So you are trying to write a negative character arc.
The negative character arc is one of the most popular there is, and that’s because it can be quite exciting. If done properly. Do it badly, and people will find your story more than just boring. You can learn how to write a story, and how to write a basic character arc else where.
So, how do you write a negative character arc?
To write a negative character arc, you must write an inversion of the positive arc, which in essence is just a failed character arc. So, in a positive character arc, the character has a flaw, which makes them have a false belief. The character acts out their false belief, leading to problems in their life. So the character tries to get a goal that will fix their issues.
In their chasing of the goal, they learn that the real problem is their false belief, and so they face their flaw. They overcome, and as a result, they receive the goal as a bonus. But in a false character arc, the character fails to deal with their false belief. They fail to overcome their flaw, and finally, they fail to receive their goal in the end.
Well that is a mouthful. Let’s get into the article, and breakdown what exactly was said here.
What Makes A Negative Character Arc?
A negative character is a character arc where the character progression fails in one of it’s steps, leading to a failure in character progression, and thus the character ends up in a worse place than they should be in.
If you’ve read my character progression article, you know that there are steps that a character must take to progress.
In summary, these steps are; having problems in their lives, chasing a goal that will fix their problems, meeting challenges that show them the cause of their problems is their false belief, facing their false belief and discovering the truth, facing the villain again, and winning to claim the goal as a reward.
In a negative character arc, the character fails in one of these steps, leading them to end up in a worse state when they begun the story.
Now, want me to show you something cool?
So, check it, there are three types of negative story arcs; the disillusionment arc, the fall arc, and the corruption arc. Now here’s the cool part. Where the character fails on the character progression list dictates which of these 3 negative character arcs it will be. Look.
Types of negative arcs
The corruption arc is when the character already has access to the truth.
Think of breaking bad. He knows that selling meth is bad. But then through the course of the story, the character starts to drift away from the truth, and begins to believe the lie is true.
This is usually in an attempt to defeat the villain, but it ends with their success coming at the cost of them being completely consumed by their flaw. This one breaks at the ‘facing the villain again’ part, since they use the lie to face the villain instead of the truth.
The disillusionment arc is when they overcome their false belief, and overcome their flaw.
But when they learn the truth, it is depressing. A character who believes they are powerless without other people, because of a flaw (they failed to protect someone when they were young). They have the problem of people not trusting them and getting hurt around them because they wont fight.
Then, they chase a goal that will assist them.
Maybe a power that will fight for them.
But they meet a villain who exploits their flaw, and they end up learning the truth, which is that they have to fight for their loved ones. But when they do fight, they end up killing their loved ones.
The truth was worse than the lie. Yes they could fight and protect their loved ones from enemies, but the truth was that this was only because their own strength would kill those people.
Finally, the fall arc.
This one is when the character refuses to let go of the lie, even with all the evidence. Their flaw is too powerful, so they hold on to the false belief, and they slowly lose everything around them. They crash and burn.
How to Write A Negative Character Arc?
1. The Negative Character Arc Begins With The Hero’s Flaw
The first step to write a negative character arc is to write the character’s primary flaw.
All characters have a flaw in stories. Except maybe flat characters.
These flaw help the character grow. They are as important in negative character arcs, because they help the character fall to the abys.
You will need to write for your character a flaw.
The flaw usually derives from their backstory somehow. A character whose flaw is that they are untrusting could be caused by a childhood of abandonment. A simple exercise to help you improve your flaw is to try and find one word to describe it.
Guilty, insecure, arrogant, vengeful, and whatever have you. This exercises is useful because it will help you distinguish the flaw from the false belief. Most people mistake these two.
2. False Belief Leading to Problems
The next step to writing a negative character arc is writing your characters false belief.
The false belief is the logic behind each of the character’s actions.
This logic derives from the flaw the character has, which is just a feeling for now. The character is unaware of their flaw. The logic derives from the feeling but the logic isn’t the feeling.
For example, someone who is selfish (flaw) because they family was stolen by their step family as a child (backstory the flaw comes from) may think that the best way to live in the world is to only look out for yourself (false belief).
This false belief leads to actions that cause the character problems. Physical problems, or emotional problems.
Physical problems that come from their own actions could be things like constant lack of money, loan sharks chasing them down, people bullying them, or being on the verge of being murdered by someone they scammed. Emotional problems could be something like being lonely.
Write down these problems deriving from the character’s false belief.
In a corruption arc, the characters are usually aware of the truth.
The may have a character living next to them who keeps telling them to truth, and the character even dabbles in the truth, but their flaw (pride for characters like Breaking Bad’s Walter White) is so strong they won’t admit to the truth. They begin looking for a lie.
3. Goal to Fix The Problems
The next part will be the character coming up with a goal which they believe will assist them in fixing their problems.
Seeing the problems, the character may wish for a surface level fix to the issue.
They want something that fixes their problem, not their false belief or flaw. There are 2 types of goals; physical goals, and more positional goals. Physical goals can be things like money, treasure, or unique artifacts etc.
