How to Plot an Emotional Character Arc
Character Transformations - The What and the Why
How do you pace a character arc for maximum effectiveness?
I was recently watching a YouTube video from Ellen Brock, and she voiced the common writing pitfalls authors often fall into.
I’ll dive into those in just a second, but first, let’s talk about why pacing a character arc effectively is so important.
I’ve written a lot about character arcs and transformation. In my opinion—for the types of books I both write and gravitate toward as a reader—satisfying emotional transformations are the most important aspect of a story.
An effective transformation is the thing that causes chills, tears, and shouts for joy at the end of a story. That moment when the protagonist finally figures it out—and gets the thing they want, or realizes they’re better off without it.
A swoon-worthy happily ever after, a jaw-dropping sacrifice, an emotional reunion, these are moments born of transformation.
But one of the best ways to make that transformation emotional, is by making it well-paced.
So what are common missteps authors make on their journey to create this type of transformation?
According to Ellen Brock, they often fall into one of two camps:
Either the character arc happens too gradually over the course of a story, so that the end doesn’t feel fully satisfying (because it’s not all that much of a change).
Or the arc happens not at all, essentially, over the course of the story, and then all at once in the climax.
I’d add that another misstep might come if the arc happens in jarring fits and bursts. Big leaps that then seem to fall away completely when the character, for no obvious reason, reverts to the same pre-transformation behaviors.
In each of these cases, or in other improperly paced stories, the transformation won’t feel satisfying because it will:
Feel like it wasn’t enough for the end to be interesting
Feel like it wasn’t earned because there were no moments of growth along the way
Feel like there were stretches of unimportant story because no inner growth was happening
Feel like there were moments of whiplash because the growth felt like too much at once
Today, I want to look a look at how a story can create proper pacing for a character transformation/arc. And I have a great example to demonstrate the ins and outs.
3 Elements of Story Momentum
If I had to pare my writing gospel into 3 words, it would be:
Progress
Pain
Growth
Of course, there is a ton of nuance in storytelling, in general, and in novel-writing, specifically. These three ideas don’t touch on world building, for example. But they do encompass more than you’d realize.
For example:
Progress speaks to theme.
Pain speaks to character.
Growth speaks to structure.
But those ideas are for another day. The question now is:
What do these three things have to do with the proper pacing of a character arc?
Progress (External)
First and foremost, the way to feel like you’re cruising through a story is for there to be tangible outward progress in every scene. A proper character arc will accomplish this, giving the reader a sense that things are changing and building—both inside and out.
Pain
Characters, and people in general, typically don’t change without a good, hearty dose of pain. Touching on the deepest nerve of a character over and over, consistently, is one of the best ways to propel them forward.
Growth (Internal)
Growth refers to the, well, growth of a character. Every moment of growth is a building block in their complete arc. And together, these three things will make for a compelling transformation.
A proper character arc, when paced well, should rise and fall. Sometimes a character will make a leap of growth toward their final transformation, showing surprising maturity or change, and sometimes they’ll backtrack, falling into old habits and patterns.
Okay. Now that we have those three elements of a proper character arc, let’s take a look at a story that accomplishes these things exceptionally well—in surprisingly few pages.
Alyce’s Character Arc - The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
This Newberry Medal book is a whopping 117 pages (with big font). Below, I’m going to break down each of the chapters in a sentence or two to figure out how the author paced the character arc alongside the plot. In other words, to visually lay out how the protagonist goes from zero sense of self to cultivating confidence in who she is and what she’s capable of.
Because this is going to be lengthy, I’ve formatted this post so that you can click on any chapter and see a dropdown with more information. If you want to see the arc from start to finish, you can go through each one. If you want to jump around, that works, too.
Let’s get into it.
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We’re introduced to a young girl, likely twelve or thirteen years old, who goes only by Brat, since she can no longer remember her proper name (or if she was ever given one).
