Understanding Story Structure and Character Arcs

Free Download: Understand Story Structure and Character Arcs

Today, we’re diving deep into the magic of character arcs and how they intertwine with story structure and plot.

I'll share insights on developing authentic characters so readers will empathize with them and want to know more.

We'll chat about different character arcs—positive, negative, and flat—and how understanding these can enrich your storytelling. 

Plus, I'll debunk myths about story structure being formulaic and show you how it’s essential for guiding your characters' emotional journeys. 

By the end of this episode, you’ll have practical tips to develop compelling characters and a story your readers will love!


00:00 Introduction to Character Arcs
02:29 Exploring Story Structure
06:27 Diving into Character Arcs
09:19 Understanding Character Development
19:31 Practical Tips for Writers
20:36 Conclusion and Resources

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

I like to think of story structure as scaffolding. And one of my favorite ways to demonstrate this is to picture a roller coaster. And then imagine yourself riding one. There's highs, lows, moments of mounting tension, anticipation, terror, release, and joy. At the end, you're grinning like a fool. It's an emotional experience. That's what story structure gives us as readers. The emotional ride that we're looking for. Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacy Fraser, a formally repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories: the one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Write It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hi, writer. Welcome back to another episode of the Write It Scared Podcast. I'm your host, Stacy. So nice to be back with you today. We are going to dig into some essential craft topics. We're going to talk about story structure, plot, character arcs, and character development. These elements are inseparably linked, and understanding how they interact together will elevate your writing. Last week on the podcast, I talked to Michelle Reginald on how to interview your characters to get them to share their secrets. And we briefly touched on the importance of exploring what your characters want, need, and fear. So we're going to take that a little bit further today and break down how to develop a character holistically through the lens of their character arc and examine how the story structure aids in delivering that arc of change. So let's begin by talking about story structure. What is story structure? Structure is something that can make new writers nervous because they worry about following a formula. And I know I had this worry when I started writing because I felt like how could you be original if you were just essentially following a recipe? But there is no need to worry. Story structure is in no way formulaic. As Sean Coyne, editor and author of The Story Grid, wisely put it, story structure is form, not formula. So I like to think of story structure as scaffolding. And one of my favorite ways to demonstrate this is to picture a roller coaster. And then imagine yourself riding one. There's highs, lows, moments of mounting tension, anticipation, terror, release, and joy. At the end, you're grinning like a fool. It's an emotional experience. That's what story structure gives us as readers, the emotional ride that we're looking for. Story structure provides the structural integrity for the emotional roller coaster that the character will experience as they or the world around them transforms over the course of the story. So think of story structure as the strategic sequencing of plot events, which produce conflict and together result in an arc of change for the character and the narrative as a whole. And the reason it works is based in our neurobiology. Human beings are neurologically wired to interpret stories a certain way, and it goes back to survival. We pay attention to things that will keep us safe. So though not all stories are screaming roller coaster rides, they can be far more gentle. There is a rhythm to stories that readers subconsciously respond to. They expect it, and if they don't get it, they will be disappointed, but they won't know why. So looking around, you'll notice that all creativity has a form. Flowers have stems and petals, trees have a root system, a trunk and branches, paintings have a canvas. So story structure is not just same old, same old formulaic rhetoric. It's actually creative engineering at its finest. So now you're probably asking, well, what type of story structure should I use? And that's a good question. There are many types of structures available that explain the nuts and bolts of story development. And most of them, at least in Western culture, are based on the three-act structure. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. And in the beginning, there is a problem. By the middle, the problem worsens. By the end, we find a way to solve the problem. So truly, it doesn't really matter which modality you choose. You can choose three-act or four-act, save the cat, the hero's journey, the heroine's journey, the W plot, whatever you like. They may use different language, but they all pretty much say the same thing. And that is this. In the container of a story, which is something that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, you're going to start with a character or a cast of characters who believe certain things. They'll be presented with a problem and it will get progressively worse. Then there is a crisis which peaks at the climax, and the character will either solve the problem or not. And through the attempt at solving the problem, the character will face interpersonal challenges that force them or the world around them to change. So again, story structure is the thing that gives you the emotional guardrails to create the arc of change that you will design for your character and drive the story to an emotionally satisfying ending for your reader. So the most important things to know about story structure is number one, it's not formulaic, it's form. Number two, you need it. Number three, find a method that works for you, be consistent, and apply it. Don't hop between two or three different types of story structure. It's all saying the same thing, and you will just be shooting yourself in the foot. And if you'd like more information on story structure, I have a free PDF guide that I will link in the show notes, which gives you a nice little visual aid because I always like those to visualize how the story structure works and what the character is meant to experience on an emotional level at each of the major turning points in the story. So I'll link to that in the show notes. Okay, now let's talk about how story structure marries into character arc. So what's a character arc? A character arc represents the transformative interpersonal change of your