare often identical.)

But that’s only the mostbasic diagram for a character arc, and they certainly get more complicated.

Ibelieve that most writing guides will group character arcs into certain broadcategories:

- Transformationalarcs – The character grows/changes for the better… or the worse

- Staticarcs – Also known as flat arcs. The character doesn’t change.

- Backgroundarcs – The character may change a little but their personal change comes ina distant second to the role they play in helping other characters grow. Theseare typically the arcs of lesser-developed side characters whose primary rolein the plot is to move the main characters along.

These are all fairly easyto understand and, for the most part, to write.

In a transformational arc where the character undergoes positive growth, the character will:

1) Start in a neutral or bad place. If they’realready happy as hell, then they won’t have any motivation to change, right?

2) Experience a “spark”—something (or someone)comes into the character’s life and either directly or indirectly causes thatperson’s life to change. In a hero’s journey plotline, this is thecall-to-action. In other cases, it might be something as simple as “a travelercame to town.” This is the precipitating event that encourages the character todo something outside of their normal routine, to suddenly shake things up abit.

3) Go through small changes snowballing into bigger and biggerchanges. More and more, the average life of the person from before is forgottenas they experience all manner of new things, including potentially dangerousthings.

4) The character faces at least one majorchallenge. This can be external, in the form of an antagonist or simply someonewho opposes the character’s viewpoint. It can be internal, in the form of apersonal conflict—for example, a character finds out that something he or shebelieved was true wasn’t, prompting a crisis of conscience.

5) The major challenge forces a personal re-evaluation.The character has to reflect on themselves, identify how they have changed or needto change to overcome the challenge, reaffirm their desire and motivation, andset out on the new path to overcome the challenge. If they were doing somethingwrong before, now they have to rethink and come to terms with their mistake. Ifthey were insecure before, this is the point where they overcome theirinsecurities.

6) Face the challenge head-on, and almostinevitably succeed. It might take a couple tries, but in the end, the heroalmost always wins or at least comes out of the encounter better than he or shewent into it.

7) Finally,the character ends by capitalizing on the change/growth he or she went through tolive a happier, better life than the character had at the beginning.

This is the typical maincharacter/hero arc. Sophie from Howl’sMoving Castle is an excellent example of this type of arc, for example.

In a transformational arc where the character undergoes negative growth, the character will:

1) Often (but not always) start in a good place ora place of privilege in which he or she exerts power over others.

2) Experience a “spark”—someone comes along thatupsets the happy status quo, shakes up the power structure, or causes thecharacter to have to deviate from his or her normal routine.

3)Often experience several small challenges, eachof which present the character with the opportunity to grow in a positivemanner. Some of these opportunities may be taken, but most will be rejected asthe character clings to his/her old, trusted ways.

4) The character faces at least one major challenge,framed in the same way as the positive challenge: the character COULD grow andlearn from this opportunity… But in the end, chooses not to. Either thecharacter will fail the challenge, surpass the challenge using illegitimate orunpleasing means, or (most frustrating of all) surpass the challenge in theright way—but still refuse to acceptthe change and growth that comes hand-in-hand with overcoming the challenge.

5) The character either will not reflect on him- orherself after the challenge or will drawthe wrong conclusions from the self-reflection. Expect to hear a lot of “Iwas right all along” from this type of character. Their logic is oftendistorted or self-centered, leading them to reject positive and advice andhelpful gestures from others. Sometimes their failure to reflect is treatedtragically, and readers are supposed to feel sympathetic for the character’sinability to grow.

6) The character’s increasingly incorrectunderstanding of the world and refusal to change will result in a downwardspiral that sends the character further and further from a positive path. Fromtheir initial position of happiness, the character will descend in to sadness,anger, hate, or despair as a result of his or her own actions, often losingmeaningful things and relationships along the way.

