2 Essential Questions to Craft a Compelling Character Arc

If you want readers to fall in love with your protagonist . . .

. . . to remember them long after they finish your book . . .

. . . then you need to craft a compelling character arc.

To do that, you need to know: who is your protagonist?

What makes them unique? How do they grow and change? Why is their story worth telling?

And you can figure all that out by answering just two essential questions.

These questions are deceptively simple. But when you dig in and explore them, you’ll learn so much about what challenges your character faces and all the ways they’ll grow.

I ask these questions every time I work with a writer. And over and over, they lead us to breakthroughs about the writer’s protagonist—and the arc of their entire story.

Ready for the questions? Listen in! You’ll learn:

• The two essential questions for brilliant character arcs
• More than a dozen insights you’ll gain just by asking them
• How to identify your character’s most important change
• How to use that change to shape your story’s plot
• And more!

Plus, I’ll show you how I would answer these two questions for the character arc in a novel I love: LITTLE THIEVES by Margaret Owen.

And I’ve created a worksheet to help you answer these questions for your character, too. Get the worksheet at alicesudlow.com/characterworksheet.

Links mentioned in the episode:

• Get the Character Arc Worksheet: alicesudlow.com/characterworksheet
• LITTLE THIEVES by Margaret Owen

Transcript

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That's the magic right there. Establishing who your character is at the start of the story. And then ensuring that they've changed, grown, evolved in some core way, by the end, in the way that they think in the things that they value in the ways that they make decisions. Once, you know, where your character starts and ends. You have the information that you need to craft a compelling character arc. Your task throughout your story is to challenge your character in such a way that they have to grow in those areas that you've identified. Welcome to your next draft. Today, I'm talking about one of my favorite topics, how to craft a compelling character arc. How to dig into your character development, figure out how your protagonist will grow and change over the course of your story. And then turn that into a compelling arc that drives the plot. For me. This is why I read stories. I love to see how characters grow and change over the course of a story. I love to see how they solve their problems in a way that's unique to them. A way that no one else in the world can. And one of my favorite parts of working with writers is when I get to help my clients figure out what their character's arc is. It's so exciting when we have that epiphany together. Aha. This is what this character's story is all about. How do I reach that epiphany? I asked two questions about the protagonist. Actually, let's be honest. I ask a lot of questions. But in this episode, I'm going to share two of the most important questions that I ask in order to help writers develop a character arc. When you spend the time to think through these questions and answer them fully. These questions are really powerful when I tell you what they are, you're going to think, oh, wow. These are really simple and straightforward, but they're actually incredibly powerful tools. Not only will they help you develop your protagonist? They will also shape your whole entire plot. Now, this is not dry theory. This is a highly actionable exercise. That's going to make editing your protagonist character arc much clearer and easier. And so I don't just want you to listen to this episode and let the questions that I ask you pass on by. I want you to actually answer them. And to make that super easy for you. I've created a worksheet for you to fill in the answers to all of these questions. It's a Google doc with all the questions written out, so you can easily fill in your answers and short. Yes, there are just two questions in this episode, but once you hear them and you hear how I think through them, I think that you might want to download that worksheet. So, what I want you to do is go get that Google doc worksheet, make a copy, or download it to your own files, and then write your answers to each question right there. Or if it's easier to think through your story with pen and paper, print out that worksheet and write down your answers. You can get that worksheet at Alice Sobo. dot com slash character worksheet. So go grab the worksheet so you can fill it out after you listened to the episode. And now. Let's dive in to both of these questions. As I go through these questions, I'm going to give you some direction on how to answer them for your protagonist. And I'm also going to share an example of how I would answer these questions for a novel that I read and loved recently. My example novel for this episode is little thieves by Margaret Owen. It's a Y fantasy novel. And if you enjoy why. Y a fantasy fairytale, retellings, and some crafty heists. Then I highly recommend this book. I loved it. I will warn you. I'm not going to deliberately spoil this book for you, but my comments here might kind of edge towards being a little bit spoiler-y. If you're going to craft a compelling character arc, you need to know how that arc starts and how that arc ends. So I'm going to talk about how the protagonist Fanya. Changes over the course of the story, including some essential elements of her character at the end of the book. I just wanted to give you a fair heads up, but don't let that stop you from listening to this episode. These character development questions are too important to skip. And I'm not going to tell you the major plot points at the end of the book. Ready for the questions. Let's jump in. Here's the first question. What is your character like at the beginning of the story? I told you the questions are kind of simple, but the really powerful. So this first one is, I want you to describe your character as they start on page one. Use any words that you can think of? If you're like most writers that I work with, the first things that come to your mind will probably be external characteristics things that someone could tell about a character by just looking at them or watching them for a few days. This includes things like. What do they look like? What is their age? What is their job? What are their interests? What are their skills? What are their problems? What do they want? Here's how I would describe Fanya, the protagonist of little thieves. At the beginning of the book. Fanya is 16, nearly 17. She is the goddaughter of the low gods death and fortune. She used to be a ladies mate to princess Jazelle. But a year ago, she disguised herself as the princess and stole her rank. In