Planning for Pantsers - Explaining Essentials

Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson

Last week we worked on timelines, and sorting your scenes into some semblance of order. When we discussed making scenes, we spoke about ensuring that something, anything, happened in every scene in order to keep the story interesting.

This week we’re going to be discussing two essential elements of stories, things your story HAS to have in order to tell one.

When I first heard about the character and story arcs, I struggled to make sense of it. Definitions were vague and indefinite and although I searched for examples to make it clearer, I didn’t find very many that were useful. It took a while before I was able to make it sound sensible in a way I understood. So, presented here are my - admittedly - a bit simplified, but hopefully clear, definitions and examples.

An arc describes a movement, from one point to another. When applied to writing, this refers to story and character arcs.

A Story Arc is the movement of the story from the beginning, to the end. It is what keeps the story moving forward, provides the focus of a climax, and then ends it after the challenges have been resolved. It can be the change from one setting to another, or the change that makes characters view their setting in a different way, but in order for an arc to exist, change has to happen.

The same is true in a Character Arc except that these can be internal - the change occurs because the character makes a decision to change, or external - something happens to force the change.

The two types of arc are dependent on each other - if there is no story arc, the characters won’t grow, or move from where they are at the beginning. If there’s no character arc, the story won’t move from point A to point B.

Both elements can have several different arcs - in a novel, the settings can change numerous times and various characters can undergo several shifts in their ways of thinking or acting.

The confusing thing about arcs, and something that I’ve only recently come to realise, is that you don’t need to outline them at all. You don’t even need to really think about them all that much.

Which sounds contrary to the idea of them being essential to telling a story. Stick with me here, while I attempt to explain my reason for saying this.

If you’ve followed this series since Week 1, you will have already dealt with creating scenes and then ordering them into your timeline. If you followed the rule of making sure that SOMETHING happens in each scene to keep your reader hooked, then change (the overall element of an arc), is already present in your novel.

In creating a timeline, you’ve ordered the elements of change, the movement, and created an arc. The characters and story undergo shifts within each scene, and each one brings them closer to the solution of the trials that you’ve put them through.

As with scenes and timelines, the only rule to making sure that the arc makes sense, is to remain consistent within the story telling itself. If you manage to do that, your arcs will fall into place automatically - which is great if you’re a Pantser who hates planning.

How do you feel about Story Arcs? Does the idea of finding one before you start writing leave you feeling intimidated? I'd love to hear from you.