She starts her story by burrowing into a dung heap for the night, as it’s the warmest place she can find to curl up. When the local midwife shows up, Brat seizes what she recognizes as an opportunity and asks if there is work she can do in exchange for food and shelter.
The greedy midwife, recognizing cheap labor she can exploit, agrees to let Brat apprentice for a tiny amount of food and a place to sleep, and christens her Beetle.
“I will work, mistress. I am stronger and smarter than I seem.”
Progress - Brat’s external story progresses when she gains a job, a home, and a new name.
Pain - Brat’s pain is established by her lack of…everything. From a home, food, a bed, or family, to even her own identity.
Growth - The story starts with a bang, giving us a big insight into Brat’s internal landscape. The seed of her pluck (and eventual self-worth) is there. She is obviously resourceful and bold, and has the makings of someone who can carve her own way in life…with the proper transformation.
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We meet an orange cat that Beetle identifies with—they’ve both had a hard life.
She shares her meager food portions with the cat, but one day village boys who often bully Beetle throw the cat into a sack with an eel and toss it in a pond.
Beetle hides, afraid to draw the boys’ attention, until they grow bored and leave. When they are gone, she fishes the bag out and rescues the cat.
“If Beetle had known any prayers, she might have prayed for the cat. If she had known about soft sweet songs, she might have sung to him. If she had known of gentle words and cooing, she would have spoken gently to him. But all she knew was cursing: ‘
Damn you, cat, breathe and live, you flea-bitten sod, or I’ll kill you myself.’”
Progress - Beetle makes a friend in the cat, saves it, and takes a chance by bringing it home with her.
Pain - Beetle is lonely, frightened, and timid. The cat is her only companion. She fears losing it, as well as incurring the wrath of the boys.
Growth - The pace of the story is on an upward trajectory. Beetle is learning more, experiencing more, and taking more chances. She finds the courage to rescue the cat from the water and the eel, and the perseverance to save its life (which takes quite a lot of patience and trial and error.)
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The midwife Beetle apprentices for is called Jane. She has some skill, but no joy for her work nor compassion for the people she assists. She saw in Beetle an opportunity for cheap labor and someone too stupid and scared to be any competition.
In this chapter, we learn about Beetle’s chores and duties (which she now always does with the cat at her side). The midwife doesn’t let Beetle watch her work, for fear of her learning enough to become a threat.
“After that Beetle took to watching through the windows when the midwife was called. In that way she learned that midwifery was as much about hard work and good sense and comfrey tonic as spells and magic.”
Progress - Beetle learns a great deal about the herbs and ointments the midwife uses. She also starts sneaking in order to watch the births so that she can learn how it is done.
Pain - Beetle continues to be tormented by the boys in town, the midwife, and the frustrated villagers who cannot take out their indignation at the midwife’s greedy ways on the midwife herself, for fear of her withholding her services. She is targeted, ridiculed, and scorned.
Growth - Beetle’s personal growth trajectory is still on the rise. She continues to show her pluck and resourcefulness as she finds ways to learn, despite the obstacles put in her path. We are also getting glimpses into her obvious ambition, curiosity, and thirst for knowledge.
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One day, with the midwife away, Beetle is dragged to a birth.
After a feeble and remarkably unsuccessful attempt at helping, she cowers in a corner as the mother-to-be hurls things at her. When the midwife shows up, she shoves Beetle out of the room.
“For weeks after, the midwife called her not Beetle but Brainless Brat and Clodpole and Good-for-Nothing, and Beetle worked twice as hard and talked only half as much, for she feared being turned cold and hungry out of the midwife’s cottage.”
Progress - Beetle got her first chance at delivering a baby by herself.
Pain - Feeling helpless, Beetle gave up and then suffered name-calling and beatings at the hands of both the mother-to-be and the midwife.
