Over the course of our lives we all change; some of us change for the better and unfortunately some of us change for the worse, but regardless whether it is for the better or worse -we do change. As our lives progress, we move on.  This is what we call the character arc.

A character starts out as someone with specific traits or goals or lack of, then through the course of the story things happen to him that have an affect on him, causing him to change.  This is the simple definition of character arc or the commonly known Hero’s Journey.

Oh but let’s back up a little.  The general definition is that simple, however; it can be a little more complicated when we dig deeper.  There are several different types of character arcs:  The change Arc, The Growth Arc and the Fall Arc.  The Change Arc is the type most closely related to the Hero’s Journey, where the character changes from an unlikely person into a hero or savior.  This change is usually extreme or radical and despite the inner strength he likely had within himself from the start, he only needed to see it.  By the end of the story,  he is transformed in a clear and dramatic manner.

The Growth Arc is similar since the character does overcome some type of weakness or fear, or guilt, or some other internal opposition, by the end of the story as he faces an external opposition paralleling his internal one along the way.  He may not be as obviously changed as the “hero” in the Change Arc, but he is a changed individual in some internal way.  He may have learned to overcome a prejudice or learned to forgive himself or someone else.

The last one of these three character arcs  we are discussing today is the Fall Arc.  It is more typically referred to as the “Tragedy” since the main character usually changes in a negative manner, perhaps declining toward a mental illness or alcoholic disease, a banishment or even death.  He may start out as someone who has hope but throughout the story he makes all the wrong choices, deciding to follow the darker side into his ultimate destruction.

Here we have the very simple definitions of the different character arcs, however; in subsequent blogs I will go into greater detail providing examples of these arcs within the different story structures , as well as how our story structure influences and is influenced by the character arc we choose for our story so that it has the greatest universal effect possible.  After all, the goal is to draw in the reader, have her relate to our character in a way that affects her as greatly as it does our protagonist or at least close to it.  The character arc we create in our story should coincide with the character arcs of our own lives or at least provide food for thought.

Making mistakes in writing is necessary as part of the writing process.  Just as in life, making mistakes is how we learn to do things better.  Playwright George Bernard Shaw said:   “Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”  Remaining afraid to try because you may mess up is worse than never trying.  The results from both are at minimum the same, except that one has a chance of success if he at least tries.  If one does not play the lottery one has zero chance of winning.  If one limits himself because of fear, one has zero chance of success.

“Writer’s Block” is very real and it is the writer’s worst nightmare.   Afraid to place the “wrong”  words on the page, we allow our muse to be  held hostage by our fear.  The story is up there lurking, trying to escape, but our fear of making a mistake keeps it trapped.  John Gardner tells us:  “In a good novel, the first five words must make you forget you’re reading.”  Writers are told over and over  they must “hook ” the reader immediately or …. or what?  If we do not get those first five words right we fail?  Consequently, we sit in front of our computers staring at the blank page waiting for the exact, correct words to spill from our thoughts to the keyboard.  But there’s that fear again- holding us back, whispering in our ears, telling us we are sure to mess up so why bother.

The computer won’t blow up and no one is coming to carry us off to the writer’s jail for making mistakes.  Just today my youngest son attempted to melt chocolate candies into a chocolate bar.  As  the chocolate cooled and  he spread the cream cheese icing all over it he explained to me the steps he took and how excited he was to be cooking.  Then, he took a bite and spit it out.  At first he was upset with himself because he realized he had added too much oil to the pot; he had messed up!   I asked him what he would do the next time differently and his face brightened up .  He recited the steps he would take, all the same as those he just took, but this time he would add less oil.  “And what do you think that would taste like?”  I asked him.  He admitted it would probably taste perfect.  “Well,”  I said.  “How would you have known that if you didn’t mess it up the first time?  Next time your chocolate bar will be that much better than it would have been if you never knew what to improve!”    Needless to say, my son felt more elated and proud of himself than if he hadn’t made the mistake to begin with.

Mistakes are our greatest teachers.  They teach us how to do better the next time.  If we don’t make mistakes at our first attempt , the result may be okay enough but when we make a mistake  and we learn from it, the second time has the chance to be perfect!  The key is to learn from the mistake and to try again, not to never try at all or to give up.  As in life, get those five words down.  Yes, the first five words are important, just as John Gardner said, but we can always go back later and fix it. The point is to get something down on paper.  To try!    And if it is not right the second time, it may be the third or the fourth time.  With each attempt  a new lesson is learned.  The key is to recognize each mistake, then correct each one while trying not to make the SAME mistake over and over.  Make the attempt, recognize the mistake and take action to fix it.  “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”  So, what are you waiting for?  Start making mistakes!

