Monthly Archives: May 2019

Writing Books – Creating Character Arcs

What is the lie your character believes? What do they want, as opposed to what they need? How are they going to travel from their starting point to their end point?

These are all questions this book will guide you through asking, as you plan out your character arcs. The link between character arc and story arc is studied carefully, and examples are given from several sources, including Toy Story and A Christmas Carol, so that there’s bound to be several that you recognise.

The positive arc, negative arc and flat arc are all discussed in detail, in relation to the standard three-act structure. An FAQ offers answers to such issues as subplots, minor characters and impact characters.

If you’re looking for a way to make your characters more meaningful, and to integrate character into plot, then this book will prove a helpful guide.

Rein or Reign?

These two words are often confused. Rein is related to horses. Reign is related to kings and queens.

So where does the confusion lie?

In a phrase like reining in – he reined in his activities because he was exhausted – reining in refers to holding the horse back, restricting its movement.

In a phrase like free rein – he was given free rein to organise the office as he wished – free rein refers to slackening off the horse’s rein so that it can move more freely.

But confusion can arise when you consider that being given free reign could also refer to being free as the ruler to do what you want.

So consider whether you are talking about rein as in a horse-related metaphor or as in a king-related metaphor. There are places where either would be suitable, but there are definitely places when only the horse one makes sense!