Growth - Here we see Beetle falling back a step. That’s what makes for interesting character arc pacing. Growth and regression. This is how life works. Two steps forward, one step back. Yes, we’ve seen Beetle’s pluck, but she is human. She also has insecurities, doubts, and fears that sometimes get the best of her.
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When the midwife breaks her ankle, Beetle is tasked with going to the fair to replenish supplies.
While there, a merchant takes a liking to Beetle and throws a comb she was admiring in with her purchase. Beetle then combs her hair and looks at herself in the water of a trough. Afterward, she is mistaken for someone named Alyce.
“What a day. She had been winked at, complimented, given a gift, and now mistaken for the mysterious Alyce who could read. Did she then look like someone who could read? She leaned over and watched her face in the water again.”
Progress - Beetle is given a bigger responsibility in going to a fair out of town. She haggles and purchases and comes home having accomplished her goals.
Pain - Beetle is confronted by her own view of herself. Is she really worthless, as she’s always assumed, or could he be someone worthy of gifts, knowledge, and ability?
Growth - We get a big forward push in her internal arc here. Beetle decides she is someone worth having her own identity - someone who could have relationships, skills, and confidence. Though she has never done it, she successfully travels, negotiates, purchases, and interacts with new people.
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Alyce sets about trying to claim her new name, but she’s only laughed at. She decides her cat needs a name, as well, and so she calls it Purr.
A band of boys heckle her and she runs up a tree. While they wait at the bottom, one falls into the river and the others flee. Alyce ends up helping him—Will—out of the water, saving his life.
“’You didn’t run with the others,’ he said. ‘That were brave, Beetle.’
‘Naw, I be not brave,’ she said…’I did it for else you’d have drowned and gone to Hell…and I would have helped send you there and I could not have that, now, could I?’
‘You have pluck, Beetle.’
‘Alyce.’
‘You have pluck, Alyce.’”
Progress - Beetle claims her new name and saves someone’s life, even after they tried to hurt her.
Pain - Beetle is laughed at when she tries to tell others her name is Alyce, and she is chased by the boys in town. She doubts herself, and deals with fear.
Growth - Another push forward in the arc pacing. Alyce doubts herself, but sticks to her guns, and is only able to get someone else to take her seriously when she embraces her courage, her worth, her determination, and her “pluck.”
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Alyce continues to be tormented by the villagers until the Devil sweeps into town, drawing the villagers to certain places with his mysterious hoofmarks so as to catch people in their sins.
Over and over this happens, and the guilty parties are punished—all of the parties who tormented Alyce.
Several days later, two blocks of wood in the shapes of hooves are found where the river meets the sea.
“Alyce even had a little time to herself, to wander and think and plan, to watch and learn from old Gilbert Gray-Head about the carving and polishing of wood, and to ask questions of the priest about sin and evil and the Devil, humming to herself all the while.”
Progress - This chapter takes a little break from the external movement of the story to focus more on Alyce’s growth. Rather than making progress in the plot of Alyce as the midwife’s apprentice, we learn more about the villagers and the ethos of this time and place in history.
Pain - Again, we’re not focused on Alyce in this chapter. It’s not until the end, when we get the reveal that Alyce was actually “the devil,” that we see her involvement at all. But her pain is still present because it’s her tormenters that are punished, highlighting the difficulties she has endured.
Growth - Alyce has embraced her pluck so much that she may have overcompensated a bit, taking it upon herself to punish all of the people who have been unkind to her.
This is still a step forward in her arc, as she’s no longer willing to accept being pushed around without fighting back. But she still clearly has a way to go before her transformation is complete, as a fully satisfying arc will have her standing up to people in more productive, mature, and socially acceptable ways.
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On the way home from apple-picking, Alyce hears a call for help and finds the boy she saved from drowning stuck in a pit with his cow who is about to give birth. He cannot get the cow to come out, and asks Alyce for her help. Together, they deliver twin calves.
“…through all those days, Alyce grew in her knowledge and skills. The midwife, busy with her own importance, did not notice. Alyce, grown accustomed to herself, did not notice. But the villagers noticed.”
