On Character Arcs: Part 2, Be A Sadist

“Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.”

-Kurt Vonnegut
 

As I said in my last post, On Character Arcs: Part 1, The Psychology of Character Arcs, when a character changes in response to an event, it is incredibly important because, very often, it is the change that shows the importance of an event in the first place. What I didn’t say is that, if your character’s arc is a direct result of the events alone, it is going to be incredibly weak - even if the events themselves are strong.

Here are other important points to consider when creating your character--

An Active Arc Is Better Than a Reactive Arc

A character arc that is based solely on reactions is a generic arc because it is one that any character would have in that given situation. If you, personally, were running from assassins for the course of 300 pages, you too would be wary and mistrusting of those around you… it’s what’s expected! When a character is directly shaped by events, he is part of a reactive character arc. That’s not what you want. You want to show off your character’s most interesting traits and remind your audience why he or she is worth writing about in the first place. An active character arc does exactly that. It shows a way of being different from the way most people live their lives - and it is difference in writing that stands out.

Your Character Is Driven By Motivation

To quote Kurt Vonnegut a second time, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” Ask questions before you begin writing a story. What does my character want? How will their motivations change as the story progresses? Your motivation drives your character into the obstacles that change him. Frodo’s desire to protect the shire is what causes him to volunteer to destroy the ring. It is what drives him to say ultimately, “We set out to save the shire, Sam, and it has been saved - but not for me.”

This is an important distinction because it means that motivation is the best tool for bringing about character change! If my character wants to get that water really badly, he will go through some pretty nasty things to get it - and that can cause him to question the value of life in the first place.

JUST REMEMBER: Motivation can only drag your character through these obstacles. How they adapt to these obstacles is what makes them unique.

Personal Growth Isn’t Always One-Sided

Too often characters finish a story by rising to the top by overcoming all adversity and becoming the best version of themselves. That’s fine, but the best fiction emulates life. Very rarely do people become simply “better”. A person’s growth is a multi-faceted thing. A nerd might become good with women by caring less about them than he did before. Uplifting stories are great, but not every story is a story of victory. It’s more important to write something genuine than something peppy.

Your Character’s Personality Should Shape Their World

The strongest of stories intertwine story and character. As I talked about briefly in my post What Could Go Wrong, characters are the driving force of tragic plays. It is Hamlet’s inability to take action is what keeps him spiralling to his doom. Had he taken arms against his sea of troubles and killed his uncle/stepfather, Claudius, as he knelt in prayer, the play would have simply ended. If Hamlet were replaced with John McClane from Die Hard, the play would have ended very differently.

Your Characters Are Made for Their Stories

A character arc should reflect the essence of the story. Take The Godfather for instance. One of the key points of the story is, “You can’t turn your back on family”. The irony is that, in Michael’s attempts to protect his family, he hardens his heart to the point that his wife becomes afraid of him and leaves. Not everyone would become as cold as Michael does throughout the story, but his transformation is perfect for adding a touch of irony into the film.

Guide your characters toward the conclusion that resonates the most profoundly with your readers. Do it elegantly and in a way that shows off your character’s unique personality, and your work might stand the test of time!

On Character Arcs, Part 1: The Psychology of Character Arcs

"'There are rules for artificials, but there are no rules for humans - not for things that matter. We just go around wishing and hoping, putting our love in the wrong places, forming ideas based on other people's ideas and sticking with them regardless of what happens or what we learn. I don’t know why you’d want to be a part of that.'"

-Alan Turner, Tiny Instruments

Note: This is a short, but extremely complicated post that ties in my two favorite fields of study, philosophy and psychology. Please re-read as needed to fully grasp the importance of what is being said.

Good characters go through cycles. People have been analyzing these cycles since the beginning of fiction, but they aren’t as complex as most books would have you believe. Of course character arcs exist! If characters aren’t changed by the events around them, the events obviously aren’t important are they? If, for instance, a monk blessed by inner peace finds himself involved in a series of incredible events, but is never EMOTIONALLY involved in those events, we, the readers, will care just as little as he does… but why?

