Can't help but write myself as a character

[BunnyJen90]

Haven't watched the video but might want to look more into creating character arcs. I can remember being into avatar the last airbender and one of my favorite things about the show was the character arcs especially the character arc for the Character Zuko. Watching the show as a kid i found myself able to relate to his character arc and I think the shows character arcs was one of the reasons it was a sucessful anime despite not being made in Japan. This isn't me but most anime and manga fans tend to not like anime and manga that's made outside of Japan and don't consider it true anime or manga. In my opinion though if something is done in anime or manga style despite not being made in Japan its still anime or manga because it's a popular art form world wide. Definitely going to do more research on character arcs and start thinking about how I want my characters to develop over the course of the story.

 

[IsaiahF]

Yeh, it definitely helped me. Ah, I loved Zuko - that felt like such a grounded, realistic and satisfying arc to me that wasn't rushed at all, and we could really see him going back and forth towards the end, if I recall correctly. Feel free to reach out and let me know how it goes!

 

[BunnyJen90]

I've been reading up on character arc but not entirely sure how my characters could develop over the course of the series. I can only seem to come up with ideas for a character arc for the one character whose a tomboy and insecure of herself. I'm thinking somehow because of her upbringing she is at first in denial of her power and thinks she's a freak. Eventually she somehow learns perhaps from the other 2 girls and her teacher who is also their mentor that her power is a good thing and Eventually becomes more confident and because of that her power also becomes stronger. And yeah Zuko from avatar the last airbender is a good character with a well written character arc. When watching the anime back when I was a teenager I found myself able to relate to his character arc. also I seemed to like how emotional and conflicted his character is. I guess because that added some drama to the show and I tend to like drama.

 

[IsaiahF]

I forget exactly what she called it, but in 'Creating Character Arcs' by KM Weiland, she talks about three meta kinds of character arcs: the change arc; the flat arc; and the negative change arc. In the change arc, it starts off with a character believing a lie, progress to them encountering the truth, and concluding with them overcoming the lie by accepting the truth. Which sounds like what your tomboy goes through - she believes she's a freak, learns that being unique in her way is a good thing, and after some kind of struggle with this finally accepts herself, thereby enabling her to release her power and overcome the final external conflict.

It's also what Zuko goes through - he believes the lie that he needs to find worth by pleasing his father, then confronts the truth that love is possible and that he can have connections that are based on loving him as he is, and then finally manages to accept that truth, releasing his power for the good.

The negative change arc is just the opposite of this, where they stick with the lie. The flat arc is them already having the truth, then having that truth tested, but then they stay firm at the end, like Katniss or Maximus in Gladiator - their arcs are more just them staying firm in what they believe, even in the face of overwhelming opposition.

I don't know why, but I found this enormously helpful in terms of helping me grasp the core patterns of character arcs and story structures in general - they're kind of like a story spine or something.

Anyway, does that help out at all?

 

[BunnyJen90]

Yeah I've been reading about that myself. I'm suddenly concerned that by making my character eventually see that she not a freak and becoming more accepting of her power and because of that her power gets stronger I'm making her a bit of a mary sue type character in the end. I tend to like those type of characters though and thus tend to write them into my stories but I know that can be a bad thing to do and not everyone likes those kind of characters like I do.

 

[pmmg]

Nothing wrong with a powerful character. They just need bigger challenges.