Progress - The villagers learn to trust Alyce and ask her for help. She learns more in the way of midwifery skills, as well as life skills.
Pain - At first, Alyce refuses to help Will and his cow, believing she will be unable. She still has insecurities and evidence from her past onto which she is holding.
Growth - Alyce feels good about herself after helping deliver the calves. Not only did she assist with the birth, but at Will’s urging, she learned to sing (so that she could soothe the cow). In this new art form, she expresses her newfound confidence and awareness at the beauty of the world around her.
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When the midwife leaves what she determines is a doomed delivery in order to help a wealthier client, Alyce summons her courage and everything she’s learned and delivers the helpless woman’s daughter.
(She also chases away the boys of the town when she finds them tormenting her cat.)
“Alyce felt so much pride and satisfaction that she had to let them out somehow, and so she smiled, which felt so good that she thought she might do it again.”
Progress - Alyce delivers her first baby as the midwife’s apprentice.
Pain - Alyce must first overcome her fear and insecurities - she begs the midwife not to leave and then attempts to sneak away before summoning the courage and determination she needs in order to tackle the situation in front of her.
Growth - Alyce has learned a great deal both in terms of skill/knowledge and in terms of what she is capable of. The culmination of this results in her delivering a difficult baby and earning the praise and respect of the family.
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On her way to visit the twin calves she delivered, Alyce comes across a young homeless boy, maybe six-years-old, sleeping on the ground.
Scared, he tries to run, but Alyce stops him, gets him food, cleans him, saves him from being tormented by the village boys, and helps him choose a proper name. (Edward, the king’s name, rather than Runt, which Alyce declares is only fit for a pig).
Afterward, knowing they’re hiring, she sends the boy to the manor up the road to ask for a job.
“Her coming startled him awake and he jumped to his feet....Alyce grabbed his arm.
‘Wait, boy. I mean you no harm. Who are you?’
‘I be nobody, mistress. I go.’
‘Everybody is somebody and so are you.’”
Progress - Alyce saves a young boy trapped in the same seemingly hopeless situation she was in at the start of the book.
Pain - Alyce remembers what it felt like to have nothing, no one, and nowhere to go. She finds great joy in helping the boy.
Growth - Alyce has moved beyond just standing up to the boys in town. She now has the confidence and fierceness to protect others and help them find their own confidence and self-sufficiency.
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A boy comes to ask for Alyce to help deliver a baby—telling the midwife that the mother will only have her apprentice, after hearing how she helped the bailiff’s reluctant baby to come forth.
Alyce comes and tries her best, but can’t get the baby out. She calls for the midwife, who is able to deliver the child. Alyce, devastated, runs away.
“Alyce backed out of the cottage, then turned and ran up the path to the road, she didn’t know why or where. Behind her in that cottage was disappointment and failure.”
Progress - Alyce gets her first crack at being chosen to deliver a baby, but is unable to do so.
Pain - After her failure, Alyce feels all of her greatest insecurities and worst beliefs about herself come rushing back.
Growth - Alyce has been on an upward trajectory in terms of her character arc pacing for a while now. But at this, the low point, it’s time for her to have a big backslide. She thinks that because she failed at this one thing, it proves she is a failure, and therefore it’s no longer worth trying at all.
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Alyce, finding herself once again homeless, sets off in search of…something. She comes across an inn, where she is hired on to help cook and clean.
For months, she works for room and board, telling herself she is content. But when a scholar shows up, she becomes interested in his work. Knowing Alyce is too skittish to address directly, the scholar begins teaching her “cat” the alphabet, then words, then science, history, geography, and more, all while Alyce lingers, silently absorbing his instruction.
“‘I am nothing, have nothing, belong nowhere.’”
“What did she want? No one had ever asked her that and she took it most seriously. What do I, Alyce the inn girl, want?”
