Fri 2025-02-28 17:51 EST

Character Arcs
==============

I read a post on Bluesky about character arcs that has stuck with me.
The writer said he wasn't sure if the focus on stories having
character arcs was really needed, as he reads a lot of biographies and
it's clear to him that people don't change.

I have several problems with this, not the least of which is that
he's a professional witer and should know better. But a major issue is
that, despite what biographies say, people do change.

I have seen myself change over the course of my life. I'm a very
different person than I was 20 years ago, or when I was a kid. Sure, a
lot of things about me haven't changed. But my opinions, outlook, and
goals have changed significantly. I've seen this occur in other
people's lives as well. Their personalities don't change, their core
being doesn't change, but the way they treat others, and themselves,
and the way they look at the world certainly does. It happens all the
time.

But those aren't necessarily the people that get biographies written
about them. Famous people get those, and there are just a lot of
really awful famous people who were always awful, or who you didn't
know where awful until you read the book. So if you just go by
biographies, and not people you might actually meet, then you'll be
found lacking.

The rejoinder to that might be "Well, I know a lot of people and none
of them have changed, so it means people in general dont change."
That, of course, is just cynicism. It's _tragic_ that they didn't
change, but the set of all the people you happen to know doesn't
constitute the whole of humanity.  Plus, you probably don't know
everything about all the people you know. Not all changes are as
visible as you might want them to be.

And not all changes are positive. There are very interesting stories
that involve negative character arcs, or someone's tragic downfall, or
descent into evil. There are numerous examples of these in media, as
well as in real life.

But finally, even taking the statement that people don't change as
true, it would still be important to focus on the _potential_ for
people to change in our fiction, because at the very least it's
aspirational. We hope that someday we, or someone else, or the world,
will change for the better. Or we have cautionary tales that warn us
about potential pitfalls so we can avoid a tragic downfall. Fiction
doesn't always have to be a reflection of real life. It can also be an
expression of what we hope reality could be, or fear that it might
be.