Character arcs aren’t just the stuff of good fiction. They’re also the essence of all personal growth and transformation. Little wonder, then, that some of the best shortcuts writers can find for identifying the most powerful character-arc options are those found in personal development tools such as the Enneagram. These days, most of us are […]
February 21, 2022 by 52 Comments Characters9 Ways to Approach Relationship Dynamics in Fiction
Creating an amazing supporting cast that can offer important relationship dynamics in fiction will also help develop your protagonist. This isn’t just because great supporting characters will add color, drama, and nuance to your story in their own right. It’s also because every supporting character in your story has the ability to bring out new […]
August 2, 2021 by 44 Comments CharactersHow the Antagonist Functions in Different Types of Character Arcs
Most of the time when we think about a story’s antagonist, we simply think of the “bad guy.” The antagonist is the character (or force) that opposes the protagonist’s forward progression in pursuit of the main plot goal. This is fundamental plot theory, linked to the old saw about “no conflict, no plot.” The antagonist […]
June 21, 2021 by 22 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 20: The Flat Archetype of the Elder
Within a Positive-Change Arc, an Impact Character is the character (or characters) who represents the thematic Truth and its potential to “impact” and change the protagonist. However, within a Flat Arc, the protagonist is the Impact Character. As we delve deeper into the Flat archetypes of the life cycle’s Third Act, we begin to see […]
June 14, 2021 by 26 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 19: The Flat Archetype of the Ruler
The Ruler represents the Flat or “resting” archetype that bridges the Queen’s rise to power and the King’s eventual surrender of that same power. As such, the Ruler represents the potential period in a person’s life in which he or she is in a position of leadership. This Ruler might be a literal head of […]
May 24, 2021 by 41 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 16: The Flat Archetype of the Child
In many ways, the Child is hardly a Flat or unchanging archetype at all. Even though we often perceive and remember childhood as a chapter in which everything remained the same (until suddenly it didn’t), the years before puberty are, of course, some of the most rapidly transformational of any part of our lives. I […]
May 10, 2021 by 28 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 14: The Mage’s Shadow Archetypes
Structurally speaking, it is always the end of a story—its Climactic Moment—that tells us what it is about. The Climactic Moment ends the external plot by telling us who “wins.” But it also, implicitly, ends the protagonist’s arc by showing us whether the character succeeded in arcing positively and helping others to do the same, […]
May 3, 2021 by 41 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 13: The Crone’s Shadow Archetypes
The final two archetypal character arcs within the life cycle signal a distinct departure from the realm of the known. After sacrificing herself for the Kingdom at the end of the King Arc, the seemingly diminished Crone, leaves behind the “real” world of Kingdom and throne and enters instead the spooky forests and liminal hinterlands […]
April 26, 2021 by 35 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 12: The King’s Shadow Archetypes
Throughout the progression of the six archetypal character arcs that make up the human life cycle, we see a steady progression of the character’s power. As we explored in the positive King Arc, this final mid-life arc represents the height of temporal power. The King is someone who wields a vast amount of influence not […]
April 19, 2021 by 55 Comments CharactersArchetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 11: The Queen’s Shadow Archetypes
A character who makes it through the Hero Arc is a character who has graduated into a brave new world—the Second Act of the life cycle of archetypal character arcs. This section of life, which deals with questions of relationship and power, begins with the first of the “mature” arcs—that of the Queen. But like […]
