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Character Arc

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hallowedthings:
Has Jim given any other advice on how to write a character arc than what's on his LiveJournal? I couldn't really glean much from it.

This is something I have a lot of trouble with. It might be because I grew up on comics, but character arcs generally feel unecessary to me (though not because they're bad or anything) and I don't tend to write them purposely into my stories. Well that's not true; everyone around my MC changes, but my MC stays the same, because I always create MCs with the qualities I like in a series main character: active and competent but fallibe.

It's not like I'm resistant to change, but I only want to do it when I think of something sufficiently dramatic, and never because I feel there needs to be some character arc running alongside the story arc.

Normally I'd just throw the whole character arc advice out of the window, along with a lot of McKee's other blanket statements/formulaic advice (in a take-what-you-need-and-leave-the-rest way), but it's something a lot of people praise Jim for and so I think it's worth looking into. If HE says it's crucial, I'll listen, haha. As I said, I grew up on comic books so the emotional impact of the main character growing tends to be lost on me. The majority of my favourite characters are essentially reader surrogates with enough personality to feel realistic.

I like to hop on to someone relatable who navigates an exciting world and occasionally does Very Cool Things. As you've probably guessed, I'm a plot/action junkie...! They don't need to change for me to be happy, as long as they're well rounded and always actively engaging with the people and problems around them.

LizW65:
Unless you're writing a CSI or Law and Order-type story where all the characters are more or less interchangable and serve only to relate expository dialogue, I think some character growth is expected and inevitable, even if it's just an increase in competence or acquisition of a new skill. A friendship can grow into love, an enemy can become an ally or vice versa, the protagonist can suffer a crisis of conscience or PTSD and decide to give up his/her role as an action hero, or can have some kind of epiphany that helps to solve the current problem. All these things function as a character arc, whether it occurs over the course of one book or several.

Ulfgeir:
Take a look at the SF-series Babylon 5, and compare that to Star Trek. B5 had a clear arc planned for all 5 seasons, all major characters had their own arcs and everything held together. Star Trek on the other hand seems to have absolutely zero continuity, and thus every episode is stand alone things.

Galvatron:
To me, if a character doesnt change and grow based what happens to them, I get bored with it.

A character doesnt have to change its core beliefs to grow, but growth is needed to make the character not seem flat.  Of cousre thats my reading taste, I suppose everyone likes different things.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: Galvatron on January 28, 2013, 06:00:47 PM ---To me, if a character doesnt change and grow based what happens to them, I get bored with it.
A character doesnt have to change its core beliefs to grow, but growth is needed to make the character not seem flat.  Of cousre thats my reading taste, I suppose everyone likes different things.

--- End quote ---

What counts as change, though ?

I mean, if you spend a book getting to know a character in ways where the character is not themselves changing, but how you see them is because you are learning more about them, does that count ?

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