Progress - A lot happens in terms of the plot in just a few pages here. Alyce’s entire situation changes; her job, home, the people she associates with, and the way she spends her time.
Pain - Three separate times in this chapter we see an iteration of the quote above. After her failure, Alyce keeps reminding herself how little she is capable of.
Growth - Because Alyce is so stubbornly planted in her backslide into low self-worth, her internal growth will need to come via unexpected means that start to show her what she’s actually capable of.
In stories, this often comes in the form of a pep talk, realization, or uncovering of new information (see next chapter). Here, it starts when she slowly learns to read and write, as well as to retain knowledge about the world. This is the door to her transformation opening back up for her—just a crack. For now.
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One day Alyce sees a boy, Will, from her village—the one she saved from drowning and with whom she helped deliver the calves. He catches her up on town gossip and asks why she left.
A couple of weeks later, the midwife shows up at the inn asking after Alyce, having heard from Will that she was there. Alyce comes upon her talking with the scholar and listens in on their conversation.
“‘She was not as stupid as some I have had, and better company, but still perhaps her going was for the best. She was not what I needed.’
‘Because I failed,’ whispered Alyce in the shadows.
‘Because she gave up,’ continued the midwife. ‘I need an apprentice who can do what I tell her, take what I give her, who can try and risk and fail and try again and not give up.’”
Progress - There’s not a lot of external progress in this chapter. It mostly centers around the midwife and villagers learning where Alyce ran off to. But this small movement is very important in terms of Alyce’s journey.
Pain - Alyce is still grappling with her self-concept. Her overwhelming belief that she is too stupid to do anything more than scrub floors is holding her back from moving forward.
Growth - Alyce is resistant to her growth. She runs from Will when he tells her she’s got “guts and common sense,” and she’s sure the midwife is there to badmouth her to the scholar. She still hasn’t quite come to terms with her transformation, but the midwife’s pep talk (sneakily offered to the scholar when the midwife knows Alyce is listening), is just the thing to push Alyce forward.
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As the weeks and months go on, Alyce thinks more and more about Edward, the small boy she saved, fed, and helped find a job. She is desperate to see him again, and wants to bring him back to the inn with her, believing this will fill the hole in her heart.
She sets off to find him at the manor where she suggested he go for work, and finally learns where to find him from the cook, who says Alyce must be the sister Edward always speaks of.
“Passing the village fields…she turned her eyes away so she would not have to think about what she had had and what she had lost.”
Progress - Alyce makes a decision to find Edward, and then goes about achieving that goal.
Pain - Alyce is unhappy in her life. At one point, she would have been thrilled to simply have a place to sleep out of the rain and earn a little food. Now, she has become audacious enough to want more. She thinks perhaps Edward will fill this hole, though she clearly still feels an ache for everything she left behind—the future she had been carving for herself.
Growth - As Alyce searches the manor’s sprawling grounds, she comes across several workers—most of them men or boys who taunt her. How does she respond? She tells them to shut it, and doesn’t give up until she finds Edward.
Alyce has come so far from where we saw her at the start of her story. She’s not a meek little Brat/Beetle anymore. She just doesn’t realize it yet.
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Alyce finds Edward. He is thrilled to see her, and tells her all about his life at the manor.
She realizes he does not want to be taken away, so she stays through the night and the next day, helping where she sees help is needed, and then bids Edward goodbye with a promise to visit. She bathes fully for the first time ever, with soap and a nice long soak, coming out of the water clean and refreshed.
“So Alyce learned about the sometimes mighty distance between what one imagines and what is. She would not be bringing Edward back with her to make her heart content, but she knew she had not failed him, and she breathed a heavy sigh of sadness, disappointment, and relief, it felt so good that she did it again and again until her sighs turned to sobs and she cried her first crying right there in the hen house with Edward arming the chickens for battle.”
Progress - Alyce solidifies her relationship with Edward.