Before I get into that, let’s ask an even greater question: what is the goal of all fiction, everything from novels and poems to film and theatre? What is its purpose? Simply put, it is to trigger emotions in people who would not otherwise experience them. The only way to do this is through allowing your audience to identify with the fictional people the world has dubbed, “characters”.

So, from a psychological standpoint, in order for me, as a writer, to make you feel an emotion - let’s say, anger - I have to trigger your own natural sense of anger. I need to hijack your own natural response. If I write a story about a good man who worked and bled for his family, but still, despite countless sacrifices and endless loving devotion, his wife carried on a heartless affair behind his back - that might make you angry. The reason is because, through writing this character, I am offering you to step inside him and see for yourself how unjust his world is. Would you be angry if you gave everything you were to someone and they betrayed your trust? If the answer is “Yes”, you’ll get angry reading about it. If it’s “No”, you don’t. As with the monk, the importance of an event is seen through the eyes of our characters.

Most authors will give you this basic “formula” to explain your character’s arc--

Base Character

Your character is a person shaped by their past lives. They start out with a unique perspective on life.

Character in Turmoil

Many if not most of your character’s beliefs are called into question. They try to use their various perspectives to confront their various problems.

Changed Character

Your character, having found that many of his beliefs were either wrong, or were simply not ideal for survival in the world, has now changed.

I often see this model peddled as the quintessential piece of information needed to create a successful character arc… but the people who peddle it are wrong. Maybe some of them are good writers (I really have no idea), but they lack a fundamental knowledge of how character arcs work.

Change, the thing that defines a character arc, is important because it is a representation of emotional trauma. Again, from a psychological standpoint, we don’t change our perspectives unless we have reason to believe that what we’re doing isn’t working. It is something that we can relate to at a deep subconscious level. Growing up, you might have thought it was okay to steal until you realized that your actions might harm others. The truth is, you believed a great many things that changed as you had the experiences that made you who you are.

Change, therefore, is not some necessary part of a magic formula - it is what separates a character from a person. The “character arc” that your creation conforms to is actually what gives them life. With each change, you are inviting your readers deeper into the subconscious of a living being - which is what allows you to incite their emotions in the first place. It is an endless circle that you would do well to familiarize yourself with.

For similar posts, see creating characters and on adding dimensions to your characters.

On World Building

“So many things go into writing a novel, it's easy to forget that with every word you write, you are making a decision”

-Mitchell Bogatz

As the quote suggests, it’s important not to oversimplify word-building. Everything you write has greater implications than even you intend. If your main character enters a nightclub wearing a red dress, rather than a blue dress, this has a score of implications - intentional or not. That said, while the smallest details can’t always be planned, I’m a solid believer in careful, elegant world-creation prior to the writing of the first word. There are two parts to this article, the choices and their implications, and what you need to do to make your world strong.

Real Or Fictional World

A real world is often considered more limiting, but this isn’t necessarily true. For something to be set in the“real world”, it only needs the heart of its universe to function in essentially the same way. Technically, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is set in the real world; despite there being hordes of vampires, demons and other paranormal entities, beneath the layers of story, we are still on planet  earth and our international system of government functions in more or less the same way. By this definition, the world of The Walking Dead is not real, despite it being located on planet earth.

Both have distinct advantages. In the beginning of a story, a real world is more easily relatable. It is also far easier to develop complex characters in a world that doesn’t require quite as much explaining as a fully fictional creation. On the other hand, a fully fiction world, if done correctly, is more immersive and easier for readers to remember (as it is different than what they are used to). Because stories revolve around Ideas or Characters, many stories can work in either setting - it’s just about choosing the one that accentuates your characters or theme the best.

Choosing A Date (Or Level Of Technology)

Even if your story doesn’t take place in the real world, you are essentially always choosing a date. If there are no combustion engines, railroads or electronics, you can be on Xilibrith 2 in the year 7346 - but that’s still essentially the early 1800s.

Choose your date based on how you want your characters to interact. By necessity, most stories with early dates are either character driven or involve an event of a grand scale (typically war or the spreading of a disease). Again, if your date is simple and doesn’t need to be explained very much, it’s easier to focus on characters right away.