protagonist. And of course, other characters can have an arc of change as well. But for simplicity, we're just going to focus on the main character for now. So what it looks like in a nutshell is that your protagonist is going to begin the story with a starting desire and motivation based on a belief system and worldview that may be false. So this is how they feel about themselves and the world around them. And they are going to end the story with a new set of motivations, beliefs, and worldviews because of the lessons they learned by facing the conflicts presented in the story, and the strategic sequencing of events will provide the conflict and rising tension necessary to force the character or the world to change. And this change can be either positive or negative depending on the type of story you're telling. And there is also what we call a flat, steadfast, or static character arc, where the character doesn't go through any interpersonal transformation because they don't need to. But the world around them or other people or the situation around them will change because of who they are internally. And we'll talk more about the different types of arcs in a moment. But for right now, just think of the character arc as a reflection of what the story is trying to say on a high level, the point or the message that it's speaking to about the human experience. Now there are several types of character arcs, as I mentioned, and the fundamental question a character arc asks is how and in what way will the protagonist change from their baseline? And there are three basic possibilities, and we'll touch on each of them today in this episode, and then we'll go more in depth in the future. So the possibilities are a positive arc of change, meaning the character goes from a place of internal unfulfillment to more fulfilled, or they have a negative arc of change, which is where they begin unfulfilled and they become more internally unfulfilled by the end of the story. And then again, as I said, you have the static arc of change. This is where a person has no significant interpersonal change. And typically this character already possesses everything they need inside of them to face and conquer the story's obstacles. So it's not going to be easy. And that's usually the ultimate test of the story. They have to stay steadfast in their beliefs to accomplish the end goal. And this is where character development starts to come in. How do you figure out who these people are and how you want them to change? Determining what character arc is right for your story is a really good question. It's one that you want to ask up front when you're thinking about what kind of story is this? What do I want to say? And you don't have to have a hard and fast answer here. But if you think about what you're trying to do on a high level and also consider the genre you're writing in, those can be really good places to look for guidance. Stories with themes of hope and inspiration tend to lend themselves nicely to positive arcs of change, while cautionary tales and tragedies align better with negative arcs of change. Thrillers, crime stories, action adventure stories, they work well with heroic arcs. Those are flat or positive arcs. And personally, I think all romances should have a positive arc of change, at least for one character. Because how do you get a happily ever after or a happily for now if people don't change internally for the better? So when you're trying to determine what kind of character arc you want to shape for your story, my suggestion is to look at the books and the movies that you're drawn to that are in a similar vein to what you're writing and see if you can identify the thematic journey of the protagonist and ask what did the plot teach the character about themselves and the world that differed from their baseline? Was their change positive or negative? Did they change at all? And if they did change, where in the story did you start to feel the character shift? So going back to what makes up a character arc and speaking to character development, there are specific ingredients which you will use to develop your character because we're talking about change here. And if we're talking about change, then we need to understand what the baseline is. What are we going to be measuring against? And the baseline is your character's internal makeup, how they think, how they feel, what they believe, and what they value. We have to find all those things at the beginning of the story. We need to discover your protagonists' wants and motivations, their false beliefs, their wounds, their needs, their fears, and also their guiding light. So at the start of the story, given their situation, you need to know what they want, what do they believe, what do they value, because their wants and their motivations, as well as the things that they're afraid of and deny themselves, are going to govern how they act and react in the story. One of the main things I like to encourage my clients to think about is what does their character believe about themselves or the world that does not serve them? And this is called the false belief, also known as the lie. The false belief represents your character's internal battle, though they rarely realize that this is a belief that does not serve them. In fact, they typically think that it's protecting them. And this belief is directly linked to a painful experience they had earlier in their life. Usually it happens in childhood or in adolescence. And this experience is often called the wound. Sometimes it's called the ghost, or if you're a save the cat fan, the shard of glass. And it's an event, a painful event, that changed the way they viewed the world andor themselves. They learned a lesson there, which created a new belief, a false belief that they used to try to protect them against experiencing the pain of that wound. So another way to think about the false belief is the core message or operating system that your character grew to believe in and depend upon to survive in the world. And again, it's rooted in that wounding event from their earlier life. And the false belief is the thing that keeps your protagonist from growing into a better version of themselves. And touching back on the wound, it can be a single traumatic episode or it can be a series of micro-traumas. It doesn't have to be huge and it's something that can compound over time. But again, it's truly what keeps your character from being fulfilled and whole. And they believe that their false belief protects them and it makes them resist change. So this is a really fundamental thing to understand. What does your character believe about themselves that is not serving them and is getting in the way of them accomplishing their goals, whatever those goals may be? Or how is the false belief making the character go after things that they actually don't really want? Let's take a look at an example. We'll use Shrek. He is a