Character Arc

In reality we all go through our own personal growth. It’s called life. In a story our main characters go through their own personal growth. It’s called a character arc. With all of the mistakes we make, most of us learn from them and move on to the right path. Along the way we hit another snag, we learn (hopefully), and continue on. Because we learned our lessons from the past, if we’re hit with the same situation again, we’ll know how to handle it the right way. We grow from our experiences.

But here’s the thing. Our lessons in real time are learned over the course of a lifetime, which can be years. In a book the character arc for the main character progresses for the life of the story/book. Think of it of as a cycle of sorts or a path. The character starts out at point A then moves to point B by way of various experiences, conflicts, decisions, and mistakes. From point B they move forward using what they learned to get to point C. They go through more challenges and are faced with more fears. Then they reach point D. By the end of the book they’ve gone through some changes personally and overcame their fatal flaw. Growth. If your main character goes through each of the points in the character arc cycle without showing any kind of growth, there’s something wrong. There must be growth.

A character arc that has a fascinating and compelling character arc will have characters overcoming challenges and facing fears as the story unfolds. The outcome? Personal growth, much like how people in real life obtain personal growth.