by Sacha Black
A.2.
A.3.
Q. How are her values and beliefs linked to her motive/s?
A.
Q. How is her motive linked to his past?
A.
Q. Describe the obstacles this hero faces and how they increase her motive.
A.
Q. What techniques does the author use to build tension and increase the hero’s motive that you could replicate in your own story?
A.
6
STEP 6 - Arcing On A Journey
A character arc is an inner journey a character goes on during your plot. The arc represents the change in your character, where they begin your story as one person and end it having grown and developed into a different version of themselves as a result of the experiences in your novel. The pinnacle of your hero’s arc should be a challenge so acute that part of your hero has to change irrevocably to win.
Character arcs come in three forms: positive, negative and flat.
Positive Arc – a positive arc is the most commonly found character arc in both genre fiction and film. The protagonist will start the story in the dark, flawed and unable to defeat the villain. But, through the story, she will encounter obstacles that will change her for the better, enlighten her and give her the strength she needs to defeat her villains. She will end the story in a better place than she started it. A positive arc can take many forms including growth, healing and self-discovery, and usually results in happy story endings. Which is why they are commonly found in romance, Young Adult and children’s stories.
Negative Arc – a negative arc is simply the inverse of a positive character arc. The hero will end the novel in a worse position than she started. Instead of experiencing a journey of change and enlightenment, she will experience a sliding descent into villainy or darkness in whatever form that takes. Like the positive arc, the negative one can come in many forms, from being corrupted to being disillusioned. While there are always examples of villains with negative arcs, there are fewer heroes with this arc. Examples are Michael Corleone from The Godfather by Mario Puzo, Dorian from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and Cersei Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin.
Flat Arc – a flat arc means your protagonist starts your novel more or less fully formed. Your story is less about the change she undergoes and more about the change she invokes in the story or world. Unlike the other arcs where the story acts upon the hero, in this arc the hero doesn’t change, and so the novel is more plot driven and driven by the changes the hero creates. This structure is most often seen with anti-heroes or serial stories like crime novels or mysteries — think Sherlock Holmes. Also, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games arguably has a flat arc as she doesn’t change herself so much as change the dystopian world around her.
Top Tip: if your character’s arc is flat, ensure you create a change in your story world or the plot. Otherwise your novel will lose pace and tension.
Top Tip: the start and end of your book are like north and south for your character arc. They represent polar opposite character states. If you start at the end you create yourself an inherent map to guide you through to the story.
While there are a number of story structures your character arc can follow, at its most basic, these parts need to be included:
Flawed hero – all stories start with an inadequate hero — that is the purpose of the story — to push her through enough experiences that she will become a better person.
The hero has a goal – the hero’s goal and desire is what ultimately pulls her into the story, and makes her take the call to action.
The hero tries to achieve the goal and fails repeatedly – these are the obstacles and challenges your hero faces during the plot.
The hero has a realization – the hero discovers why she’s failing and gains a magical item or newfound strength or an insight that enables her to succeed.
The hero achieves the goal – the villain’s defeated, the hero’s flaw is banished.
Back to normal life – the story is complete and life returns to the new normal.
Series arcs
Just like your hero has a character arc, your series will too. There are three main types of series arcs:
Groundhog Day arc – the hero in this series never changes no matter how many books there are in your series.
Slow Burn arc – some protagonists mature over the entire series. They repeat mistakes and often encounter similar obstacles (albeit in different forms) throughout the series.
Multiple Stories, Multiple Problems – the last type of series arc is where the protagonist faces a new problem or flaw in each book.
Torturing your hero may seem cruel, but it’s far from it. It’s only at the point of intense resistance that we grow and learn. Torturing your hero is the best way to push her to this point. There are three types of torture you can put your hero through:
Mental torture for example, making her have to solve increasingly complex problems while juggling responsibilities and a home life. Think Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the series of increasingly difficult spells woven to protect the stone that Harry and friends have to solve.
Physical torture for example, such as an arduous journey like Frodo Baggins’ in The Lord of The Rings.
Moral torture for example, Ned Stark in A Song of Ice and Fire, and the inner conflict he faces having to pit his loyalty to the king against his deep held wisdom, knowing that if he helps him, it will likely lead to his death. Conflicting values, like conflicting emotions, build tension and pace.
DEVELOPING YOUR HERO EXERCISES
Q. What type of character arc does your hero have? Circle the answer.
A.1. Positive.
A.2. Negative.
A.3. Flat.
Q. What changes in your story?
A.
Q. What are the start and end states of your hero? I.e. the before and after change.
A
Q. If you’re writing a series, what kind of arc does your series have? Circle your answer.
A.1. Groundhog day.
A.2. Slow burn.
A.3. Multiple stories, multiple problems.
Q. Name three ways you can torture your hero mentally.
A.1.
A.2.
A.3.
Q. Name three ways you can torture your hero physically.
A.1.
A.2.
A.3.
Q. Name three ways you can torture your hero morally.
A.1.
A.2.
A.3.
Q. Use the below space to write out the major plot points and structure in your novel.
A.
DEVELOPING YOUR MARKET KNOWLEDGE HERO EXERCISES
Q. Think of two of your favorite books in your genre. What type of character arc does the hero have? Circle the answer.
Book 1
A.1. Positive.
A.2. Negative.
A.3. Flat.
Book 2
A.1. Positive.
A.2. Negative.
A.3. Flat.
Q. Think about as many books in your genre as you can. What is the most common type of character arc you see?
A.