classic example of a character with a positive arc of change. Shrek's false belief is that he's unlovable and that it's better to be alone. And this false belief likely stems from a wound of years of persecution of being an ogre. So you want to know your character's false belief, but you need to be asking things like, how did this character grow up? What was their life like? What were the major events of their childhood and adolescence in their younger years that hurt them? From this, you will get their internal baseline. The next thing to examine is the character's external want or their conscious desire, the thing that they will objectively be going after from the beginning of the story. So this is their goal, and it represents their external motivations, and it's typically founded by their misguided belief system. So again, looking at Shrek, he wants to be alone. He wants solitude, and then that is represented externally by his swamp. So understanding your character's false belief will allow you to figure out what drives them, what they want, what they value. And this will lead you to better understanding what their primary goal is in the story. The next thing you need to examine is something that the character doesn't often know. And this can be a little tricky because you, as the author, do need to be able to find this, and that is the character's need or their longing. It's also sometimes called the character's unconscious desire because they're unaware of it. They don't know that they need this thing. Or they think that they don't need it or could never have it. The need or the longing represents the philosophy they need to learn, the thing that they need to unlearn, or the psychological change or shift that they need to make in order to turn away from their false belief and become more internally whole. So think of the need or longing as the inverse of the false belief. For example, if Shrek's false belief is that he's unlovable and solitude is best, then the inverse of that belief is that he is worthy of love and friendship and connection. So once you explore your character's false belief and determine their internal baseline and then examine the need or the longing, you can see how they will need to change over the course of the story. And that will give you your character arc. If they are going to change positively, they're going to become a better version of themselves. If they're going to change negatively, well, they're going to become a worse version of themselves. And even if they have a flat arc of change, you still need to do this work. It will help you develop an authentic character. Then you can craft your story events and arrange them in a strategic sequence that will drive your character to either be willing to reach for what they truly need or turn away from it. Again, depending on the type of arc of change that you've designed. And because Shrek has a positive arc of change, we will see Shrek become willing to be vulnerable and reach for what he truly needs. The last thing to consider is the guiding light for your entire story. The guiding light is not something that's necessarily going to be clear to you as you begin to draft or as you're thinking about story development. It might not even become clear to you through your first round of revision. But the guiding light is the truth. It's the truth that fits the character's journey given the type of change you want them to make. So think of this as the thematic representation of the character's need or longing. And I know that's a lot of terminology, but basically it's the big message or lesson that you can extrapolate from the story that applies to the human experience. The truth can also be seen as the story's theme. So for example, the theme in Shrek is that love is worth the risk of rejection. And that is what Shrek has to risk. He has to risk being rejected. And for that, he has to become vulnerable, which is the thing that he fears. So from the wound and the false belief and the external object of desire, knowing the internal need, you can figure out what the character fears most. And from that, you can devise conflict and stakes that will really test your character's limits. The character arc, plot events, and structure can't really be developed independently of each other. These things are married together. And when you choose a structure and you lean on it, it can help you transform your character and drive them to embrace the change that you want them to make. So wrapping up, there are three types of character arcs: a positive arc, a negative arc, and a steadfast arc. And you want to look at your story's theme and genre for guidance to get a feel for the type of character arc that is right for your book and your protagonist. And it helps if you practice identifying these types of character arcs in books that you read and movies that you watch. Pay attention to the big moments in the story and how the character behaves before and after each of them. And remember, without transformation of either the character or the situation of the world around them, there is no change. So the takeaways here are that story is not formulaic. Its form and understanding it will help you develop the emotional journey for your reader to experience. So find a story structure that you like and stick with it. Stories are about change. Almost universally, they are about how a character changes. So think about the type of change you want your character to go through and then get to work on understanding who this character is and how they came to be the person they are when we meet them on page one. Why do they have these beliefs about themselves and the world? Where did they come from? What do they value? What do they fear? And what would be their greatest challenge in face of those things? And lastly, practice. Just practice identifying the characters' arcs of change in the books that you read and the movies that you watch and pay attention to the kind of genre that it is and ask yourself, what kind of change was experienced by the character? How were the events of the story set up to drive it to a satisfying conclusion? So in another episode, we'll go into different types of character arcs and break them down, and we'll look at the positive arcs and their different subtypes as well as the negative arcs. I'll probably do a separate episode on flat arcs because they are a little bit of their own beast. So stay tuned for that. And in the meantime, if you have any questions, you can email me at Stacy at RightitScared.co. I would love to hear from you. And remember to grab the free PDF guide on story structure, which is linked in the show notes. It's a nice little visual aid to help you visualize how story structure works and what the character is meant to experience on an emotional level at each major turning point in the story. Thank you for listening to the Ride It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.