In studying character arcs, writers easily recognize Positive-Change Arcs and Negative-Change Arcs. But somewhat more baffling can be the stories that appear to feature neither. These are stories in which the protagonist does not change or seems to have no character arc at all. How do these stories fit into the discussion of archetypal character arcs?
If you’ve studied foundational character-arc theory and practice with me before, you know there are two possible answers to the seeming conundrum of the “character with no arc.”
One is simply that he or she doesn’t arc. Both the protagonist, the supporting cast, and the story world itself remain relatively unchanged from beginning to end, despite everyone’s adventures. Indeed, the very point of their adventures might be to maintain a desirable status quo.
The other possibility is that the unchanging protagonist is in fact spearheading what I call a Flat Arc. As the name suggests, this is an arc in which the protagonist—the story’s central actor—remains thematically unchanged, but uses his or her understanding of the story’s central thematic Truth to catalyze change arcs in the supporting characters. (Flat-Arc protagonists are usually positive influences, or Impact Characters, but if their fixation is on the thematic Lie rather than the Truth, they can also be instrumental in catalyzing Negative-Change Arcs for the supporting characters.)
Over the last few months, we have explored six successive “life arcs,” represented by the Positive-Change Arcs of six primary archetypes—the Maiden, the Hero, the Queen, the King, the Crone, and the Mage. Each of these positive archetypes represents a rising above the limitations of the previous archetype in the cycle. They also inherently represent a struggle with twelve related “shadow” or negative archetypes—the Damsel/Vixen, the Coward/Bully, the Snow Queen/Sorceress, the Puppet/Tyrant, the Hermit/Witch, and the Miser/Sorcerer.
As unchanging characters, Flat-Arc protagonists are equally archetypal. But unlike the six Positive-Change Arcs, they do not demonstrate a “journey” from one archetype to another (e.g., Maiden to Hero). Rather, they represent the interstitial period of a character’s life, in which the character may be seen to be “resting” in between personal transformations. As such, these Flat archetypes are often seen to be helping or teaching other characters some of the same lessons they just learned in their own previously completed arcs.
6 Flat or “Resting” Archetypes
The six flat or resting archetypes can be seen like this:
1. Child (precedes Maiden Arc)
2. Lover (precedes Hero Arc)
3. Parent (precedes Queen Arc)
4. Ruler (precedes King Arc)
5. Elder (precedes Crone Arc)
6. Mentor (precedes Mage Arc)
As you can see, many of these Flat archetypes initially seem synonymous with the change arcs that follow (e.g., Ruler/King, Crone/Elder). In some ways, they are synonymous, in large part because each of the Positive-Change archetypes begins its First Act within the complacency of the preceding Flat archetype. For example, the King Arc begins with the character clearly a Ruler, but the story does not leave him as such, since by the end he will be asked to give up his throne in some way. However, a story that is about the Flat archetype is one in which the protagonist will begin and end within the same archetype. If he begins as a Ruler, he will end as a Ruler, still upon his throne in the story’s conclusion.
How to Use Flat Archetypes in a Story
Flat Arcs are anything but boring. They offer the potential to unapologetically present archetypal characters who do what we all want to do—enact meaningful change on the world around us. (Depending on whether the protagonist is aligned with the story’s thematic Truth or Lie, that change may be more or less positive or negative. But for the sake of this discussion, since we’ve already discussed the negative archetypes, we will be assuming that the archetypal protagonists featured in these Flat-Arc stories are positive in their alignment with a beneficial Truth. In short, these characters are likely to be in between their own Positive-Change Arcs.)
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