Pain - Alyce, confronted with the contrast of both relief at Edward’s health and happiness and disappointment at his desire to stay, discovers her ability to feel and to heal; to come up against disappointment that might not feel great, but is definitely not failure.
Discovering this nuance, she feels fully for the first time, which results in a new ability to cry as she processes the full extent of all these emotions.Growth - Alyce starts to appreciate that both she and others are worth caring for. She has enough self-esteem to stand up to disparaging remarks, respect the wishes of Edward, and offer her help when she sees the need.
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A wealthy merchant shows up at the inn toting his wife, who is in labor. They try to fetch the midwife from the village, but cannot find her. After that, the innkeeper tries her best to deliver the child, but gives up, abandoning the mother.
Finally, with no one left to help, Alyce comes forward and delivers the baby.
“Alyce smiled back. And then she laughed, a true laugh that came from deep in her gut, rushed out her mouth, and rang through the clear night air.”
Progress - Another child is born, this one delivered by Alyce herself, who does not give up, though the birth is very difficult.
Pain - Alyce must face her greatest fear—of failure, and of being too stupid and unworthy to accomplish anything.
Growth - Alyce remembers everything she’s been told, both good and bad, and what she’s learned, and then she quiets it all and finds the strength to help, even though she knows she may fail.
In the end, her achievement balloons her with hope and confidence.
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Alyce receives offers of employment from the rich merchant whose baby she delivered, from the scholar, and from the innkeeper.
She mulls over all of these, satisfied to have so many opportunities. In the end, however, she knows what she wants and who she is, and so she goes back to finish her apprenticeship with the midwife.
“‘It is I, Alyce, your apprentice. I have come back. And if you do not let me in, I will try again and again. I can do what you tell me and take what you give me, and I know how to try and risk and fail and try again and not give up. I will not go away.’”
Progress - Alyce reclaims her position as the midwife’s apprentice. Not just a position that seems like the only option in front of her, but one she desperately wants. One that will allow her to build her own future.
Pain - When Alyce first shows up at the midwife’s house, she is turned away, and believes she’s failed yet again.
Growth - Alyce has finally completed her character arc, fully claiming her transformation. She believes she is capable, she wants to try, and she is willing to fail. She does not back down until the midwife welcomes her back in.
Okay, I know this was a lot. If you just skimmed it, let me sum it up here and now.
This book exemplifies a satisfying, well-paced character arc.
It sets up the protagonist by showing us what she is capable of in the very first pages—she is willing to work hard and prove what she is capable of.
By using the events of the plot to constantly push her toward her personal pain—believing she is no one with no place in this world, too stupid to do more than the lowliest tasks—she is thrown into situations that show her she is actually capable of more.
Slowly, she starts to internalize this. She is able to save a cat. She’s able to help the midwife with her tedious chores. She’s able to save a boy who tormented her, and even become friends(ish) with him. She’s able to claim an identity for herself, to deliver twin calves, to deliver a baby, to save a young boy in her same position, to stand up for herself, and, eventually, to find the courage to ask herself what she wants and then go out and get it.
The story pushes Alyce into the same situation multiple times so that we can visually see the growth she has made, from the first time she delivers a baby, to the time she fails, to the time she picks herself back up and delivers the most difficult baby yet.
Every situation Alyce is put in helps push her closer to this final transformation. With each chapter, she learns more and grows in her confidence and belief in herself.
That’s all it takes.
Here is what it looks like:
Set up a protagonist with something to learn/something within themself to claim
Put them in situations that push them to move closer to that lesson/growth
With each scene/section of your story, show how they have become more/moved closer to their final transformation
Have them face a final challenge and complete their transformation
As long is this is happening bit by bit, the end will feel satisfying and emotional.
Don’t forget to grab your Story Map!
Learn how to quickly map out a bird’s eye view of your story (and discover its unique Emotional Throughline) using a 5-step formula modeled after successful films and books.
