Hey, it’s Emily, here to wrap up Honeycomb’s Character Creation blog series! Thanks for coming along for the journey so far to hear our thoughts and keep up with our own Honey Heimsol! In our final post of this series I’ll discuss character arcs, which will also segue nicely into our next series, so stay tuned for that!
Character Arcs
As a quick definition, a character arc is the journey a character makes from the start of a story to the end of a story—how they change, grow, and learn. Character arcs give your characters direction, so their choices and growth makes sense both within the narrative and within their characterization. If a character makes a selfish decision, only to become self-sacrificing ten pages later, that is likely too quick of a character change to be realistic. Character arcs expect change over time from obstacles that force the character to adapt—for better or worse.
Writers typically acknowledge three types of character arcs: The Positive Arc, the Negative Arc, and the Neutral Arc. Let’s explore their definitions and some examples of each!
1. The Positive Arc
The Positive Arc is the most-used type of character arc, especially for protagonists. It involves a character becoming better over the course of the story, whether it be overcoming flaws, improving their skills, or discovering truths about the world around them—or all of the above. Positive Arcs often leave your characters fulfilled by the end of the story, having saved the day and reached their “Happily Ever After.”
Heads up! From this point onward, there will be spoilers for each of the plots and character arcs listed in the following headings, including each character's ending. If you want to skip an example to avoid spoilers, feel free!
Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place
“There are still some people in this world that we care about, so I say we try and help them become good people. Why not try? It’s better than not trying, right?” — Eleanor Shellstrop, The Good Place, Season 3
In The Good Place, an NBC comedy television series, main character Eleanor Shellstrop journeys through an inspiring Positive Arc. At the beginning of the series, she is selfish, focused solely on her own instant gratification and self-preservation. She reaches the “The Good Place” (i.e. heaven) at the beginning of the show, knowing she’s there by accident, and having flashbacks throughout the series of her selfish life. Some of these flashbacks show scenes of Eleanor selling fake medicine to senior citizens, cussing out an environmental campaigner, and selling merchandise to profit off an embarrassing viral video of her roommate.
However, Eleanor changes for the better over the course of four seasons. Of course, these changes are gradual. Initially, Eleanor’s motives are for self-preservation, to learn to be a good person from her new friend Chidi Anagonye, an ethics and moral philosophy professor, only so she can continue hiding out in paradise and not get sent to The Bad Place. But, upon realizing her own selfishness is causing Chidi to sacrifice his own morals and potentially his own happiness in paradise, she takes her first major step of personal growth: confessing. She risks everything to announce publicly that she does not belong in The Good Place. During the show, the writers provide Eleanor with many other situations that incite positive growth, helping her learn from the people around her, reflect on her selfish life, and choose to do what is right—even when it’s not easy or in her favor. By the end of the series, Eleanor has found friends and love, worked for the lasting benefit of mankind, and earned her spot in The Good Place.
Jonas from The Giver
“If he had stayed, he would have starved in other ways. He would have lived a life hungry for feelings, for color, for love.” —The Giver
However, Positive Arcs don’t always end with a “Happily Ever After.” Sometimes a character changes for the better, but must sacrifice their happiness to do what is right. One such example is Jonas in Lois Lowry’s The Giver. As an additional difference, Jonas’s change has less to do with overcoming a personality flaw—like Eleanor’s selfishness—and more to do with discovering truths of his world and acting on his newfound knowledge.
The Giver details Jonas’s home as a utopia where there is no pain, no hunger, no natural disasters, but also no love, no color, no music, no choice. Once his community chooses Jonas as the new Giver and takes on the forgotten memories of the world outside, he learns that the way his community works may not be morally right. He grows in understanding over the course of the novel, learning that you can’t be truly happy until you experience sadness, can’t see true beauty without seeing horror, and can’t truly live without first knowing death.
Jonas’s wisdom leads him to run away from his community—the only home he’s ever known—taking with him a baby scheduled to be “released” (killed) for not fitting the community’s qualifications. He risks his life to save one, and to traverse the unknown with the flimsiest flicker that something better might be waiting out there. The novel ends on a hopeful note, yet there is no guarantee that Jonas receives a “Happily Ever After,” that his sacrifice was worth it. Yet, it was the only choice he could make knowing what he knew. Jonas grew for the better, becoming wiser, kinder, livelier, but at the expense of a ignorantly blissful life.
Like in Jonas’s case, Positive Arcs do not always equate to better ending, only a better person. Typically, this means the receiving character ends their story fulfilled, but one can become a more moral person and still have internal and external struggles. As you work on throwing life lessons at your characters via the narrative, remember that not every character who improves must end at the same place.
2. The Negative Arc
As you can likely guess, the Negative Arc is the opposite of the Positive Arc. While characters with a Positive Arc improve themselves throughout the story, characters with a Negative Arc worsen. Whether by choice or circumstance or a nasty mix of the two, their character flaws only grow more potent.
Loki from Thor
“Ensure my brother does not return. Destroy everything.” —Loki, Thor (2011)
In Thor, the main villain Loki experiences a Negative Arc because of the jealousy towards his brother. He knows Thor is their father’s favorite, and now Thor is about to take their father’s place as King of Asgard, so Loki acts on his insecurity and sets up a “practical joke” he knows will take his brother down a notch.
Later in the film, Loki learns that his father Odin’s neglect towards him has a reason: Loki is actually the son of a frost giant. Circumstance causes Loki’s feelings of loneliness and worthlessness to deepen and his actions turn from pranks to murder as he attempts to kill his brother and the entire population of frost giants. Thor returns to stop Loki’s plot to take over Asgard, but can only watch in helplessness as Loki allows himself to fall into a void.