7) Sometimesthe character’s story will end there, where they are simply slightly worse offthan they were at the start. Other times, the character will go far enough tocross the line and become a villain whom the heroes must now defeat. Yet OTHERtimes, the character will hit rock bottom and finally be blessed with a moment of enlightenment that prompts themto reverse course, undo the damage, and go on to become a positive growthcharacter. Sometimes.

This is a typical villainorigin story arc. This arc is also very common for the “fall from grace”character, where someone starts out looking admirable and then reveals theirtrue colors later on. An example of this is Kylo Ren’s arc in The Last Jedi.

In a static arc, the focus isn’t on the way the character changes, but oftenon how he/she changes others:

1) Where the character starts out is irrelevant.Whether they start out in a bad place or a good place, their attitude andunderstanding of the world is based on their personal values and isn’t likelyto change any time soon. Oftentimes, this means the character has what we’dcall “unshakable morals”—they know right from wrong right from the start, andthey have no trouble differentiating between the two. Other times, thischaracter is the cynical, jaded, but world-wise type who knows the ugly truthsthat other characters haven’t been exposed to yet. This person knows what’s upand isn’t in for any shocking surprises over the course of the story. Expect tohear a lot of “I told you so” from this character.

2) Like the other characters, this characterexperiences a “spark” that shakes up their daily routine and causes them to setoff on a journey or to take part in actions the character would normally not beinvolved in.

3) However, instead of facing a major challengethat forces him or her to reflect internally, this character will face anexternal challenge that doesn’t require them to undergo any self-searching. Thecharacter already knows how to deal with his or her challenge—instead offocusing on introspection, the plot will focus on the “how” of the showdown.How is this character going to use his or her beliefs, talents, or existing worldview to overcome the external challenge? Instead of struggling to find a pathto victory, this character’s path is already obvious, and they’ll justdouble-down on their existing morals or skills in order to overcome.

4)Typically the process of overcoming thechallenge will prompt massive changes in other characters. This character willinspire others, will pass their world view, skills, or drive on to othercharacters, prompting others to reflect on themselves and grow. The world maychange dramatically as a result of this person sharing their existing talentsor views with others.

5) The character ends his or her storyin roughly the same personal state as he or she started—their views andattitude has not changed, even if the whole world and all the other charactersaround them have.

This is the arc of mostaction heroes—the emotional trajectory and introspection of the main characteris not as important as the dramatic action that goes on around the hero. Traditionalsuperhero stories are this to a T. The main character has unshakable moralsfrom the start, and the story isn’t about how the hero changes, but about howhe/she changes others with thosemorals.

(You asked about whetherit was possible to combine these arcs… The answer is definitely “Yes and no.”For the most part, these arcs are mutually exclusive. A character who is facedwith a challenge can choose to grow from the challenge or not to grow from thechallenge; they usually can’t choose to both grow and not grow. A character can be static and know everything he or sheneeds to know to defeat the big challenge right from the start—if they changein any manner, the character no longer qualifies as “static.”

But, that said, acharacter can have more than one arc, sometimes even going on simultaneously. Acharacter may grow in one direction and when exposed to one person, but mayregress in another area or with another person. A character can be static inregards to one personality trait, and dynamic/changing in regards to anothermajor personality trait. So while I don’t think it would be easy to directlycombine multiple transformational/static arcs into one, well-written charactersare usually complex enough to have multiple layers, so it might be possible tobalance more than one of these arcs simultaneously. However, be aware thatdoing so would be a massive undertaking and might introduce more complexitythan you have the time or space in your story to properly address. Proceed withcaution!)

Back on point, related toa static arc but also slightly different is the background arc. This type of arc, typically under-developed orirrelevant to the main events of the story and therefore left unspoken, is usedfor side characters or plot-relevant characters who are necessary to moveevents along, but aren’t major characters in and of themselves. Unlike static arcs,these side characters can and sometimes dochange—it’s just often off-screen, barely mentioned, or relegated to a later spin-offseries. This type of arc can mirror any of the other arcs, but is usuallyhand-waved as “While you were away, this happened to me” in your main story.Think of the “hero of another story” trope—stuff is happening to this side character… you just don’t have time to doanything more than briefly mention it.

