NOTES: Creating Character Arcs (2016)

In previous “NOTES” (from the first attempt at this fiction thing 2006-2007), I was fairly comprehensive and thorough with my notes. I don’t think I’ll do that here and be a lot more “take what’s useful, merge it with previous learnings, and drop anything not personally necessary to me”. So if you want everything Weiland talks about, go buy her damn book and stop looking over my shoulder.

Major Frameworks

Let’s do an overall framework conversation first. There are five character arcs:

• Positive: PROT believes in a LIE (a lack or insecurity based on trauma, in which they self-deprive (SDP) or over-react (OVR)), chases after a WANT (external), but eventually discovers NEED/TRUTH (internal), and gets it in varying endings.
• Flat: PROT embodies and lives TRUTH and is tested in a LIE-ridden world. Eventually, PROT overcomes it by helping other characters see/live TRUTH, and changes the world.
• Disillusionment: PROT believes in LIE, overcomes LIE, and the TRUTH/REALITY is tragic.
• Fall: PROT believes in LIE, clings to LIE, rejects TRUTH(s), and believes in stronger/worse LIE(s)
• Corruption: PROT lives in TRUTH, but rejects TRUTH, and embraces LIE

OK, so that’s one framework. The other one that’s important to breakdown is how she builds the kernal, the core engine of an arc.

• LIE: This is the value, priciple, or belief that drives the PROT. It should fit nicely into a short sentence. It is the wrong answer to the CDA.
• WANT: This is the physical manifestation of the LIE. What does PROT do to extend/reflect the LIE at a deep level? They are “trying to salve their inner emptiness with exterior solutions”. WANT(s) are PROG(s). Quests, Inquiries, Network.
• NEED: This is the inner TRUTH. The story ARC is them going after what they WANT, but struggling against the LIE as it becomes inadequate to help them do stuff, and they realize they need the TRUTH more than the WANT.
• GHOST: This is the backstory. The trauma that kicked off the whole LIE and STASIS in the first place. So it’s also the BACKSTORY.

OK, last framework I think is important to squeeze every drop from this book. And that’s how Weiland applies structure to it. The structure breaks the world to typical elements:

• The Characteristic Moment: This is the first time we meet PROT. Most likely the opening scene. It has a lot it needs to do, like hooking the readers, while also being dramatized into a compelling scene, and establishing multiple pieces of information. I’ll include the list below.
• The Normal World: What I call Stasis (STS) or Campbell calls Ordinary World, or the first 25% in a novel. This is where the LIE thrives. How does this world keep the PROT in homeostasis? Contrast this world with the BWO.
• The First Act: I have lumped this in with Stasis (STS) to be honest. Weiland puts the inciting event here, or for me, the Disruption (DSR) to the stasis. Because it’s a book and the first act is 20-25% or potentially 60-75ish pages, PROT has time to hem and haw on it, refuse or reject it, and stuff.
• The First Plot Point: This is where PROT enters BWO.
• The First Half of The Second Act: BWO, or Act2A.
• The Midpoint: MID, or the Mirror Moment
• The Second Half of The Second Act: I don’t have an acronym for this section. It’s the section between MID and LOW. Maybe when I write novels I’ll fix it. BWOa and BWOb or something. I dunno.
• The Third Plot Point: Or LOW, the dark night of the soul, where mentors go to die.
• The Third Act: Don’t have a cute acronym here either. It’s basically the space between LOW and CMX.
• The Climax: CMX. Plus the Climax Inside the Climax. The Climatic moment. Occurs at the 90ish% mark?
• The Resolution: DNM. The Denoument. Almost non-existence (a few sentences) in a short story. One last chapter in a novel. A short scene in a film. Or just a single shot.

The Arc inside Structure

OK, so how does Weiland handle the ARC inside the structure? Let’s break it down.

