The Protagonist Story Arc

August 1, 2014

I’ve just spent a week fighting with Dramatica, and it has helped. My issue with Dramatica is it drives the author into so much detail it is impossible to keep it all straight in your mind. Dramatica may be right, and may be good with authors who enjoy obsessing over detail, but I’m looking for conceptual frameworks not detail.

Dramatica has its good points. For example, it defines eight character arch-types. For example, in Star Wars the eight character arch-types are:

Arch-Type Character

Protagonist Luke

Antagonist The Empire

Cotagonist Darth Vader

Guardian Obi Wan

Skeptic Han Solo

Sidekick R2D2/C3PO

Logic Leia

Emotion Chewbacca

For me, this structure is helpful, because each of the arch-type characters interacts with the protagonist from their viewpoint. This helps set-up and define the protagonist’s conflicts to achieve the depth and diversity I spoke about in my previous post. This is exactly what I needed to straighten out my protagonist’s story arc.

My next step is to edit my manuscript with this in mind. The current plan is to take several passes at the manuscript, and focus on only one aspect of revision at a time. The order of revision is:

Story arc and characterization

Balance narrative and dialog

Add descriptions to bring in the six senses

Paragraph and sentence structure

Grammar and punctuation

Character Development

July 25, 2014

When I look at my protagonist’s story arc, the arc had direction, but the conflicts did not support the protagonist’s growth. I had let my protagonist get involved in the wrong conflicts in the wrong sequence. The conflicts should propel the character through his story arc, and shape his transformation. To tell a complete story, the author should walk the protagonist through a series of conflicts where the opposition is logical, emotional, moral, immoral, supportive, stalwart, and skeptical. The intent is to show the main character has experienced his flaw from a wide range of perspectives. These battles provide the backdrop for the protagonist’s decisive moment. A rich and diverse array of conflicts yields a vivid moment of truth, and greater reader satisfaction.

The issue is my protagonist if fighting the right battle, but his conflicts are unfocused, and do not support his growth. There is another issue I need to resolve. The protagonist starts out too weak, and flawed to complete his transformation by the end. Both of these issues add to the confusing character story arcs.

I know how to strengthen the protagonist early in the story, but I need to sharpen the nature of his conflicts. Dramatica and its Story Mind Theory could help (See my March 2, 2014 post). I fear going back into Dramatica with its arcane language and focus on micro-detail. I’ll try it.