This character’s role inthe story is, first and foremost, to move the main characters along, and soanything that happens to this character will always take a backseat to the mainplot. They are often the “spark” that leads the character to change, the “plotdevice” who suddenly appears mid-story to help the heroes solve a challenge, orthe decoy antagonist, who shows up to throw a wrench into the heroes plans butultimately isn’t there to do much but be a distraction. This character isnecessary but not central.

And that’s totally okay—notevery character needs a fully developed arc, and in fact, if you spend timegiving every single tiny character an arc, you’re probably going to get burntout before ever actually finishing your story. Let some people be background;it’s okay.

OKAY, BUT! In allhonesty, I think you should take all the stuff I just said and throw it out a window.

Broad patterns are usefulfor categorizing things after the fact. But they’re a really, really poor tool for deciding how to start or buildfrom the get-go. If you look at these broad categories and try to make allyour characters match them, you’re going to run into a situation in which allyour characters become cut and dry, with predictable and inorganic arcs.

When we get right down toit, there are no “set” character arcs. There is no right way to build an arc orwrong way to build an arc.

There are as many possible character arcs in the world as there arecharacters.

Every well-writtencharacter arc is unique and specific to its specific character, and the moreunique a character arc, the more interesting and compelling the character.

So instead of sittingdown and trying to plot your character to a broad type of character arc, Isuggest you build from the inside out,looking at your actual individual characters instead of models based on otherpeople’s characters.

Start with this question:

What does my character want?

Character arcs, especiallytransformational arcs, are driven by the character’s internal motivations. Whatdoes your character want? What is driving him or her on? Does the characterwant to restore his or her life to the way it was before? Save someone? Getrevenge on someone? Find a husband? Defeat a terrible evil? For every majorsection of your story, ask yourself what the character wants during thosespecific moments. Sometimes wants stay the same for the whole story; othertimes they change based on the plot. You need to know what your character wantsand when from start to finish.

Then you need to know whether or not the character is going toachieve their want. Are they going to get what they wanted by the end ofthe story? Are they going to defeat the evil? Save their beloved family member?Marry the princess? Achieve their personal dream? Whether it be the beginning,middle, or end of the story, is this character going to achieve one or more ofthe things he/she wants to achieve or gain?

If yes, answer this nextquestion:

Does my character need to change in order to achieve this want?

Can you character achievethe want/fulfill their desire without changing? If they can, thenwhy would they bother to change? Remember, real people generally try to take the path of leastresistance! If your character can achieve his or her wants in your story withoutneeding to change, you might have a static arc incoming. The character has every trait, talent, or attitude they need to achievetheir goals already. If this is what you intended, okay, go for it. If not,you might want to rethink and aim for the second option instead:

Your character needs tochange in some measurable way to fulfill his/her desire. This is where apositive or negative growth arc comes in. The character has to overcome achallenge, do some introspection, deviate from their normal routine, or learnsome hard truths about the world that change their attitude and world view.They have to act differently than they did at the beginning in order to achievetheir wants (or they have to fail to achieve their wants by acting in the wrongway–negative change arc). If you choose this path for your character, instead of just mimicking thestandard transformational arc, I highly encourage you to spend timebrainstorming and thinking on points like:

What is my character doing right now that would prevent him/her from achieving the desire?

What mistakes, incorrect attitudes, lack ofknowledge, skill, or other unhelpful character traits does my character have rightnow that would prevent him or her from achieving the desire?

What knowledge, skill, attitude change, etc.does my character need to gain in order to achieve the desire?

What are some logical ways for my character toovercome the character’s current short-comings? What is the most reasonable wayfor this character to gain the aforementioned knowledge, skill, attitudechange, etc.? (What’s the most ridiculous way? The saddest way? The mostexciting way? Try coming at the issue from multiple angles to give yourselfmore options in the character’s story!)