However, a positional goal is usually something like wanting to be king, to be leader, to be someone’s boyfriend, or whatever.
For our self character who believes that the best way to live in the world is to watch your back, they would have the problem of people not wanting to hang out with them as they always back stab people.
So they feel lonely. They may join these girl scouts and decide that they want to be a leader, so that they can get most friends or something.
4. Someone Else was chasing the goal first
Then, you are going to have to give the character conflict as they chase their goal.
As our hero chases their goal, they will discover someone else chasing their goal.
Even worse the person appears to be hyper competent. For some reason, they keep outwitting the hero, and they are always a step ahead. No matter how hard the hero leans into their false belief, their opponent outwits.
Let’s consider a character who thinks lying is the best way to get what you want from people.
Their lying may have caused them problems, but now they are trying to get the goal to fix these. When they meet our villain, they will attempt to lie their way over the villain. But this time, it does not work. The villain seems to nullify their 1 power.
This will make our hero struggle and begin considering their actions.
5. They Have the Same Flaw
The villain needs to be someone who shares the same flaw as out hero.
This is an extra tp for you to write. But remember that one word you used to describe your main character’s flaw? You villain needs to have the same one word flaw.
This is important because in having the same flaw, the villain is very attractive to the hero. Remember, our hero does not know about their flaw yet.
They just know that they believe the world is one way, and they are being given problems unfairly. The villain sharing the heroes flaws will allow the hero to feel a sense of familiarity with the villain, one they know they shouldn’t feel.
6. False belief that the hero does not like
Then, you will need to give your villain a different false belief.
In spite of the fact that they share the same flaw, the villain has been a step ahead of the hero the whole time.
This means that the villain has been taking more profitable actions, which means they are different actions from the hero. Remember, the actions that the character’s take come from their beliefs.
So if the two character’s have been acting differently, this means that they have different false beliefs.
You need to give your main villain different false beliefs from the hero. And even more, they need to be more gruesome than the heroes. The hero needs to be disgusted by their attraction to the villain after they hear what the villain believes when they say their speech.
For the corruption arc, this is where the hero will be excited, as they will realize that the villains words are bad, but they are more efficient in satiating their flaw.
So the hero may have a flaw of insecurity, but they grew up with a father who taught them humility.
When they meet the villain, and here how the villain spends so much money on themselves, they are immediately excited. But they hesitate because of the distasteful things the villain must do to get these.
7. The Hero Confronts Their False Belief To Progress the Negative Character Arc
The next thing you will have to do when writing a negative character arc is to make your hero confront their false belief.
This is where the negative character arc truly starts to shine.
For the positive character arc, this space comes after a defeat that the hero faced, leading to the lose of a loved one, and a lose of a means to stop the villain. Basically, a crushing defeat that definitively proves the hero is weak.
This defeat the hero only ever recovers from by going deep into their false belief.
The hero may even have a flashback here, and they remember their troubled childhood, which led them to believe the lies they held. But for a negative character arc, this process usually does not happen.
In a corruption character arc, the hero may suffer something here due to tasting the false belief. But it only spurs them to go in deeper to the false side.
In a fall arc, the character may begin to see their false belief. But rather than letting go, they hold on stronger to their false belief. This story is usually called a tragedy, because the fatal flaw in the beginning was so strong that the character’s ending was already written in stone.
So, they continue holding on to the lie.
In a disillusionment arc, the character may see the lie, and they let it go. But only to discover a tragedy in the next section.
8. They Face the Villain To Progress The Negative Character Arc
The next part to writing a negative character arc is to finally have the character meet their villain, and face their problems directly. Then, have them lose.
In a positive character arc, this is where the character discovers their power. They finally fight the enemy, and successfully defeat them, proving the truth was greater than the villains lie.
This is not how it goes with negative character arc.
In a negative character arc, the villain will meet the hero again, and they will fight. Except this time, the hero will fail to overcome their weakness/ flaw. Instead, they discover that the best way to defeat the villain is to fall even lower than the villain’s own false truth.
In so doing, they become corrupted, which is why it is often called the fall arc, or the corruption arc.
9. The Gain The Goal
The hero manages to attain their goal but they fail to overcome their flaw, thus the goal is stale in their mouth.
In stories, the goal the hero chases is not what helps them heal. Instead, it is what they learn as they chase the goal.
By the time the hero reaches his goal, he has already learned all he needs to know. The selfish character had to learn selflessness before they reach teh trophy. The coward learned bravery. Finally, the greedy character learned compassion.
Whatever the flaw is, the character has learned to let go of it and accept something new.
In a negative character arc, the opposite happens.
The hero goes from greedy, to greedy and cruel. From selfish, to selfish, and arrogant. And from Cowardly to cowardly, and deceptive. This new low allows them to attain their goal. But in so doing, the viewer grieves and feels hurt, which is what people like so much.
So as soon as you master hurting your readers, you will be that much closer, to mastering mastery.