Character development arc: what it is and what types exist

Characters are the key to a story. They must behave in a coherent way with what surrounds them and, in addition, they must be correctly drawn to be credible. One of the strong points when creating these characters is the arc of character development..

But... What exactly does this concept refer to? Next, we will try to explain what it consists of and what are the different types of development arc that we can find.

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What is the character development arc?

We call character development arc the evolution that the character experiences throughout the story.

That is to say, a character will never be the same at the beginning as at the end of a story, since the same plot exposes him to a series of transformations. In other words, the story puts him through an obstacle course, and it is the character's response to this race that will determine his evolution.

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Elements of the story that draw the arc of development

Obviously, a character who has a happy life and nothing happens to him will not be able to evolve. Let's think about our own life. What makes us different at 40 than at 20? Evidently, life experiences, everything we have been learning as we live.

The characters are living creatures. This means that, like us, they respond in certain ways to changes in his environment. Let's point out, then, some of the key concepts for the transformation in the character.

1. The original personality

At the beginning of our story, the character must be correctly drawn. This means that, beyond their physical appearance, which is not so important when facing the transformation, we must make clear what his personality is.

Why is this important? Because only if we establish correctly what the character is like in the starting square, that is, in the first chapters of the plot, we will be able to assess what his evolution has been throughout history.

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2. The environment of the character

It is as or more important than the original personality, since it is the world in which the character operates. In other words, It's his comfort zone, it's the context he's used to. Let's give an example.

Let's imagine that our protagonist is a farmer who lives very happily with his wife and his children on a remote farm in Australia. If we do not remove our character from that farm and from that context, no change in his personality will be triggered. He will simply continue to do what he has done up to now.

3. the obstacle

Once we have drawn both the original personality and the context of the character, it is time to pose an obstacle. This is the most important element, since it will be this obstacle that will set it in motion, the one that will activate it.

Let's go back to the case of our farmer from Australia. Let's imagine that, one day, he receives a letter informing him that his land is going to be expropriated to build a highway. It is very likely that this news will cause him a shock, since it supposes the destruction of the world that he knows, of his home, of life as he understands it. In a word: it means the end of his happiness. At this point, the farmer will move to respond to this "aggression".

This movement, by the way, does not necessarily have to be positive. We will see it in another section, when we discuss the different types of character development. But first, let's mention one last essential element as far as the character development arc is concerned.

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4. the ultimate personality

We have the character moving driven by that obstacle that has taken him, let's put it that way, from his comfort zone. Along the history, the character has undergone a series of internal transformations, parallel to his actions. If we have built the whole process well, the final personality of our character will be different from his original personality.

Is not always that way; there are flat characters that barely evolve, and it does not mean that the story is badly built. Simply, we must take into account the very nature of the story and what each of them asks for. It is not the same, for example, a superhero story (which, by definition, does not usually evolve too much) than a plot that revolves around a teenager who must learn to live without her father, for example.

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Types of development arc

K. m. Weiland, in his book Creating character arcs, distinguishes 3 types of character development arc:

1. The upward or positive arc of development

As its name suggests, this development arc marks a positive evolution. That is to say, the character's character improves and, with it, their way of interacting with the world and with the rest of the characters.

2. The downward or negative arc of development

In this case, the character undergoes a negative evolution, which makes him end the story worse than he started it. That is to say, the character has not been able to adapt to the changes or overcome the obstacles that have been imposed.

3. The arc of neutral or flat development

The character hardly suffers alterations in his original personality. This type of development It is very common, as we have already mentioned, in archetype characters, as is the case with superheroes or villains in stories.

The intensity of evolution

There is another classification of character development arcs, based in this case on the intensity of the change that occurs. Antonio Sánchez Escalonilla, in his book Film script strategies, proposes the following classification:

1. flat development

evolution is minimal and hardly alters the personality of the character.

2. moderate development

Although the evolution is still very slight, we are no longer facing a flat character. Sometimes, the final personality can be very different because, despite being a low intensity evolution, if it is sustainable over time and lasts throughout history, it can cause considerable changes.

3. radical development

In this case, when the story ends, the character has undergone very profound changes. Obstacles have taken their toll on his personality to the point of causing a major change within. This radical change can be positive or negative.

4. traumatic development

The latter is the most radical of all, since we obtain it by subjecting the character to a very acute crisis. In this case, the character who ends the story is someone radically different from the one who begins it.

5. circular development

There is one last type of exchange, and it is circular. As its name indicates, the character does not follow a linear evolution, but returns to the starting point, then moves away again, and so on until the end of the story. Despite being called circular development, the character who ends the story is not the same one who started it. As in the other evolutions, it has undergone changes; the difference is that his path has been much longer and more complex.

This is perhaps the most credible type of development, since, in real life, our evolutions are not linear, and we are constantly subject to advances and setbacks. Therefore, this type of development is highly recommended for realistic stories.

We hope that this brief summary of what the character development arcs are and their typology helps you understand better the evolution of the characters of your favorite stories and, why not, encourage you to write one (or many!).