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Can someone give me an example of a bad character arc?
I've never given much thought to character arcs, but they're something that comes up over and over again. What exactly makes a bad one? I've got plenty of examples of GOOD characters, but I'm hoping someone can show me someone with a bad arc so I can at least figure out where I can go wrong.
And BQ: What IS a character arc? I'm thinking it's how a character changes, but I don't know what kind of change has to be (do external changes count? Emotional states, like happiness and sadness? Does it only count if facets of who they are as a person change?). For example, Character A is happy until her father is murdered by Character B. Character A learns how to fight and then overcomes obstacles to finally bring Character B to justice. Character A is happy again. That's really simplified, but assuming it stretches out over an entire book, does that count as a decent character arc?
1 Answer
- Anonymous8 years agoFavorite Answer
I generally think of character arcs as an overarching emotional/physical/mental journey that the character undertakes. This could last over the course of a few chapters, one book, a series, it really depends on the intensity of the problem being faced. So, a character arc could be confronting the killer of your father, but also confronting the emotional impact his murder had on you, if that makes sense.
For me bad character arcs are when characters fall into tropes or overused plot devices and then suddenly emerge to solve the overarching problem. There has to be specific reasons for every action, and every action has to progress towards a solution. It's unsatisfying when you get to the end of a story and nothing has been resolved, but some magical/coincidental/miraculous thing occurs and sorts everything out. A solution is found, but the hero(ine) hasn't done anything to achieve it.