Story Arc vs Character Arc: The Importance of Having Both in Your Story

Prahsehss
Aug 11
2 min read

Prahsehss here with a topic that seems to be every writers mind these days. What is a character arc? How does it differ from a story arc, and is it even important? All will be clarified within the confines of this article. Let's break down the purpose each arc serves.

Story Arc

A story arc is list of the most important events of your story from beginning to end. This includes but is not limited to:

Exposition
Inciting Incident
Rising Action
The Lowest Point
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution

These are great questions to ask yourself when brainstorming the initial ideas of your story. Even if you don't know all the answers, it is a great place to start filling in the details that stand out. Most of the time, they end up being vital plot points that tie your story together.

Character Arc

A character arc is made up of the most important events of your story through your character’s POV. This includes but is not limited to:

Introduction
Flaws & Strengths
Trigger
Struggle
Development
Critical Moments
Revelations
Confrontation
Transformation
Final Form
Impact
Final Reflection

These details can be thought out ahead of time, but you usually learn more as you write your story. It can help to do a fun exercise where you make a character profile sheet and add in some of these points to the list. The more you know your characters and understand the thought process behind their actions, the easier it will be to write their story.

You don't need to have a character arc for every character you write about. The baker whom the main character buys bread from can just stay a background character. Be selective with who you want to create intimate fictional relationships with while writing. If you make a character sheet for every character you write, you may never write the story at all. Or you might just write the greatest story of all time. Anything is possible.

The Importance of Having Both

The outer world colors our inner world.

Our inner world affects how we react to the outer world.

It’s all connected. In real life and in fiction.

Basically you need to have truth to the stories you write, and that starts with the smaller details. If you know the world you're writing about and what it means to the character living in that world, then you will have all the details you need to captivate your reader from the very first line. If you have a connection to your characters and the reason for their actions, the world around them becomes a playground of solutions to their problems. Embracing both the outer and inner world of your story will ultimately connect the dots and lead you on the journey of telling the story you want to tell with clarity and authenticity.

Homework Help Video Discussion

There may have been a few terms in this article that you may not be familiar with. To save you the time of looking them up, here's a link to a Homework Help video that goes in-depth on the topic of this article. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask them in the MMG chat available free to all members of Storyteller Planet.