What challenges can I invent to naturally teach my character the lessonshe/she needs to learn? (Think about challenges that feel logical and organic,rather than contrived or forced.)

Can I tie this character’s change into my mainplot or other character’s personal plots in any reasonable way?

How important is this change? Is this a massive,life-altering change that is going to have lasting permanent impacts on myother characters and world, or is this a small personal change that won’t be abig deal? Spend some time thinking about how the changes in one character canripple out to affect other characters.

Basically, don’t workfrom the top down. Rather than trying to makeyour character fit a classic arc, work withyour character from the ground up: decide on the wants of your character, andthen focus on picking challenges and moments of introspection that best match your character and your mainplot overall. What small steps and growth does your character need to completeto get from his/her Point A all the way to his/her Point Z? If you plan on yourcharacter achieving what he or she wants, that’s all you really need to thinkabout!

But what if you don’t plan on your character achieving his or her want?

Sometimes the situationarises where your character initially wants something, but you know, as theauthor, that the thing they want isn’t good for them, isn’t their destiny, isn’tas amazing as they expect, or is better off going to another character. If yourcharacter wants something they shouldn’t or can’t have, and you don’t intendfor them to go mad trying to get it (read as: negative growth arc) then youneed to ask yourself a different question:

What does my character need?

Sometimes what thecharacter wants and what the character needs are the same thing. But moreoften, they’re totally different. Your character might think Thing A or PersonB is amazing and perfect and desirable… but actually, your character willbenefit much more from Thing C or Person D.

As the author, you (usually)possess some foreknowledge of the story’s main plot, ending, or plot twists,and so you have greater foresight than your own characters. You know thatsometimes people’s goals and motivations needto change in order for the person to progress. In essence, you sometimes canand must guide your characters away from what they think they want and toward what they actually need to grow andadvance the story’s plot. (Be careful with this, though—if you’re tooheavy-handed about pushing the characters away from what they want, you riskboxing your characters in or making them feel less like people and more likeyour personal toys.)

When you know that whatthe character needs to achieve, and the place the character needs to end up bythe end of the story does not align with their wants/motivations from thebeginning of the story, you can focus in on these points:

Why is what my character wants in the beginningso different from where I want him/her to be by the end of the story? Is thisplot relevant? (If it’s not… why? Can you make it plot relevant?)

Where did my character’s wants/goals start, andwhere do I intend for them to end?

Why doI want/intend something different for my character than the character wants forhim- or herself?

How big is the gap between the character’sinitial wants and their ultimate achievement at the end of the story I’m planning?Is it a huge gap, a small gap?

Does it make sense for my character’s wants tochange during the course of the story, or for them to accept something they did not initially want? Is there a logicalexplanation for this motivation flip, or will it come out of nowhere to thereaders?

How much will my character’s motivation, worldview, knowledge, or skill level needto change in order for him or her to “switch” goals during the story or accepta new goal/achievement?

What are some logical ways for me to reveal tothe audience that what my character initially wanted isn’t the best course forhim or her? What are some ways to naturally shift my character’sgoals/motivations without being too forceful?

What is the most reasonable way for thischaracter to realize the thing/person he or she initially wanted isn’t theright choice? (What’s the most ridiculous way? The saddest way? The mostexciting way? Try coming at the issue from multiple angles to give yourselfmore options in the character’s story!)

What knowledge, skill, attitude change, etc.must my character gain in order to achieve the things he or she needs toachieve by the end of my story?

Finally, can I tie this character’s change into mymain plot or other character’s personal plots in any reasonable way?

At the end of the day,more than setting out to follow a proscribed arc as it was set in stone byother authors, I believe that character growth is best plotted by just knowing your characters very well.Growth, change, or being static… Rather than “fill-in-the-blank” on an arcchart, these things should organically evolve from your character’s personalmotivations, and the way those motivations clash and interact with othercharacters’ motivations.