fact, one of her main skills is stealing. She can pick pocket anyone, and she's great at sneaking around and disguising her identity. The princess disguise is aided by magic. But she's also very good at disguising herself without magic. So now she's acting as the princess going to balls and swiping jewelry from court hears, and then sneaking around their homes and stealing as much as she can carry out of their houses. So that's her age, job, interests and skills. What she wants is to steal enough money so that she can leave this kingdom entirely and go build a life for herself somewhere else. Her long-term goal is not to be the princess forever. It's just to gather the funds to leave and establish a life on her own terms. And there's one more interesting thing about Fanya early in the book. Another low God curses her for stealing. The God tells her that she will become what she most desires and then a teardrop gemstone appears on her cheek. Essentially. Her body is slowly turning into gemstones. And if she doesn't figure out how to break the curse, she'll be consumed by the gyms within two weeks. As you might imagine having a gemstone fuse to her cheek is pretty inconvenient when it comes to disguising herself. Also, she doesn't want to die in two weeks. So that's Vanya on the outside of the beginning of the story, how would you describe your protagonist at the beginning of your story? That's where you're going to start with this question, but I don't want you to stop there. Once you've described your protagonists external state. Now I want you to describe their internal state. This includes things like. What does your protagonist believe? What do they hope for? How do they make decisions? What's their moral code. What about their way of thinking right now is working for them and why? What are some problems with that way of thinking? What are they getting right about the way they view the world and what are they getting wrong? Let's take a look at in our world. Vanya is self-sufficient and self-reliant, she has always had to take care of herself because no one else will take care of her. She said several people in her life who claimed that they were going to take care of her, but all of those people have betrayed her or let her down in some way or another. So she believes that no one cares about her that no one can care about her. And that if someone claims to care about her, they have some ulterior motive and at some point they'll show their true colors and betray her. She trusts? No one, the only person she can really trust is herself. She's always been told that she's less than specifically she's of less value than the princess. She despises the ranks of nobility and the ways that the wealthy class leaves the rest of the community and poverty. And so she acts a little bit like a self-serving Robinhood. She doesn't steal in order to give to the poor, but she does feel justified in stealing from the rich in order for her specifically to survive. What's she hoping for underneath all of this, she wants to be free free from having to disguise herself as a princess free from having to steal in order to survive. That goal of leaving the city. Is really a pursuit of freedom. All that to say. At the start of this book, Fanya is very jaded. She's been burned by people she's trusted too many times. She's learned how to care for herself and it's working for her. She has survived this long because of her thieving skills and her ability to keep others at arms length. But this is just a survival strategy. It's not a path to thriving for Vanya. Well, this way of thinking and believing keeps her alive. It also limits her. It prevents her from caring for the needs of people around her. And it also prevents her from building genuine, honest, fulfilling relationships. She has learned to survive on her own out of necessity, but the same mindsets that keep her alive also ensure that she'll stay alone. So that's funny because in our world at the beginning of the story, How about your character? How would you describe their way of thinking at the beginning of your story? What do they believe? How was that working for them and how is it holding them back? And if you want to take it a step further, you can even explore why they think the way that they do. Fanya was betrayed by the people closest to her again and again, throughout her life, she was betrayed by her mother who gave her up to death and fortune. She was betrayed by death and fortune who told her when she turned 13, that they weren't looking for a daughter. They were looking for a servant. She was betrayed by princess Jazelle. Well, whom she thought she was her friends. Over and over throughout her life, she has been betrayed by the people that she's trusted. And so by this point, she is determined to survive on her own since no one else will care for her, she must care for herself. Why does your character have the thoughts and beliefs that they have? All right. That's the beginning of your story. That's our first question. Can you believe that thus far, we've gotten this far into the episode and we have covered just one question. I told you these questions were meaty. Now. Let's move on to the second question. Here it is. What is your character like at the end of your story? I want you to do the same exercise you just did for the last question, but now think about your character at the end of the story in the climax and resolution. You can break this down in the same way as the first question. First, the external and then the internal. Here are those external prompts again? What do they look like? What is their age? What is their job? What are their interests? What are those skills? What are their problems? What do they want? And here's how I would describe Fanya at the end of little thieves. Like I said before, this isn't about spoilers and I'm not going to discuss the plot. But in terms of character development, I might spoil a bit of the ending for you. I really want you to see how this works though. Here we go. By the end of the book, Fanya is 17. She's no longer masquerading as the princess. She's also no longer alone. She has friends and those friends know her and call her by her real name. Which is unique because she spends a long time going by a lot of disguises and telling no one her real name. She no longer has to steal in order to survive. She's returned princess. Crown and face, and she's also gathered enough funds for her to live comfortably. And as far as what she looks like Fanya has broken the curse, which means she no longer has a Juul growing out of her face. I'm not going to tell you how she breaks the curse though. It's really cool. And you'll have to read the book to find out. How about your character? How would you describe their external state at the end of your story? Once you've answered that. You know