Q. Are there any patterns or tropes you should take into consideration having understood the most commonly found arc type in your genre?
A.
Q. Using the two books you chose at the start of this section, if they’re in a series, circle the kind of series arc they have.
Book 1
A.1. Groundhog day.
A.2. Slow burn.
A.3. Multiple stories, multiple problems.
Book 2
A.1. Groundhog day.
A.2. Slow burn.
A.3. Multiple stories, multiple problems.
Q. Taking the heroes from the above books, identify three ways the author tortures his character.
Book 1
A.1.
A.2.
A.3.
Book 2
A.1.
A.2.
A.3.
Q. What tools or techniques can you take from the author that you could usefully replicate in your own stories?
A.
Q. Choose one of the heroes from above. What are her start and end states and how does she change?
A.
7
STEP 7 - Crafting Conflict
I often hear writers weeping over the complexity of creating conflict. But, in reality, when you break ‘conflict’ down to its itty-bitty components, it’s as simple as:
A + B = C
Or
The existence of a goal + prevention of the goal being achieved = conflict.
That’s it.
Okay, not it. Of course, there are a million ways you can create conflict. But those ways can often wrap an author into a subplot hell-mare. Still. The point is, if you wipe away the subplots, dust down the descriptive prose and banish the witty dialogue, you can get to the core of conflict:
Create a goal… stop the goal coming to fruition.
Top Tip: make sure the conflict you create is specific to both the hero and villain. That way, they’ll both invest in fighting each other.
There are three major types of conflict:
Macro conflicts are large scale world wars — society against the hero.
Micro conflicts are more interpersonal as a form of conflict — the battles the hero has with personal relationships.
Inner conflicts are the smallest unit of conflict as it’s internal only to the hero. It’s the conflict the hero has over his own flaws, emotions and values.
Top Tip: if you layer different types of conflict on top of each other, it helps to keep the pace tight and raise the tension and emotion of your story. Try to vary the type of conflict rather than having multiple layers of the same type of conflict.
Maslow, an infamous psychologist, is famed for having created the hierarchy of needs in 1943. In dystopian novels, or any other literature settings for that matter, one of the easiest ways to create conflict is to restrict one of the lower, more basic needs: food, water, oxygen, sleep or shelter. They are essential to life, and when you don’t have them you die. Sounds dramatic, right? Well, that’s why it creates conflict and characters will fight for them.
Of course, you can create conflict using the higher needs too, although the higher you go, the more personal the conflict is likely to be. Self-actualization is an internal battle to achieve your personal potential. It is influenced less by external factors and more by personal grit and determination. Self-actualization is in the name: it only affects the ‘self’, whereas basic needs like food and water are a global need and affect billions.
The lower the need, the more global the conflict. The higher the need, the more internal the conflict.
Top Tip: adding doubt, lies, misunderstandings and false assumptions in your hero’s mind make the conflict more acute.
DEVELOPING YOUR HERO EXERCISES
Q. What type/s of conflict do you have in your novel?
A.1. Macro.
A.2. Micro.
A.3. Inner.
Q. If you don’t have all three, outline how you could layer more conflict into your novel below.
A.
Q. How could you use the following to create conflict in your story?
Macro Conflict
A.1. Government or society.
A.2. Religion.
A.3. Power.
Micro Conflict
A.4. Family.
A.5. Secrets.
A.6. Competition.
Inner Conflict
A.7. Wounds.
A.8. Fear.
A.9. Love.
A.10. Values.
Q. How could you make the odds seem impossible for your hero to win?
A.
Q. Everyone loves a twist. How can you turn a success into a disaster for your hero?
A.
Q. What does your hero doubt?
A.
Q. How can you use that doubt to increase the conflict?
A.
Q. What does your hero misunderstand or make an assumption about?
A.
Q. How does this assumption raise the conflict?
A.
DEVELOPING YOUR MARKET KNOWLEDGE HERO EXERCISES
Q. Think of your favorite heroes in your genre. Identify a hero that has the following types of conflict in their story.
Macro Conflict
A.1. Government or society.
A.2. Religion.
A.3. Power.
Micro Conflict
A.4. Family.
A.5. Secrets.
A.6. Competition.
Inner Conflict
A.7. Wounds.
A.8. Fear.
A.9. Love.
A.10. Values.
Q. Describe a situation where a hero in your genre experiences a success that turns into a disaster.
A.
Q. What tools or techniques did the author use to turn the success into a disaster and how could you replicate those techniques in your own work?
A.
Q. Describe a situation where a hero in your genre misunderstands a situation or makes a bad assumption.
A.
Q. How does this raise the conflict in the story?
A.
Q. Think about your five favorite books from your genre. What patterns or tropes can you identify in the types of conflict?
A.
Q. Take one of those books and identify the type/s of conflict in the novel.
A.1. Macro.
A.2. Micro.
A.3. Inner.
Q. If the novel has more than one type of conflict, describe how the conflict is layered.
A.
Q. What can you learn from how the author has layered the conflict?
A.
8
STEP 8 - Cliches V.S. Tropes
There’s a difference between clichés and tropes. One is supremely useful for a writer, the other is going to lose you readers.
Clichés are words, phrases, expressions or scenes that have been overused to the point they’ve become predictable and unoriginal. Examples include: And then I woke up and realized it was all a dream or ‘objection’ used in a court scene when the prosecutor is losing. These puppies, if you’re not careful, will have your readers groaning and reaching for another book.