Loki’s core character flaw, his envy, only becomes worse throughout the course of the film. Initially, his goal is simply to be seen as Thor’s equal—a reasonable desire and one he attempts to achieve without too much fallout. However, the narrative hits Loki with more reason to question his worth, and, rather than choose to rise above it, he lets himself become corrupt. Loki’s goal changes to seizing the throne and terminating any potential threats to his leap for power, making him the story’s true villain.
Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby
“Can’t repeat the past?… Why of course you can!” —Jay Gatsby, The Great Gatsby
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, it is the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, who undergoes a Negative Arc. The narrator, Nick Carraway, first meets Gatsby at an elaborate party he throws in an attempt to catch the attention of his long lost love Daisy… who is already married.
Gatsby already starts the story as obsessive—with Daisy, with recreating their past, and with preserving the new life of luxury he’s built. However, though the story gives Gatsby chances to recognize this flaw, he refuses to turn from it which eventually leads to his untimely death.
Like Loki and Gatsby, most characters with Negative Arcs face an unhappy ending. The exceptions for this trope are more sparse, since even when protagonists succumb to their flaws to achieve their goal, they often still have a hollow and unfulfilled ending to their story.
3. The Neutral Arc
Finally, we reach the Neutral Arc—also often called a Flat Arc. Unlike the Positive Arc and the Negative Arc, the Neutral Arc does not typically result in any character growth—hence its name. Often, a Neutral Arc has less to do with the character themself and more to do with how that character shapes the world around them.
Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games
“Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!” —Katniss Everdeen, Mockingjay
Katniss is a shining example of what a Neutral Arc should look like, and one of the few examples of one from a main character. Typically, writers give secondary characters Neutral Arcs, but in The Hunger Games a Neutral Arc fits Katniss’s story very well. At the beginning of the first book, Katniss does not have any major flaws to overcome or lessons to learn for the sake of the story. She already distrusts and despises the Capitol, understanding that their methods are cruel and controlling. Her arc does not consist of learning that her world’s government is corrupt—she’s known it from the beginning.
The Katniss we meet at the beginning of the series is not all too different from the Katniss we know at the end of the series, excepting some additional trauma. Instead, Katniss’s arc revolves simply around her survival within the Hunger Games and her journey of becoming the Mockingjay, helping take down the Capitol and establish peace in Panem. Her lack of moral growth, however, does not make her any less of a compelling protagonist.
Leia Organa from Star Wars
“I don't know what you're talking about. I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan…” —Leia Organa, A New Hope
Another example of a beloved character with little to no character growth is Princess Leia. Like Katniss, Leia already has a clear sense of who she is and what the world is like around her. She has a clear vision she plans to bring to reality as well, including dismantling the oppressive empire—such is her duty as royalty.
The growth audiences see in Leia is less about her character strengths improving and more about her journey of finding a new family after so much loss. Leia’s arc is about rebuilding—rebuilding the galaxy and rebuilding her life. But she always had the resolve to do so. She simply needed to achieve it.
The Beauty of Many
As you work on your novel and the individual paths of your characters, consider these three character arcs. The main and background characters of your story should convey a variety of these arcs, not just of each of the three categories but in how you use them. Maybe you have two heroes who both have a Positive Arc, but one achieves the standard happy ending and the other suffers for their morality. Maybe all your antagonists predictably have a Negative Arc but unpredictably for different reasons: one willingly succumbs to corruption, another chooses immorality out of fear, and another is only a victim of circumstance.
A way I explore arc-variety in my trilogy is by letting one arc shift into another. My two protagonists both have Negative Arcs in the 1st book, believing the lies villains whisper into their ears and becoming the worst versions of themselves. However, halfway through the 2nd book, they learn the truth and realize their folly, choosing to turn from their destructive paths and work towards peace. The end of the 3rd book leaves both protagonists better people with fulfilling endings. So don’t feel trapped into one category! Experiment, expand, and explore the tools at your disposal.
Honey Heimsol and the Road to Change
Throughout this series, we’ve learned a lot about Honey. She’s a tapestry weaver, a storyteller. She’s a dreamer, but she is content only dreaming, never leaving the safety of her life in Ilverseed. The inciting incident—her little brother’s disappearance—disrupts her status quo, suddenly making the “real world” real. The risky roads she never thought she would have to encounter she must now brave, especially after learning that her brother might be in danger. Readers will get to see Honey step outside her comfort zone, discover the world first-hand instead of through books, and become a resourceful adventurer.
Honey’s change continues when she eventually finds her brother but learns that bringing him home may not be as easy as she anticipated. Suddenly, Honey must face the truth that she cannot control every facet of her cookie-cutter dream for the future and that maybe a life cooped up in a small village isn’t enough for everyone. Her world gets wider as she has to accept that not everyone is like her.
The final and biggest factor of Honey’s growth comes from making new discoveries about the kingdom she lives in and the dangers that lurk, as well as the role she plays within it and her hidden heritage. These revelations disrupt Honey’s sense of self and force her to rise to a greater responsibility than she could have ever anticipated.
The plot points in Honey’s story take her from being resistant to change, close-minded, and meek to being explorative, open, and self-assured in her value. Of course, this character growth does not happen overnight. Instead, Honey’s Positive Arc is a result of a whole novel, various challenges, and her choice to adapt to the world around her for the better.
Keeping Up with Honeycomb
This post concludes our Character Creation series, but don’t worry! We have plenty more content on its way. While you’re waiting for our next series, feel free to reach out to us with any questions about character, arcs, or Honey Heimsol specifically! Also, don’t forget to check out our services on our website, including our editing and proofreading services and consultation calls.
Thank you for reading this far and taking part in this journey with us! Let us know through our website, email, Instagram, or Twitter if you have any suggestions for future posts or blog series. We look forward to hearing from you! Till then, bee brilliant!
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