where I'm going next. I want you to describe your character's internal state at the end of your story. Here are those internal prompts? What does your protagonist belief? What do they hope for? How do they make decisions? What's their moral code. What about their way of thinking right now is working for them and why? What are some problems with that way of thinking? What are they getting right about the way that they view the world. And what are they getting wrong? Let's take a look at Fanya. This is the part that I absolutely love the way that a character has transformed as a person over the course of the story. This is what I remember. This is what I think back on. Weeks days, months after I finish a book. I finished Vanya story a few weeks ago, and I'm still thinking about this. So I'm so excited to share Fina's internal transformation with you. Fanya has experienced two major changes. Actually she's experienced a lot of changes, but there are two in particular that I think are most impactful. First. She's relearned, how to care about other people. She's demonstrated altruism. Seeking not only her own good, but the good of those around her. Sometimes at her own expense, she's cared for her friends. She's cared for a potential new love interest, and she's cared for vulnerable people in her community. And second she's relearning how to trust people. Uh, caring for other people came first. It was hard, but she had to relearn how to look beyond herself. And not only how to look, but also why it was worth it. Once that happens, she's challenged in a deeper way. Can she trust these people that she cares about? And it's incredibly difficult for her. But by the end, she manages it. She cares for and trusts a special inner circle of people and those people also care for and trust her. Which makes the biggest transformation possible. At the beginning of the story, Fanya is alone. And at the end, she is not alone. She's not purely, morally good. She's not royalty or so wealthy that she'll never have to work again. But she is also not alone. She has finally connected with other people in genuine relationships. And watching her finally reached that point is absolutely beautiful. How about your character? Who are they at the end of your book? What is their internal world? Like what beliefs have changed for them? How are they making different decisions now than they would have on page one? That's the magic right there. Establishing who your character is at the start of the story. And then ensuring that they've changed, grown, evolved in some core way, by the end, in the way that they think in the things that they value in the ways that they make decisions. Once, you know, where your character starts and ends. You have the information that you need to craft a compelling character arc. Your task throughout your story is to challenge your character in such a way that they have to grow in those areas that you've identified. How do you do that? Really that is the topic for another podcast episode. There is so much to dive into when it comes to plotting out your full character arc from start to finish. But I don't want to leave you hanging here. So I'll give you a quick overview. Here's what you're going to do with the information that you just learned in this last two questions. Find the core area in which your character changes. What's the most important change for your character? And then challenge your character in that area specifically. Over the course of the whole story. I forced them to face that area in a variety of ways. Sometimes they'll succeed. Sometimes they'll fail. Sometimes they'll make tiny, subtle progress towards their ending state. Sometimes they'll move forward in dramatic ways. And sometimes right. When we think they've finally gotten it, they'll regress and go back to old patterns of thinking. Here's what this looks like in little thieves. I'd say Vanya is most important. Change is her ability to trust others. She experiences a lot of changes. She moves from selfishness to altruism from self-protective distance to genuine caring from self-reliance to reliance on others from alone to not alone. But all of that is tied up in her shift from distrust to trust a slow, painful, arduous shift with a lot of mistakes and steps backwards along the way. But she finally makes that shift. And throughout the book, we see scenes that challenge her to trust or not trust. Over and over, she's forced to make decisions about whom to trust and when and why and how and how much. One of my favorite scenes is this really powerful moment where she finally, finally decides maybe she trusts someone just a little bit. And then something happens where there's evidence that could be used against her. And it turns out that she doesn't have the trust of people around her. She has to earn back their trust too. And she hits this moments of despair. Of wondering if she can ever trust other people. Can they ever trust her? So by the time we get to the end, when she does trust and when other people trust her, we feel how hard one that trust is and how much it costs her, how much she is willing to sacrifice. Uh, in order to finally trust the people that she cares about. And that is how we get the emotional payoff of the book. That's what lands me here on this podcast, a reader who absolutely loved this book, telling you that you should read it too. Because Margaret Owens crafted not only an exciting external story of princesses and thieves and heists, but also a compelling character arc where I see feel and empathize with fondness change and growth over the course of the story. You can do that too. And the first step is to ask yourself, What is your character like at the beginning of your story? And thin. What is your character like at the end of your story? And don't forget, I put together a worksheet with those two questions and all the prompts that I shared earlier. That's why I think you're really going to want this worksheet. You can write those couple of questions down, but this worksheet is going to remind you of all of the prompts and the different ways to think about those two questions. You can grab that worksheet at Alice Dot com slash character worksheet. And that link is also in the show notes. So it's super easy to find. What I want you to do now is go grab the worksheet. Make a copy of it and save it in your Google drive. Download it and open it in word, print it out and get a pin. Whatever form works best for you. And then answer those two questions. What is your character like at the beginning of your story and what is your character like at the end? That right. There will be the key to your character's arc all the way through. I'm so excited for you to discover awesome things about your character and to get a lot of clarity and direction for your story in the process. Happy editing.