I think that oftentimes alack of clear arc for a character isn’t an issue of not knowing how to plotyour own story, but an issue of not having fully developed the character’smotivations yet.

I recommend, in thissituation, going back to take another long look at your individual character.Do you know what motivates this person from start to finish in your story? Do you know where you want them to beat the end of the story? How much do they need to change to get to where youintend for them to go?

That’s where you shouldstart when it comes to shaping your characters’ arcs.

Well, that’s my three(thousand word) cents on the topic, anyway!

#writing advice #character arcs #character development #writing characters #writing character arcs #writing is hard #there's no right way to do things either #take this with a grain of salt #but I always recommend people who feel like their characters aren't going where they want #to spend more time examining their characters' motivations #so much of the time it's not a problem of the plot #but a problem of figuring why a character would even want to be part of that plot #I hope this helps anon!#echo answers asks

115 notes · View notes

bespectacled-girl-blog · 7 years

Text

Flying away - Chapter 1

Word count: 1393

So, this is it: my first FFXV fan fiction ever, and my first piece of writing in English. This story starts in our world. I really hope you will like it! I have no idea how long it will be, and as I said in my introduction post, I still don’t know whether my OC will end up with Ignis or Gladio. I may try my hand at smut along the way, but again all of this is a first for me, so I still don’t know, I’ll see where the story takes me! If you happen to read this, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, it would be highly appreciated :) I wanted to tag those who are a constant inspiration for me, and whose works I love to read, @nifwrites, @cupnoodle-queen, @blindbae, @stunninglyignis, @themissimmortal, @atarostarling, @miss-scientia, @unlimitedthotworks

The day her life changed began like any other day for Lyne. Her alarm clock went off at 7, she got out of bed, and started to get ready for work. Like any other day, her soon to be ex-husband had pestered her as soon as he saw her in the bathroom they still shared. He knew things were complicated between them, since they didn’t even sleep in the same room any more, but that didn’t stop him from acting like everything was fine. Ignoring problems was his way of dealing with them, and Lyne was having no more of that. One thing was clear as can be between them though: after twelve years of being together, love was gone for good from this house. Since they worked together and had a house together, they still had to share more than they wanted. For Lyne, this situation couldn’t last, and she would be leaving him as soon as the house was sold, but for now, she was surviving as best as she could.

Like any other day, she had dragged herself to the office where they worked, and had started on her daily tasks. At home, her beloved dog, Blacky, a cute Shetland Sheepdog of 7 years, always managed to cheer her up and drag her from her despair. At work it was an entirely different matter, as she had to pretend everything was fine with her workmates, so that her personal life wouldn’t affect her job as a secretary. Not that she intended to keep said job when she left for good, but right now the last thing she needed was more drama in her life.

It was a bright sunny day outside, and even though that spring day cheered her up a little, she still felt trapped within that life. “What would I give to start things over and get a new life”, she thought, longingly looking at the birds flying idly outside her window.

She was standing in front of the filing cabinet, putting order in her files. The cabinet was so full that she had to put her wedding ring off when she dealt with this particular task, lest she scratched her hands repeatedly. That was probably why she loved it so much: without this stupid ring, she felt free, for once.

She had her headphones on, as usual, since music helped her a great deal to give her the energy she was usually lacking. Michael Jackson was singing his famous ‘Thriller’, and she was dancing a little bit -some habit she had gotten into after having lost more than forty pounds: if she could find anything good in her situation, it was this: she had never felt that good in her body. Her long ponytail was swinging in step with the music, and she was almost feeling good. She decided that she would hit the gym after work, that could only be good for her mood, she thought. She felt like having a cup of tea, and was considering which flavour she would chose among the different boxes her drawer contained, when it happened.