The goal for the main character is to solve her problem, so she will be the one most affected by the climax.  Whether the obstacles the protagonist faces are physical or emotional (they can be both or either), the author must balance the struggles over them and the way they are overcome, between the protagonist and the antagonist.   This recipe provides suspense and tension to the story, leading up to the climax, ultimately ending with the spiritual, emotional,  or intellectual change in the main character or what we writers call, the character arc.

Just as we are the protagonists in our own life, facing struggles every day, we must work hard toward our goals, ignoring our antagonists or if it is absolutely necessary as the only means to reaching our goal, we battle and overcome those antagonists, although making sure to maintain our integrity, until we are victorious.  Suspense and tension shadow us every day in our lives, but it forces us to become stronger, to learn, to work harder, so that when we reach the climax of our daily stories, we are all the better for it.

Character evolution is at the heart of every good story. Whether the main character changes, emotionally, spiritually, or intellectually, it’s this change that the reader routes for through out the story.  Will the little girl with no self esteem come to see how wonderful she is by the end of the story after reaching her goal?  Will the sad and lonely man accept the ways of society  and learn that there is a way for him to fit in?  Will the teenage foster child finally find a family and come to feel loved?  Will the little train who thought he could not make it up the tracks to the next town finally say ” I think I can , I think I can”  and ultimately realize his worth and how capable he always was?

From the picture books we read as a small child or we have read to our own children (I’ve read thousands to mine!), to the middle grade books like Charlotte’s web with Wilber the pig and Charlotte the spider, to young adult stories like Hunger Games with Katnip learning the hard way about society and people, to the adult books we read today, every good story employs a character who seeks a goal, and along the way, with or without realizing it, he or she changes over the course of his or her own inner journey.  And that positive change, like in real life, is at the core of every good story.

A strong protagonist and a compelling storyline that connect all of the different narrative threads should weave itself into a rich character arc,as  the main character changes somehow over the course of our story. No  pre-determined map at their disposal to follow .  By driving the story through character, as opposed to building it through plot, the story’s plot will unfold naturally, writing itself.  Having no idea where the story is going, the character decides the route she should take as the story falls into place- the same way we live our lives everyday, rising in the morning, expecting certain things to take place over the course of our day, then adjusting as we are confronted with life’s many unexpected obstacles ,  and ultimately we often make the choice to  switch directions or goals so we can do more than merely survive.

We manage our lives through overcoming obstacles, by learning how we must change,  or how we must treat each situation we encounter or person we come up against, usually at random or by surprise.  Ultimately we do change in some way… because we naturally desire a successful ending  of some kind.  It is much the same with our stories.  We give birth and DNA to our characters, raising them so that they learn to make the right choices, learning from their mistakes along the way.  And in the end, just like the parents we are or the parents we have or had,  the binding strings are cut so that our cherished offspring or characters are allowed the chance to  soar off on their own, managing their own life, and finding their own destiny.

Holding on too tightly to plot restricts the ability of the characters to flourish on their own, to build off their own strengths and to   ultimately allow them to go even beyond what we, their maker, ever could have imagined.  Like managing life where the power is inside of each one of us characters to build our own magical life plots, managing plot in our stories is to give that magical power to our characters and to step out of the way to see where they will take us.  They just may surprise us in the end.

Frost once said “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” What does this mean exactly? Aren’t writers supposed to deliver the answers to all of our questions. But… what if we do not even know what our questions are until the writer asks it. If the writer is not discovering, the writer’s words will fall flat on the page. There is a misconception that writers write because they know something and want to share it and while that may be true in many cases, it is not always the case in much of the great literature and fiction we love. Writers write because they want to find things out. This does not relate only to facts and informational things, but also to philosophical things, emotional things, intangible things.
Instead of writing a story to provide  only an answer, the author who writes a story based on a question, shares the gift of discovery or the DESIRE for discovery with his reader, which the reader may not have even known she possesses. Kind of like when tasting a new dish, having no idea it would taste THAT good until after the meal has been prepared and placed on the table in front of you.
“Why are we here?” “Where do we go after we die?” “Do we just stop existing or do we continue some place else?” “Are human beings either good or bad or is there a bit of good and bad in all of us?” “If people have both good and evil inside, what makes some people draw out the good and others the bad?”
As mentioned in my previous blogs, (this is a driving belief for me ) , we are taught to write the two words “What if..” when we are lost for an idea for a new story:   “What if we are here on earth over and over until we get it right?” “What if all people are capable of evil yet only those who are not nurtured early in their lives draw from that evil while others who are loved become only loving and compassionate beings?”   By questioning and discovering, the writer opens doors once locked in the reader’s mind- untouched or nurtured, which invites new thought and reflection, lighting up the dark, neglected corners of our minds.

