How to Write Fantasy Character Arcs Better than 99% of Writers

This is a full guide to writing amazing character arcs in your fantasy novel.

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Introduction
00:02:00 - Common mistakes
00:10:38 - 5 core arc components
00:24:37 - Writing a positive arc
00:26:46 - Writing a negative arc
00:30:01 - Writing a flat arc
00:34:05 - Outlining makes everything easier
00:36:11 - Theme
00:38:57 - Character arcs in a series
00:41:50 - Integrating arcs with plot
00:44:13 - (1) The hook
00:53:58 - (2) Inciting incident
00:57:24 - (3) New realm
00:59:28 - (4) Antagonist threatens
01:00:40 - (5) Midpoint
01:04:18 - (6) More pressure
01:06:57 - (7) Darkest low
01:09:05 - (8) Climax
01:10:07 - (9) Closing image

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[Jed_Herne]

"The bootcamp has saved me months or years of wandering with this story. This is the best investment I’ve ever made in my writing, and I’ll be referring to the recordings again and again. So if you’re looking to level up your writing and develop a clear path to a finished manuscript, I cannot recommend this bootcamp highly enough." - Christine Row, Fantasy Outlining Bootcamp student

[TheMightyPika]

1. Ghost: Shek grows up being taught that ogres are bad and everyone hates them
2. Lie: Shrek believes no one would love or be friends with an ogre
3. Want: Shrek wants to live in isolation in his swamp
4. Need: Shrek needs to open up and let people in
5. Truth: Shrek needs to realize that he's a good guy and not be confrontational/expect confrontation

[ricardoplancha]

Uncle iroh is also a great example of a flat character arc. We know he was once a war general and no longer is, but in the show itself he never changes, yet he is still one of everyone's favorite characters. And that's because he changes people around him, and helps the other characters grow and develop, especially zuko, obviously.

[Green-FUKUFUKUFUKUFUKUFUKU]

it's interesting to me that i notice most people write positive character arcs, but most my characters have negative arcs lol. even when i write a character based around "the lie they believe", the arc I write tends to be about them doubling down on it and being ultimately consumed by it, and i love writing how that arc ultimately ends and how it effects their friends, loved ones, enemies and allies.

[hattmamma]

Huh. At the begining of Ned's story he beheads a man, saying; "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die." His story ends with him being sentenced to death unjustly, and Joffery didn't swing the sword himself. Neat.

[thrwn]

This is why I'm subscribed to you! Instead of "pumping out" content, you wait until you have something high quality and then release it. This is an hour long video I am glad to have watched!

[TheGingerNeko]

This video just helped me iron out a problem in my ms that I didn't even know I had. Cheers!

[andreearenata]

This is the most informative video on the art of storytelling I have ever found. This has improved my story immensely.

[vincentvanaustin]

That story idea shared at 14:00 is an awesome idea. I really hope they write that story!

[Ashlyn]

Between you and Ellen Brock, I basically have a degree in creative writing at this point. Thank you for the incredible work you do!

[JustPeterSteel]

The thing I like about your videos is how validating they are. I tend to doubt the quality of my work a lot, but then I catch one of your videos and can confirm that I have already applied almost everything you suggest, despite not necessarily knowing that was what I was doing.

What you say about the first time you wrote a book also reminds me of my first manuscript. I was 11, maybe 12, and just started writing from the prologue with no idea as to where I was going, and made all the mistakes possible, until I eventually dropped it. It was too big of a mess, and handwritten, so not fixable easily.

I think too many young writers forget that the people they look up to for writing good books didn't just get there on the first try. In my case I've been writing for 16 years without ever even attempting to publish anything. In that time I've been free to experiment and fail a lot, and thus learn from those failures to do better on the next project. What you give on your channel is pretty much a cheat-sheet to skip over all the mistakes we had to make, by breaking down what you've learned, and I appreciate that, even if it is oftentimes redundant information to me, as it at least helps reassure me that I have indeed learned, and am a better writer for it. Cheers.

[davidbonacchi]

Whenever I have to write down a main character, I go through this video and I end up with the best ideas. Thanks a lot!

[rubendealarcongomez]

Jed, I can't thank you enough. Been writing a novel for a while now that ties together 3 character arcs; I was confident on 2 of them but completely stuck on the third one. I've read the KM weiland books explaining these concepts, yet I've been more or less banging my head against the wall trying to come up with ideas, to no avail. But your numerous examples and the "axis of Desire" table really have helped me to understand the missing pieces of the puzzle. Once again, thank you!!

[Gruzbee]

I've condensed the core components to just three: The Want, The Need, and The Lie. I've also used this for the supporting characters, to flesh out their motivations, desires, and expectations.

[littleheartlibrary]

The density and specificity of your advice is so much different than the toothless advice I see on so many writing videos. This is actually a great model for lots of things, I'm going to prompt my players in my next D&D campaign to use this during character creation.

Can't believe this is available free on YouTube. You're the best!

[thelaughinghyenas]

This applies to about any fiction and explains so much about the dullness in mine. I just saw it a first time to understand it. Now I will go through it a second time and directly apply it to my current story.

[sumgue]

Watching this video, I can only imagine how useful your courses are...

Maybe I just "naturally get it", I've watched nearly 10 hours of videos on writing and character/world building, THIS VIDEO has actually given me MANY things I can act on... And I am only halfway though it.

I was (thankfully incorrectly) starting to think I was just wasting my time watching all these youtube videos. No one is born an expert thanks for demonstrating that (it was actually starting to aggravate me that I was investing so much time into watching videos and learning nothing).

[JosephtheMerchant]

This is the best (or at least most useful) video on character arcs that I’ve seen. It’s also the longest, which might be why.

[unicorntomboy]

In my novella my protagonist is meant to become less likable as the book progresses, and intentionally have the readers turn against the protagonist and their actions. It features a negative character arc, where protagonist becomes more of a antagonist figure, going from good to evil due to childhood trauma

[umwha]

I knew a major video was in the works!