7/2/23
Character Arc
This is number seventeen in the blog series, “My Life In Erotica.” I encourage you to join my Patreon community so I can afford to keep writing.
THERE IS SO MUCH to be said about this subject that it is difficult to know where to begin. I’ve decided to zero in on how a character develops from the beginning of a story to the end. In general, I’ll say the story should show the main character (and other principals) growing over the course of the story.
I think one of the biggest faults I’ve seen in erotica is the lack of character development through the course of the book.
In Joseph Campbell’s writings, he talks about the hero’s journey. It is a classical cycle of character development that brings the hero from the beginning of the story—usually in ignorance and innocence—to the end of the story—with understanding and wisdom. One of the problems authors face is developing the character as the ideal they want for their hero from the very first page and not leaving him or her room to grow. He never makes a mistake and never loses a battle.
There are twelve steps in the full hero’s journey and they are divided between those in the normal world in which the hero is nothing special, and the special world where he becomes the hero. Part of the cycle, though, is that the hero must re-enter the normal world after the great adventure is finished.
First, in the normal world:
- 1. Building the ordinary world
- 2. Call to Adventure
- 3. Refusal of the call
- 4. Meeting the mentor
- 5. Crossing the threshold.
Second, in the special world:
- 6. Tests, allies, and enemies
- 7. Approach
- 8. The ordeal, death and rebirth
- 9. Reward, seizing the sword
- 10. The road back home
Third, back in the normal world:
- 11. Resurrection
- 12. Returning with the prize or elixir
These twelve steps are customized to a kind of fantasy, but are applicable to the development of just about any character. Even if the character starts out with some special gift—she’s a musician, he’s an acrobat or a painter, they are martial artists—the hero considers it ordinary. This is his life.
Then he is called into some kind of situation in which he must acknowledge his ability or work to achieve it so he can truly become the hero. This often involves reluctance to acknowledge the call. But there is some life-changing event: she gets her first kiss; he stumbles into a fight and must save the child; he falls in love.
There is a famous book on screen writing which has also been adapted for novel writing called Save The Cat! by Blake Snyder. He was a phenomenally successful screen writer who passed away much too early in 2009. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak just a year before that. Blake held that approximately twenty pages into the script of the most successful movies from Hollywood at that time, the hero saved the cat. He did something that showed his character, fearlessness, and ability to be a hero. This marks the point at which the journey into the special world begins.
Nathan Everett’s A Place at the Table (available on Bookapy) is a Bildungsramen, a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood. With his grandmother as an example and Meredith by his side, Liam evolves from a self-centered boy of privilege to a man people can trust to lead them.
This means the author—me—had to imagine the kind of person Liam was when he first met Meredith, and then orchestrate his growth to the kind of person he would become at the end. In the first five pages, Liam is faced with the challenge from his grandmother to become the leader he is capable of, even though he doesn’t really know what that means.
In chapter two, he meets his mentor and is doubtful about working with Meredith. In fact, he shortly shows that he is still a bit immature and show-offish as he challenges a guest at the dinner party, for which he is later chastised by his parents. The task for Liam is clear—become a leader and determine what kind of leader he will be. Then, in chapter six, he saves the cat. A little girl reaches toward the grill where he is turning hot dogs at a hospital benefit. He immediately scoops her up in his arms, saving her from being burned, and talks to her about what food she wants and what her name is. He later leads her around the park as a train, gathering the other children to be taken home by their parents. He comes across as an essentially kind and caring person and the reader can relax into liking him.
Through the course of the story, Liam does grow. He faces a challenge at his father’s business and solves a mystery there. He and Meredith learn to work together and there is an initial spark of potential romance. But he responds immediately when Meredith is threatened by striking workers and offers himself as a hostage in her stead.
During the course of the following chapters to the end of the book, Liam demonstrates a difference in his maturity and ability as he enters a negotiation with the same man he had challenged in the second chapter of the book. This time, the conflict is managed without offense and the two become friends. What’s more, Liam comes to an understanding of the various classes in this society that allows him to relate to all classes rather than just to the upper crust he is a part of.
This is describing more than character development. It is what I refer to as the character arc. There is a beginning state and an ending state. The story is built around the character’s progress from one state to the other. Too often, as authors we create a character—sometimes a truly wonderful character—but she emerges full grown from the head of Zeus, so to speak. At the end of the story, the character is the same as at the beginning. We can’t really identify any growth.
By growth, I mean something beyond losing his or her virginity. When sex is involved in that growth, it needs to facilitate the growth, not be all there is to it. Sex is not a cure for a rotten personality, for depression, or for social status. Sex is a stepping stone to help the character improve. Sometimes, those basic flaws continue to show up in the character long after one would think they have been remedied.
In the “Model Student” series, Tony continues to battle depression and the feeling of being overwhelmed throughout the series, even though he learns to deal with it more effectively. Having his little harem sometimes exacerbates the depression rather than curing it.
So, look at the hero’s journey and Save the Cat! and see how the story you envision fits into it. You might not hit every item in the outline. That’s okay. Neither model is intended to become a formula for writing your story. They are guidelines that will help you develop dynamic characters that smack of reality—even if they are off fighting orcs in Middle Earth.
I mentioned that the concept of character development was one for many blog posts. I’ll continue with another next week: Creating Voice.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
