When you begin writing your story, you may run across a problem with the character arc.
You don’t know how to fill your act 2. Sometimes, you know the beginning, and the end, but not the middle. Or you find that you are not sure how compelling your lead character is to the reader. Both these problems are fixed by the same thing; writing a character arc.
This is a part of how to write a book series. If you want to learn how to have a productive morning, how to write consistently, and how to make an efficient writing schedule, you can learn here.
So, how do you write a positive (or standard) character arc?
In order to write a positive character arc, your character needs to start of the story with a flaw that gives them a false belief. This false belief makes the character behave in manners that brings problems to their lives, and they wish for a solution.
They found a goal that will fix their problems, not realizing that the problems was a side effect of the real issue, their false belief. The character then attempts to retrieve the goal, but as they do, their efforts are thwarted by a different character who has the same flaw, but they have a darker false belief.
This new character the villain, manipulates the hero as they realize they have similar flaws so they know how the hero thinks. The hero then discovers their false belief, and soon, their flaw. They overcome the flaw, and lose the false belief to receive the truth. After that, they fight the villain and the villain can’t defeat them since the hero has no flaw anymore, so the hero wins. It ends with the hero receiving the goal as a reward, but the real reward is that now they no longer behave in a manner that brings them problems.
That is the standard character arc, or the positive character arc.
There are different types of positive character arcs, and we will discuss those, along with the detailed take of this passage in the next couple of lines.
Let’s get into it.
What Is A Positive Character Arc?
A positive character arc is a character arc where the main character manages to overcome their personal flaws, and find a truth with which they defeat the villain and are rewarded with the goal.
A character arc is basically the transformation a character goes through in the story.
They start being one way in the story, and due to the conflicts they have to climb, or mountains they have to climb, they end up being somewhere else. Being someone else. We’ve all seen a character arc.
A character starts the story shy, but ends the story being talkative. Or a character starts the story, and it ends with them being humble. This is a character arc, but the thing is, character arcs are not always successful.
Sometimes a character will start the story, and the story will end with them in a worse place then when they begun, and that is what makes a positive character arc.
A positive character arc is a character arc where the characters start the story at a place, and they transform to become a better person by the end of the story, and end up getting positive results.
The transformation of a character arc is character progression.
There are steps to character progression. What makes a negative character arc, or positive character arc is the heroes failure or success in some parts of this character arc.
What are the types of positive character arcs?
There are no types of positive character arcs.
Yes, there are types of characters.
There are flat character arcs, positive character arcs, and negative character arcs. A negative character arc is split into 3 types; the disillusionment arc, the fall arc, and the corruption arc. But for positive character arcs, there are no types of them.
How To Make A Positive Character Arc?
1. We Need to See The Character’s Flaws Before The Character Arc Can Start
The first step to writing a positive character arc: Write your character’s flaw
Before even doing character design, or character development, I always advise people to start with the character’s flaw first.
After you have the character’s flaw, you will know what the story will look like in the future. This means you will be able to create a character development that fits the world. And you will be able to create a character design that enhances the coming story.
But creating the character flaw is most important for when you are doing a character arc, as it is this flaw that the character will be fighting, not the cool monster, or awesome villain.
So how do you write a character flaw?
A simple exercises that you can use to create a character flaw is the one word punch.
Basically, choose a single word that you feel fits the character you are envisioning in your mind. Selfish, arrogant, greedy, manipulative. I was working on a character last night, and the word I chose for her was ‘tribalistic’.
This technique is important, as it will assist you to not mistake it for the false belief, which can often be mistaken for the flaw.
2. We Need to See The Character’s False Beliefs When the Character Arc Begins
The second step to writing a positive character arc: Write your character’s false belief.
Now that you have the character’s flaw, it will be easier for you to discover the character’s false belief.
A character’s flaw derives from their backstory. If a character was abandoned by their parents at childbirth, their character flaw could be distrust. The character’s flaw tells us their backstory, but even more, it tells us their false belief.
The abandoned character may begin to think that you can’t trust anyone in the world who does not owe you something. You could say they were abandoned by their parents specifically because their parents felt to obligation towards her, not from necessity or anything like that.
This can be true or not, but the point is that it reinforces the false belief.
In order to write a false belief, merely ask yourself what could’ve happened to someone for them to believe you selected flaw. Why would someone become greedy? And why would they become arrogant? Why would they become avoidant?
You could say they became avoidant because when they were younger, they watched their father try to fight, and they ended up getting killed, leading to him and his family suffering. So the character believes it is better to avoid conflict so you can be alive to protect your family.
Or you could say the character is arrogant because as a child, they watched the most arrogant people climb to power, while they suffered.
So they believe the safest way to be is arrogant, or else people will pounce and attack you if they smell weakness. The greedy character could say that when they were a child, their family often gave to people, so they grew up hungry. So now they believe the best way to protect your family is to take from others.
All the bolded parts are false beliefs. So in order to write it, ask yourself the story behind the character’s flaw, and then give a type of rational someone might make from that situation.
TIPS: The false belief is something the character believes will protect them, keep them safe, or do some sort of good.
3. We Need to See The Character’s Problems
The third step to writing a positive character: You need to write your character’s problems.
Now that you have your character’s false belief, you have access to their actions.
