Character Arc in a Series

Over the years, at conferences and online, I’ve asked others who write series how you deal with a character arc everyone insists must be there. In a standalone novel, the requisite character arc is expected and easy to do. But what about character arc in series writing?

It is only recently that I have come across some good answers to my question. Just to be clear, the question I asked was is there a long character arc, spanning the series or is there a series of book length arcs that might be related but that are accomplished by the end of each book?

Well, the answer appears to be, “Yes.”

K.M. Weiland, whose book is pictured above, has written extensively about character development. She says there are two choices: An arc for the entire series OR multiple character arcs across books in the series.

Well, I kinda knew that, but now what? When I asked the initial question (over and over), I really meant HOW do I write the character arc.

Weiland and others have lost of suggestions no matter which way one goes. Weiland is a big three-acts-in-a-novel person, so she offers her suggestions from that context. Character arcs across three or four books, she says, just means manipulating the time line (for character development) using that structure across books, not within.

That’s probably one reason we see books where our hero/ine hits the dirt in book two or three before salvaging shimself in the final book. The character, to change, has to encounter obstacles severe enough to force shim to change, for better or worse.

Ultimately, character change, to be real in a novel, must be intimately connected to the core values in a story. So if the value is that real family need not share blood to be family, then your character must not understand or accept that in the beginning, but encounters obstacles that reveal that to shim. Weiland calls it the Big Lie the character believes but must abandon by the end of the series.

In a series, the change in the character is incremental. A big shift starts the change process, disturbs status quo, interrupts ennui. In succeeding books the change continues but can be more gradual.

Some series are really just one long novel, like The Hunger Games (thus the three-act structure works well). Others are really standalones, but written as a series; connected to one another but the plots are independent. Thus, the long character arc goes across books all the books versus a series of smaller, but related, character arcs in each book, as I do with my culinary series. But underneath the smaller character arcs is the larger one set up in my first book. Alli struggles with what is family and she struggles with self-worth going back to her abandonment by her family. By book six, I need her to have finished that cycle.

For me, the smaller character arcs in each book present a special challenge. How can they be substantive enough without eclipsing the overarching theme of family and identity?

The best way, according to what I’ve been reading is to tie each smaller arc to the main conflict in the story. For example, in book five, Tequila Mockingbird, Alli discovers that a neighbor is a mockingbird, someone pretending to be who she is not. Alli feels this way all the time. She has suffered from Imposter Syndrome most of her life. Therefore, she has empathy for a woman who may be a cold-blooded killer. In that book, Alli needs to accept herself and how she presents herself to the world. That’s a great small character arc consistent with the long arc.

Sarah Dalziel says there are five keys to creating a character arc in a series. The five keys are: Consistency, Changing Traits, The Dissatisfying Arc, Every Character Needs a Flaw, and Write It Out.

In a nutshell, Consistency is obvious. Once you change your character, don’t retreat to the previous person. Keep shim the same across books for revealed traits.

Changing Traits allows the author to focus on different aspects of the character in each book. Perhaps your character is impulsive and learns to be more reflective in a book (and then is consistent with that in following books). In another book, your same character might have the trait of fear of something that is overcome by dealing with an obstacle in the book.

Dissatisfying Arc shows a devolution of a character, usually the villain, but not always. Think of the Anti-Hero Walter White in “Breaking Bad.” Good man goes bad. At the same time Walter is devolving, loser Jesse is evolving. Very interesting character arcs.

Every Character Needs a Flaw is also obvious. Lack of trust can lead a character down wrong paths and into greater difficulties. Trusting everyone can also lead the character astray. Find a trait for your character that can be tied to the main conflict of the book.

Write It Out means planning the character arc for the series is as important as plot planning. Know the character and develop flaws and consistent traits that you can play off.

See how focusing on one of these keys in each book can allow a different character arc within the series?

Another way to envision the character arc in a series is described by Veronica Sicoe.

She describes three types of character arcs: The Change Arc, The Growth Arc, and the Shift Arc. The Change Arc is analogous to the Hero’s Journey that is the most commonly employed character arc.

The Growth Arc has your character being a new improved version of who heesh has always been; essentially the same, but better. The Shift Arc is a variant of the Growth Arc. In the Shift Arc, your character “changes his perspective, learns different skills, or gains a different role.” So, the character may not be “better” at the end, but heesh is definitely different.

Using Sicoe’s definitions, I can see how across a series, you could use these three to show a character arc without it having to be tied to a long arc.

I hope this gives you some ideas to chew on. I’m going to be addressing additional aspects of developing character arcs in a few follow-up posts. What do you struggle with in developing your character arcs?  Come back and join the conversation.

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