1. The Characteristic Moment: The opening scene. This scene has several parts it must deliver on, along with hooking the reader. You want to show the PROT’s scene goal, but also hint at the story goal, the WANT. Demonstrate, or hint at the LIE (the one sentence value), and the personal weakness they have. BUT because you want to HOOK readers with a somewhat likeable or interesting character, you have to show key personality traits that show hyper-competency and/or dialogue/power-dynamic in a way that makes them INTERESTING. Longer list for the opening scene below.
2. The Normal World: The stasis (STS). Construct a world in which the PROT’s LIE can thrive. It should show exactly how and why the PROT is trapped in the situation they’re in. The PROT consciously or unconsciously made their world the way it is with decisions. It should be a symbolic representation of their inner world.
3. The First Act: This is the first 20-25% of the novel. In a short story, the first two to four scenes (up to 50% mark). There are six things Weiland says you must accomplish here.
   • Reinforce the Lie - everything you did in the opening scene and while showing the stasis, but increase in scope.
   • Hint at their Capability to Change - Show a seed that they can overcome the lie.
   • Foreshadow the Theme or CDA - What is the TRUTH the PROT NEEDS? What’s the potential first step they could take?
   • Give them an Inciting Event to Reject - Something shakes them up towards the plot. But they might not do anything about it yet.
   • Evolve Character’s Belief in the Lie - PROT still believes in the LIE more than ever, but doubt has settled in. Denial might be the first step. Or if negative arc, a desire is dropped. A taste, a glimmer, a rumour.
   • Decide to Take Action - PROT decides something must be done about that annoying inciting incident. It’s not the BWO yet, but it’s close.
4. The First Plot Point: PROT decides to do something about the DSR. If it’s a QST, it’s go somewhere. If it’s a INQ, it’s no longer ignoring it and taking the first step to solving it. If it’s NTW, it’s finally paying attention to the threat, or dealing with the “camel back breaking straw”. If it’s a gift/power, finally using it or accepting it. It is reacting to the DSR and going after their WANT. The PROT may want to stay in STS (or it may be an excuse for them to explore this DSR (shiny new object), but regardless, PROT needs to deal with this DSR that has upset their balance. Otherwise, there’s no story.
5. ** The First Half of the Second Act**: Where PROT begins to discover that “old rules (the Lie They Believe) no longer apply. Give the PROT pracitcal, applicable tools to overcome the LIE. Show how the LIE used to empower and give them what they want… how now it’s increasingly getting in their way. They get punished for believing and acting based on the LIE. Get them closer to what they WANT, but further from what they NEED. The WANT leads them to destruction. Give them a glimpse of the TRUTH and how it plays out. Just a glimpse.
6. The Midpoint: From reactive to proactive. (From gathering information to taking action, from witnessing to interfering, from bellyaching to doing the thing,) Mirror Moment where PROT sees the TRUTH within. They may continue to claim they believe in the lie, but the TRUTH starts creating confusion, indecision, and pangs of conscience for them moving forward. E.G. Realizing you were wrong, realizing you’ve walked into the lion’s den too late, realizing X is more important to you, realizing x wasn’t lying, realizing you have to keep someone alive, or take something with you as a cost, realizing you can’t just walk away, realizing you have friends now, realizing you’re actually accepted and liked, realizing you have a lot to learn.
7. ** The Second Half of the Second Act**: They’ve learned the TRUTH, but they still haven’t given up the LIE yet. If you present the LIE to them in external form, they may still take it, but it feels wrong. In fact, the TRUTH may have helped them get there faster! The PROT is vacillating between the two. They SAY they still believe in the LIE, but their actions reflect the TRUTH. You may want to contrast a scene in 2B with something that is similar in 2A here, but PROT reacts differently.
8. The Third Plot Point: Dark Night of the Soul. The Lie reappears front and center and confronts the PROT head on. The LOW is recognizing you can’t have both waht you WANT (lie) and what you NEED (truth). This is usually driven by the ANTG doing something twisty that preys on PROT holding on to remnants of the LIE. Must choose between sacrificing the WANT and reject the TRUTH.
9. The Third Act: They did the right thing but it ruin their life. They chose TRUTH and it was costly. The NEED is expensive and hurts in the short-term. We need to dramatize that. They shouldn’t be certain they made the right choice. Tempt the PROT into going back to the LIE one last time. ATTACK their new TRUTH. Test their devotion to TRUTH.
10. The Climax: ANTG batters PROT with LIE once more. If PROT doesn’t complete their arc right now… they are dead.
11. The Climatic Moment: The single moment that resolves the overall conflict. The one scene. Bad guy dies. Hero proposes. Girl gets the job. Frodo throws the ring into the fires of Mordor. They see the opportunity in front of them is what they need and missed it.
12. The Resolution: Bookend the opening scene. Show them in their New Normal.