Beliefs are our logic behind our actions. My little sister used to pee in a bucket because she was scared of walking the halls alone. She was convinced there was a demon there. She believed there was a demon there.
I did too at one point, why else did she think there was a bucket in our room. But I’m not gonna tell her that am I?
The point is, what we believe dictates what we do. So it should be with your character. Their beliefs lead them to behave in a manner that brings them problems. There are 2 types of problems that characters will face. Physical ones, and emotional ones.
Physical problems are problems that derive in the concrete world.
Things like hunger, or people chasing them down for revenge. Or people bullying them. Maybe a character gambles, or constantly lies so people want to beat them up now. Maybe their arrogance led to them suffering beatings.
There greed made them lots of debts. Or their insecurity led to them not getting their rightful place as number 1 in the club.
The emotional problems are things like loneliness, rage, guilt, depression or lust. The character is left to stew in their emotional baggage, due to things they’ve done to other people, things other people have done to them, things they never did to other people, or things other people never did to them.
Either or, the character wants to stop suffering from these problems.
4. We Need to See the Solution
The fourth step to writing a positive character arc: Write the solution to the problems.
The solution is usually a solution to the problem itself.
But it is never a solution to the character’s flaw, or false belief. So they may want to deal with the physical problems. Maybe they want money to pay their debts. Or a physical power to fight of their bullies. Perhaps they even want to achieve a certain position in the society.
For emotional problems too. Perhaps the character wants to make someone forgive them. Or maybe they want someone to come into their live. Maybe they want vengeance etc.
So, you need to write the goal. Write the physical goal of what could fix the character’s problems.
5. We Need to See The Hero Lose to the Villain
The fifth part to writing a positive character arc: Make your hero lose to your villain.
The next thing that we must see is the character losing to the villain.
Throughout your story, your character should be doing fairly well with their false belief. Yes they get problems from lying, cheating, giving up easily, and trying to find shortcuts. But they also managed to make it this far, and are sure of their skills to gain the prize.
Until they meet the villain.
The villain must not only defeat the hero, but they must dominate them. The reason why the villain defeats the hero is not clear at first. But there is something really unsettling about the villain to the hero.
6. We Need to See The Villain’s Speech
The 6th part to writing a positive character arc: give us the villain’s speech
The next thing that we must get is the villains speech.
The villain’s speech is important as it will be the first time that our hero hears of their flaw. This is when they become aware of their weakness, and if done well, it will triple the villain’s threat level to the hero.
The hero will realize that the villain knows them better than they know themselves, and this is always a frightening thought.
How do you write this part?
You need to make it happen after the hero’s next defeat. or during the ass whooping.
First, the villain will expose the hero’s flaw. They will outright name it, and show examples of the hero’s flaw. The hero may try to resist, but they find they are shocked to see they can’t say no.
This becomes even more powerful if the villain is not even talking about the hero, but about themselves. The villain brags about their own flaw, which the hero finds they agree with.
The second part is where the villain exposes their false belief. Now, although they share flaws, the villain may not show the hero their flaw. Instead, the villain shows a false belief that is so dark even the hero is disturbed.
But they can’t argue against it because they agree with the flaw.
The hero tries to defeat the villain through combat, or whatever competitive means, but the villain defeats them, proving their argument stronger. This ruins the hero.
7. We Need to See The Hero Discover their Own lie.
The seventh part to writing a positive character arc: Make your hero discover their lie.
This is usually in the form of a flashback sequence, or some form of reminiscing.
The hero remembers their childhood, and they see where their flaw comes from. Sometimes, it comes in the form of a motivational speech from a wise character, or their loved ones.
This allows the character to see how wrong their logic has been, and they begin to wonder if they can’t try to change the way they behave. So they do.
8. We Need To See The Hero’s Truth Win
The 8th step to writing a positive character arc: Write the hero’s truth winning.
The fundamental difference between positive character arcs and negative character arcs finally rears its head.
Here you will write the final conflict between the hero and the villain. The final race to the goal. The final contest. This time, the hero does not use any of the actions they learned from their flaw. They don’t lie, cheat, deceive, try to find an easy way, and they do not run. They fight.
Usually, the villain is going to try and tap into the heroes false belief but they can’t do it anymore, since the hero has overcome it.
Instead, the hero taps into the villains false belief. They try to make the villain see how wrong they are and what the truth is. But the villain is not interested. So the hero defeats them, and the villain’s story arc is a negative character arc.
But for our hero, he stands victorious.
9. We Need To See The Problems He Had Before Becoming Fixed
The 9th step to writing a positive character arc: Your character’s problems are fixed by their shift in belief
After the battle, we need to see your character has truly changed.
This can be done in a simple way. You main character needs to go back to their old setting, or find themselves in similar problems. But now, they are changed.
The hero navigates their old issues in a manner that shows us they will never have the same problem anymore. They will never cheat again, they will never steal again, they will never lie again, and we can clearly see, that they will never be bullied again. Because they just smacked the bully.
10. We Need To See A Physical Character Design Change
The 10th step to writing a positive character arc: show the character’s transformation with their design.
This is best if you read it in the how to write a character design article. But basically, your character design needs to hint at the character arc, adn the success or failure of the arc. The rest is there.
Once you have mastered this, you will have taken great strides to your goal of mastering mastery.