Geography

Napoleon was long credited with the phrase, “Geography is destiny”. As a bit of a historian myself, I couldn’t actually find any reference to this phrase in the early 19th century. Personally, I think this quote is attributed to Napoleon because geography played an incredible role in his life. Believe it or not, our modern world is completely different than it would have been if what is now modern day Belgium weren’t a rainy country. In the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon had planned for his attack to begin in the morning, but decided to wait until the evening because it rained; this gave the Prussians time to arrive and stop Napoleon’s army. Think about that for a second. If it hadn’t rained on June 18th, 1815, France might be the largest country on earth today. Russia might not be a super power. Our global governmental system would be completely different… all because of the absence of a few raindrops.

Geography can have as big of a role on your story as you want it to, but I’ll give this warning: don’t wait until you need geography to bring it into the story! If you have a story that doesn’t mention geography for 200 pages, and then suddenly a tornado comes into town and wipes everything away, your audience will cry foul play! If you need a tornado, then fine, have Peggy talk about a tornado she saw as a child in chapter 3 - that way when chapter 33 comes around, the audience believes you.

Small Village Or Megacity

This one ties directly into your main character’s personality. There aren’t a lot of positives or negatives either way here. A megacity is a little more convenient for events on a global scale, and a small village or city might be more convenient when it comes to bringing in lifelong familial figures - but this is far from the primary reason to choose one over the other. I’ll get to that in a bit…

Now that I’ve gone over the different choices, it’s time for some advice--

Choose The World That Creates The Most Conflict!

If your character is a compulsive explorer, put him in a tiny village. If your character wants to settle down in his family home by the lake, put him in a rocketship a million miles from earth! Figure out what type of story you want to tell, and after that, choose the world that makes things the most interesting.

Realize That People Will Not Give You The Benefit Of The Doubt

If you don’t already have a trusting fan base, you need to realize that people will automatically assume that you don't know what you’re doing. This is why Peggy needs to mention the tornado in chapter 3 - to show that you’ve done your homework. If something is important in the story, it needs to be introduced, even if it’s in a very subtle way. (See: Chekhov's gun.)

Don’t Use The “Ignorant Character Motif” Too Often

In many fantasy stories, there just so happens to be a character that knows absolutely nothing about the world he or she is in, so they walk around asking questions and getting explanations through pages and pages of dialogue. Again, if this information needs to come out, do it in an elegant way.

Don’t Over-Explain Things

This ties directly into my post, On Over-Description. Here are two snippets from that post that speak for themselves:

1) If it doesn’t come across naturally, don’t include it.

2) The more you analyze something, the more you invite readers to look for errors …

If your story is filled with asides, it will be frustrating to read! For instance, if your characters are playing a game in the Dharavi Slum in Mumbai, why should you take time away from this interesting scene to explain the rules? If you want to, you can always explain the rules in the appendix of the book!

Communicate Necessary Things Through Their EFFECTS

If we’re walking through the land of Albareth, and we need to know about the devastation caused from a great war between elves and dwarves, the easiest and most elegant way to do this might be through the effects of the war.

I don’t mean that Grills, the hero, should walk through charred land and then have Algernon, his elvish companion explain what happened. That’s just a disguised ignorant character motif! What I mean is that Grills should walk past trees that are cut down and not say a word; that his elvish companion should run into a dwarf who, without specifically saying why, treats him horribly; that dwarf children should run away from Algernon who, upon questioning, remarks, “It’s just a sign of the times”.

Do you see how, without actually mentioning a feud between elves and dwarves, we as the readers are completely aware of it? That is precisely what you should be going for, especially if you are writing in Third Person Limited!

Understand The Difference Between Complexity And Hidden Complexity

In many cases, knowing that complexity is present is a lot better than having to hear about it. Ideally, especially when creating a fantasy world, you want people to feel like there is so much information one couldn't possibly include it all. Feel free to make reference to events that you never explain or to use words that are explained contextually. Hidden complexity almost always makes a world stronger. Typical complexity can actually harm your story!