Concept
Character arc
You might say: character development, growth, change
How a character changes, or refuses to change, between the first page and the last. Weiland names five main arcs.
- What it does
- Gives the plot an inner meaning: events become the cause of change.
- Ask
- Who is she at the end that she could not be at the start?
- Trouble
- The climax would play out the same with the character from chapter one.
Catalogue: Arc
- Positive change: Believes a lie, overcomes it, and the new truth sets her free. Maya learns that speaking up is safer than silence.
- Flat: Already believes the truth and holds on to it; she uses it to change the world around her.
- Disillusionment: Overcomes the lie, but the truth she finds is tragic.
- Fall: Clings to the lie, rejects the truth and ends up believing a worse lie.
- Corruption: Sees the truth, rejects it, and embraces the lie to get what she wants.
Connections
- See also: Theme
Sources
- K.M. Weiland, Learn 5 Types of Character Arc at a Glance, overview and “6 Foundational Ingredients”
The Positive-Change Arc and the Flat Arc are the “happy” or “heroic” arcs
- K.M. Weiland, Learn 5 Types of Character Arc at a Glance: The 3 Negative Arcs, overview
The Disillusionment Arc, the Fall Arc, and the Corruption Arc
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Character arc" (character-arc) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal