By:
K.M. Weiland
Choosing
your character’s arc is every bit as important a decision as choosing the right
plot. Get it wrong in the beginning, and, at best, you’ll be facing massive
rewrites. Some stories will pop into your brain with an obvious character arc
already in tact. But other stories will require a little more forethought.
Fortunately, picking the perfect character arc for your story requires nothing
more than the answers to three questions.
What’s Your
Genre?
Genre
won’t always be the deciding factor in the type of character
arc you portray, but it should definitely be a consideration. As Harold Crick
learned in Stranger Than Fiction, stories follow certain
patterns: “Tragedy you die. Comedy you get hitched.” Positive arcs get happy
endings. Negative arcs get sad endings. In The Moral Premise, Stanley D. Williams goes on to
explain:
“Genre
films create certain audience expectations for the protagonist. Often the
protagonist’s arc is known by the audience before the movie begins. Such
expectations about the construction of the genres may predetermine how the
protagonist reacts to the story’s moral premise and conflict. This is because,
as Thomas Schatz explains in Hollywood Genres, genre movies deal with fundamental
cultural conflicts that can never be ultimately solved but yet offer a
solution, if only temporary and idealistic.”
Broader
“umbrella” genres such as fantasy, westerns, and historicals can tell just
about any kind of story. But most romances, for example, are going to require a
positive or flat arc.
Where Does Your
Character’s Arc Begin?
.
. .
Read the full article HERE!
~*~
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