I would think that Frost would agree that a surprise uncovered and shared by the writer is the true gift for the reader, encouraging the reader to imagine,  reflect, desire, to think and to feel. To work toward discovery is to achieve discovery. And oh my, just like that new dish that turned out to taste so delightful -what a surprise indeed!

LIfe moves through disconnections as much as it moves through connections.  I read this line in Grant Faulkner’s wonderful “Mini Might” article for the August 2015 edition of The Writer Magazine.  He explains that he often, in his writing, focuses on what goes unsaid and unexplained to build suspense. Isn’t it true that what moves us in our feelings, opinions and subsequently, in our actions are the things we have to wonder about.  Whether we are wrapped up in what someone thinks of something we have done, or how someone feels about us which could range anywhere from love and romance to guilt, regrets, fears, doubts and so much more.

In writing, which reflects our everyday lives and thoughts , the writer shrinks down the regular tedious stuff to something that will draw readers in, resulting in tension and suspense.  Therefore, as Faulkner says, ” trust in the spaces of the story, in what goes unsaid. See how too much text can diminish the necessary whorls of mystery that a reader expects.”

Faulkner writes his stories, moving along through navigating through a situation and ending in a way that doesn’t conclude the action so much as to open it up.  Another colleague, he points out, has said that the last lines of a story should “create a silence, a white space in which the reader breathes.  That feeling the reader has upon closing the book. The “ahhh” that lingers long after the last page is read.

The most haunting stories are those that don’t provide answers, but open up questions. Life DOES move through disconnections as much as connections.  It is our questions that make us think and learn as a result.  I have been taught to ask a question when trying to come up with an idea for a story.  “What happens after death?”  “Why are some people treated so unfairly?” “What are the consequences to children of divorce?”  These questions are seeds from which a whole garden of stories can bloom.  And that is just the beginning. The best part is after the last lines of the story are read and those seeds are swept off the page, landing inside our minds and hearts, inspiring new questions and more learning.  By not providing us with the answers, but by opening our minds to the possibilities and inspirations, by providing the questions, or the empty spaces with so much potential, we are able to fill them in with whatever is important to us.  And that can take us anywhere.

Regarded as one of the most well known 19th century literary realists, Henry James was an American Writer who wrote from a character’s point of view, allowing him to reflect on themes related to consciousness and perception.  His work grew out of his creative use of point of view, interior monologue and unreliable characters.  He believed in writing to explore and to encourage  readers to think deeply about some of the major themes of life , such as abuse, oppression, conflicts of moral character, personal relationships and how the abuse of power influences the outcomes of those relationships.  James believed that human beings should ” Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost.”

Soak up knowledge- not only in academics but in the behaviors and motives of human beings.  Observe the world around you and learn from it.  Take away lessons and apply them to your daily interactions with everyone you encounter.  This advice works for everyone -regardless of the passion or pursuits, and most especially to us writers.  Writers are always researching, paying attention to what is going on around us, learning about people and about life experiences.   We explore themes and we create stories to “show and tell” what we have learned, or even what we still question.  We do not always find the answers in our research,  but we raise the questions and we make readers think.

Jack Smith, the author of Write and Revise for Publication, and two novels ” Hog to Hog” and  “Icon”, interviewed the Writer and Poet, Julia Alvarez, and in his article for THE WRITER, he asked her the question:  ” What can early stage writers take away from your idea to write what you are thinking, to find out who you are to understand things?”  Ms. Alvarez responded as follows:

”  Writers write not because they know things but because they want to find things out. And not just informational things- emotional ones, the whole landscape of human feeling, emotion and passion.  They want to experience things. they want to discover.  ”

She added a quote from Robert Frost ” No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.”

To summarize, if one is not discovering, the words will die on the page.  And for those  who do not write, if one is not discovering, the thoughts, goals and passions will die on the page.  So, try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost and find a way to raise a question to make us think.

Remember when you were little and your parents took you to the restaurant (or you took your own children) and the host supplied you with a placemat/menu to keep you or your children busy.  The placemat usually included various games such as crossword puzzles, identification games and a “connect the dot “game.

Writing can be like a connect the dot game as the writer applies the following techniques to complete her “work of art”, much the same way you or your children completed the picture on that placemat:

Dot #1. Create a central storyline that sweeps the reader along on the narrative arc.

Dot#2.  Draw the reader into the story by creating precisely painted scenes

Dot#3.  Come up with well developed characters to get the reader to care what happens to them.

Dot#4.  Develop a series of actions and reactions that carry the reader along toward the endpoint or conclusion (to plot)

Dot#5.  Create a situation that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible.

Dot#6.  Create suspense to keep the audience on the edge of their seats anxious to turn each page.

Dot#7.  Give the story a conflict full of characters up against one another or forces they can not control, create drama.

Dot#8.  Mix in metaphors and similes and other tricks to keep the reader engaged

Dot#9.  Give the narrator a unique, authentic voice

Dot#10.  Finally, create a CONNECTION between the storyteller and the audience!

It does not take magic to create a novel; it takes these techniques, along with a passion for writing, commitment, LOTS of self discipline and hard work!  But, once the dots have been connected, the completed work of art will suddenly become evident, shining as the master piece it had been pre-destined to become.

On our three page list of discussion points, our book club leader lists first: Characters and Storyline.  “The way the author develops his or her characters affects our responses to them; at the same time, our response to characters is driven by a myriad of personal experiences.  Why one person finds a character despicable and another sympathetic turns the wheel of a good exploratory discussion on character analysis- the study of human nature”.

Tom Hallman Jr indicates, in his “5 Reasons Writing Small Can Help You Make it Big” 2010 Writer’s Digest article, that the key to remember that readers turn to our  stories is not for information, but for the emotion and the chance to explore and learn from others lives.  He reveals in this article how a publisher he knew of by the name of Janna Mock-Lopez would often use this approach in her time working as a freelancer for newspapers.  Her suggestion was to look for the “unremarkable” people in the community, the ones that do not appear to strive for attention.  The people who live real, meaningful lives raising children, caring for their elderly parents, working long hours so that they could give their families the dream life they envisioned, or volunteering every sunday at the local church. Those are the people who have stories to tell, and they are the stories the readers relate to.

We often ask ourselves; Were the actions of these characters a result of fate or free will? Did our protagonist have the freedom of choice to act a different way or was it her destiny.  The attitude of the readers, based on who they are and how they think and feel, will reflect the way they assign moral responsibility for what happens in the novel.  Therefore, Hallman made a valid point in his theory, that the reader turns to the story for her own emotional opportunity to search for a link between her own world and the world she dives into when she opens the first page of a story.  And if the author of that story did his job, the reader will find meaning behind the story, enlarging her unremarkable life with the help of someone else’s.

“Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarbleton twins were.” In Margaret Mitchell’s famous ” GONE WITH THE WIND”, the reader is enticed by this opening ; perhaps not sold quite yet, but interested enough to move on.  Then,a little further along in the chapter, the reader learns along with Scarlett that her  one true love, Ashley Wilkes becomes engaged to Melanie Hamilton.  “Scarlett’s face did not change but her lips went white-like a person who has received a stunning blow without warning and who, in the first moments of shock, does not realize what has happened.”  Now, the reader can not help but be compelled to read further to find out how this enchanting person, who causes heads to turn, is so disturbed by this news.

The story did not start with an earthquake or a murder, yet it pulled in the readers by it’s mystery and disturbance.  The reader did not have to sit through a tedious recount of Scarlett’s entire childhood and daily thoughts to get caught up in the “interruption to normal life”, a disturbance in her every day world that moves the audience to find out what will happen.  It is what Alfred Hitchcock once said;

“A good story is life with the dull parts take out.”

It is the duty of the writer to guide the reader away from the mundane; a life of regular things that happen to everyone everyday, to take her on a journey someplace that will excite her, to remove her from the dull parts of the everyday real life.  Like a great chef who knows the magic of preserving only the most flavorful ingredients in his masterpiece dish, we writers must know how to leave the “dull parts out”, saving the best, most flavorful ingredients for our audience to devour.  Like life, the masterpiece is the result of it’s creators’ ability to make it the best it can be, minus the boring parts we do not need.