11 Opening Scene Elements

Eleven things you may want to accomplish in the opening scene:

1. Introduce PROT
2. Reveal PROT’s name (probably)
3. Indicate gender, age, nationality, occupation
4. Indicate important physical characteristics
5. Indicate role in the story
6. Demonstrate prevailing aspect of personality
7. Hook readers’ sympathy and/or interest
8. Show the PROT’s scene goal
9. Indicate or hint at PROT’s story goal (WANT/PROG)
10. Demonstrate, or hint at PROT’s LIE (ARC0
11. Influence the plot – foreshadows later events.

Questions to Ask to Help Build This Scene

1. What important personality trait, virtue, or skill best sums up your protagonist
2. How can you dramatize this trait to its fullest extent.
3. How can you dramatize this trait in a way that also introduces the plot?
4. How can you demonstrate your protagonist’s belief in his LIE?
5. Can you reveal or hint at his Ghost?
6. How can you use this scene to reveal the WANT?
7. Does your protagonist’s pursuit of both the overall goal and teh scene goal meet with an obvious obstacle (conflict)?
8. How can you share important details about your protagonist (name, age, physical appearane) quickly and unobstrusively.

Five Types of STS (Normal/Ordinary World)

1. Great on surface, but has cracks. PROT’s misconceptions is represented.
2. Safe but boring, PROT wants to get out but can’t.
3. Lousy, but PROT stuck there against their will
4. Legitimately great, but PROT isn’t ready to appreciate it.
5. Giving problems to PROT they’re unequipped to deal with, until they travel outside of the Normal World.

Nine Kinds of Climaxes

1. Got what they NEED, no longer want the WANT
2. Still wants WANT, but can’t have it (gives it up) to serve NEED
3. Must do what’s NEEDED at the cost of EVERYTHING (including WANT)
4. Got what they WANT, but has mixed feelings due to understanding NEED now
5. Got what they WANT, but only because they paid attention to their NEED first (healthy ending)
6. Ignored NEED to get WANT only to realize (too late) how much NEED mattered
7. Protect WANT for “greater good” reasons and delays NEED
8. Got what they WANT but…
   • DIscover NEED too late
   • At a heavy cost (including NEED)
   • It’s more than you bargained for

Short Story Conversions

• The “Glimpse of Truth” in ** The First Half of the Second Act** is probably the CMX, given that entering BWO happens at 50% in short stories. Maybe. Or maybe this structure doesn’t apply if I keep trying to collapse things. MID and LOW collapse, yes. But perhaps the Glimpse of Truth is shifted to the CMX?
• First two scenes is about building the STS. Opening scene includes the DSR, hints at the thing that will push them into the BWO (at 50% mark). It’s about denial, doubt, or desire.
  • Dramatize the DSR
  • Show key personality traits (weaknesses and strengths)
  • Dramatize the LIE (they act in accordance to it)
  • Hint at the WANT
• The second scene hints at GST (you don’t reveal this in a short story until it’s necessary for dramatic effect or important backstory dump.
  • Hint at Ghost
  • Show aftereffects of DSR.
  • The LIE is threateneed
• The MID in a short story is when the PROT steps into the BWO.
  • They physically step into the new environment
  • The environment/game darstically changed due to new elements
  • Powers granted, wish fulfilled, transformation occurs
  • Scope of the MECH expands
• The scenes after the MID and before the LOW is Exploration. PROT must choose between WANT and NEED.
• The penultimate scene is the LOW where they make the decision. All in on WANT (negative arc), or all in on NEED (positive arc).

Rough Draft of Essential Elements

STAGE ONE: CONCEPT & THEME

• MECH
• CDA
• POV
• Vague-ish EGP w/limited PROG & ARC (LIE, WANT, NEED). DYNA?

STAGE TWO: ARC DEV

Build the Stasis - STS

• Ghost
• LIE
• WANT - PROG
• Hint at NEED via DSR
• Key Personality Traits (KPT)
• First Scene Goal