Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development

by K.M. Weiland

In The Moral Premise, Williams writes: The Moment of Grace is usually triggered by a subtle event that is undergirded by earlier, more dramatic events. It is not the Moment of Grace alone that changes the character’s behavior, but it is the “straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

4. Contrast Your Character’s “Before and After” Mindsets We can think of the two halves of a story as mirror images of each other. Throughout the second half, the character should be put in situations that reflect back upon those in the first half. The only difference? They’re reverse images. Think of these as “before and after” scenes. By purposefully placing the character in a second-half scene that is similar to a first-half scene, you’re able to give readers a dramatic representation of the progress he’s made in his personal evolution. In the first half, he was a selfish jerk who threw his fast food garbage at the homeless guy on the corner; in the second half, he looks at the guy, looks at his uneaten Big Mac—and hands it over. Your character is a different person in the Second Half of the Second Act. Prove it. Don’t just tell readers he’s different. Show them.

Want and Need In plot terms, the Third Plot Point is all about creating a “physical” moment in which the protagonist’s plot goals are endangered. In character terms, the Third Plot Point hinges upon not just “something bad” happening in the outer conflict, but rather an inner choice on the protagonist’s part. At last, after two long story acts, he must choose between the Thing He Wants and the Thing He Needs—between the Lie and the Truth. Throughout the Second Half of the Second Act, he convinced himself he could have both. Now, he realizes that’s impossible.

He did the right thing. And he did it from the depth of his soul. But now he has to live with the consequences. He’s grown to believe in the Truth—and yet, the Truth just ruined his life.

His final test won’t come until the Climax. The important distinction here is that the character has claimed the Truth, but he still hasn’t 100% rejected the Lie. He has already turned the most important corner in his arc—the Truth is rising and the Lie is setting—but the ascendancy of the Truth isn’t yet absolute. Even as the character adjusts to his new paradigm, he will continue to experience doubts throughout the Third Act.