Character is plot. I mean that as, your main characterâs arc is (literally) the main plot. If you think about arcs as something to put over or alongside an existing plot, they probably arenât working very well. Or at least, you donât have as much time or space as you need to fully explore both a good plot and a good arc. They are one of the same, so Iâd even say throw whatever idea you have about plot out the window. Theyâre called arcs now. Congrats.
This also means if your characters arenât working, the whole thing is going to fall apart. So Iâm going to relay what was taught to me about solid character creation, and finding your arc!
Thereâs five critical things that go into character building: Goal, Objective, Unconscious Need, Disrupting Characteristic, and a Formative Event. They all work very closely together, so once you get one going, the others typically fall into place. (oh, and they sound complicated, but I promise theyâre not.)
Goal and Objective go hand in hand, Iâm sure youâre telling me right now that actually theyâre the same thing. Youâre right, they kind of are. The reason I split them up is so I make sure I always get not only a journey for my character to go on, but a meaning behind it. Action and intention. So:
Objective: the actionable (your character can work at it) objective of the story. What your character is physically doing throughout the story. Frodo taking the ring to Mordor is his Objective, Rapunzel going to see the lanterns in Tangled. Mulan protecting her dad by taking his place. Essentially, objective is what weâve thought of as plot.
Goal: the intention behind the objective. Why is your character doing this? This is usually the emotional core of the story, where we tuck away arc and characterization. Rapunzel wants to see the lanterns to finally get out and start her life. Mulan wants to prove sheâs worthy. Your character wants to make someone proud, or hurt someone whoâs hurt them, or feel loved. This is the emotion behind their objective and cannot on its own be turned into an arc. One cannot âprove themselves worthyâ out of a void, thatâs the goal, you also need an objective, âprove themselves worthy through taking their fatherâs place in the warâ.
If you have these, great job! Youâve got a really solid foundation for your arc. What your character wants, and why they want it. However, if we just follow an objective and goal, your characters are going to feel very lifelessâso we need some additional depth:
Unconscious need: This will probably be the one you get stuck on the most. Good thing is, both of these words are hints on what to do here, Unconscious meaning your character doesnât realize it, couldnât put it into words, and Definitely doesnât say it out loud. Need, is the start of how to answer this blank space. Your character needs to realize something they havenât been aware of to achieve their goal. Or they need to realize a flaw in their goal. For example, a woman wants to run for president (objective) to make her mother proud (goal), but she needs to realize all her mother wants is to spend more time with her, and by using all her time to campaign for president, sheâs actually splitting them further apart. Mulan needs to internalize that she doesn't have to be bigger than life to make her parents proud of her and bring them honor.
Your need is character specific, which means no one else should need the same thing. If your need can apply to multiple people, you probably didnât get specific enough. Everyone needs to be loved, everyone needs to feel cared for. However, not everyone closed themselves off from relationships and needs to open up to people if they want to foster a connection. See the difference?
This step will directly influence how you write your climax, because it leads to a choice your character makes. They can either realize their need and adhere to it (Fine, Iâll take my name out of the campaign for president/call my parents/apologize to the people Iâve hurt) or continue with their objective despite it. Typically, characters that ignore their need after they realize it are considered to have tragic arcs. Getting your character to realize their need is the end of their positive arc, itâs what weâve been working towards all along.
So itâs important. Donât skip, yes?
Disrupting Characteristic: this one is fun. This step is adding a flaw to your character, specifically, itâs the flaw thatâs holding them back from meeting their need. If there was nothing holding them back, wouldnât they be satisfied already? So thatâs the easiest place to start with this one, what they need, and what could possibly be holding them back from it. If they need to see their father as he truly is, maybe their disrupting characteristic is that theyâre optimistic to a fault. This characteristic could be a thing the character does (idolizes their father, acts fiercely independent, etc.) or a belief they have about themselves or the world (self conscious, believes humans are inherently cruel, etc.) Itâs the epitome of their internal conflict, they need something, but some ingrained part of them is keeping them from it. Evil? Absolutely. But us writers tend to be.
The disrupting characteristic is the internal arc your character goes through, they are working and being challenged throughout the story to overcome this characteristic. So in another example, a romantic character may realize their parents led them to believe they were undesirable (unconscious need), and that it has no merit, so they gain a new confidence and overcome their self consciousness (disrupting characteristic) to ask their ideal partner out.
You see what I mean why I say all these steps work together. Need and disrupting characteristic and goal are so intertwined that it can be difficult sometimes to voice them apart from each other, but they also canât carry each other. A solid need and disrupting characteristic isnât going to do much if you donât have a very convincing goal. Make sure you can put them into words (preferably write them down) and voice them all as separate things from each other, and how they work together. If you can do that, youâre set.
Last but not least is Formative Event: this is essentially your beginnings of backstory. The formative event Is the (usually) singular event in a characterâs past that made them to be who they are todayâimportantly, that developed their need and disrupting characteristic. Your character showed up to school in their new dress and was bullied, a mom left, or a dog died. The reason they are the way that they are. From this, you can build up the rest of their backstory. Moana is chosen by the ocean, her parents try to keep her away from the ocean, she grows up unsure about the idea of being the next chief. If youâre struggling with backstory, start here, build around it.
(Oh, and you donât necessarily have to mention the formative event in your story, in fact most screenplays donât. As long as you know it, youâre set.)
Speaking of backstory, itâs our invisible sixth step (or⌠first, really) because all of these things you come to know about your character is developed out of backstory (which makes it a pretty good place to start). It makes sense, really, if these steps are who they are, theyâve become that way because of where theyâve come from. I tend to start with family when Iâm trying to discover backstory, given family is a large part of who we areâthen education, then home/community, friends, interests, etc. But thereâs no real âperfectâ way to do it. Just write, let your mind wander, add and take away whatever you want, and meet your new character for the first time.
So how did all of that give you your plot? Itâs through how they change! Weâve created someone who wants something, and needs something else, and unless we take them on a journey so they can figure it out, weâll never have a story. So that journey to help them realize their need? Thatâs your plot.
If youâre struggling with how to help them change, consider putting your arc into a logline (something screenwriters do, but I find it really helpful even in novel writing). A logline is essentially your plot (character arc) summed up in a sentence or two. It goes like this: A but B so C
A: Disrupting characteristic
B: Conflict (goal/objective meets antagonist)
Loglines are a tool for writing (at least in the way weâre using them), so make sure you have your full storyâending, character change, conflict, anything youâd find helpful to keep you on track.
Iâll often write a logline for each major character I have. Hereâs an older one about a character Iâll call âMarkâ:
B: His death has been predicted
C: Opens up to the others, recognizes he only has a little bit of time left, and should spend it with the people he loves (thatâs also his need!)
Logline: Private Mark Jackson obsesses over an unproven myth that promises the escape of his small life, but when his untimely death is foretold and every day drives him closer to his fate, he opens up to his friends to be content in a slightly different life than he had imagined for himself.
Loglines are great because they have it all!
Private (additional characteristic) Mark Jackson obsesses (disrupting characteristic) over an unproven myth (objective) that promises the escape of his small life (goal), but when his untimely death is foretold and every day drives him closer to his fate (conflict), he opens up to his friends (need) to be content in a slightly different life than he had imagined for himself (change).
You see how the entire story is right there in that sentence? This is a great place to start before we move onto officially outlining next week, so save your work, weâll come back to it!
To get a good handle on all this, Iâd recommend watching your favourite movies or reading your favourite book and filling out as many steps as you can, then creating loglines for each major character. Disney movies especially stick to this structure (thus all the examples) and typically have very clear arcs, but anything works.