First, her vision started to get blurry. Her first thought was that she must have eaten too little that morning, and the fact that the music in her ears had started to fade away did nothing to refute her assumption. But what should have come next never came. She never lost consciousness, never felt her body hit the floor of her little office. Through the buzzing in her ears, she thought she heard someone calling out to her. “Help us, the voice said, lend me your Power and come to our aid”. Her surroundings disappeared, and she found herself staring into a void of darkness. She started to fall, but never hit anything. It felt like ages, though it must have been only seconds. Then her feet hit something solid, and her eyesight came back to her.

When she could see again, the scene unravelling in front of her was too much for her brain to deal with.

It was raining heavily, and dark clouds were hovering over the scene below. She was surrounded by trees, but in the clearing stood what looked like a former factory of some sort, completely in ruins. Four young men were lying on the ground, two of them looking unconscious. Though the blonde guy with unkempt hair looked frail enough, the fact that the bull of a man next to him was also knocked out was worth noticing. To her right, a slim man with dark blonde hair and his spectacles slightly askew on his nose was looking at her with turquoise eyes, unmoving, his head on the ground. The man facing her had unruly raven hair and was the only one not lying on the ground yet. Kneeling, he directed his blue haunting gaze directly at her. Although he seemed positively surprised to see Lyne here, he didn’t hesitate more than half a heartbeat, and called out to her: “Please, help us…”. He was losing consciousness too. His head hit the ground, and Lyne found herself quite alone.

That was at that moment that she noticed the beast that was facing her and the young men. It was the angry roar coming from it that brought her to her senses, and a small part of her mind still found the time to wonder how come it hadn’t been the first thing she noticed in that strange place. At first it looked like a feline of some sort, but not your average big cat. That thing must be at least fifteen feet high, and probably thirty feet long, without the spiked tail that is. It had a crest on its back, and two huge horns sprouting from its head. Well, what must have been two huge horns, as the right one was broken nearly at the base. The thing was dark purple, and had an impressive grey mane. Its right eye was dead, but the left one was enough to convey how much that thing loved killing. And right now, that eye was looking right at Lyne. The beast was clawing at the ground with its huge paw, preparing to attack the newcomer.

She could have gone crazy at the sight of this beast getting ready to rip her apart. And certainly, some part of her mind was giggling uncontrollably. But some force had already started to take control of her body, and even though she saw what happened, later on Lyne would be positively sure that it wasn’t her who did these things that first time.

She bent over the man with the glasses, taking one of the daggers he was still holding. She heard herself say “I’ll borrow this for a sec if you don’t mind”. Above her, thunder had begun to roll. The thing controlling her body made her stretch her free arm towards the sky, and the hand holding the man’s dagger pointed directly at the beast’s heart -trapped inside her body, Lyne wondered “is this even where that thing’s heart’s supposed to be?”. Suddenly, lightning stroke her. The bolt went through her outstretched palm, energy filling all the fibers in her body to come out of the dagger and strike the beast. The conscious part of Lyne was overwhelmed with emotions: pure terror, empowerment, exhilaration, exhaustion. She had no idea what was happening, but the thing that controlled her body helped her feel safe, as if it was protecting her. Before she got time to dwell on her feelings however, the beast roared one last time, and as lightning reached its heart under the thickness of its skin, fell to her feet, dead.

Lyne felt the presence inside her recede, and as she gained control over her own body once more, the part of her mind who was petrified with fear started to take over. She was in a completely unknown place, with strangers, had no idea how she’d gotten here, or what had just happened. Remotely, she heard the young men getting to their feet, as the world vanished once again into oblivion. This time she was falling to the ground, and as a pair of strong arms got hold of her before she would hurt herself, she heard a cheerful voice say “Whoohoohoo we’re alive! Let’s celebrate by eating something dead!”

Link to Chapter 2

#ffxv #final fantasy xv #fan fiction #oc #ignis scientia #prompto argentum #gladiolus amicitia #noctis lucis caelum #writing

28 notes · View notes