Character Arcs
Character Arcs track the emotional journey of a single character through your story. Unlike Story Arcs, which map plot structure, Character Arcs visualize fortune: how well or poorly things are going for a character at any given point.
What is "Fortune"?
Fortune is the Y-axis of the character arc visualizer. It represents a character's overall circumstances: their happiness, power, safety, or whatever measure matters most to their story. The higher the curve, the better things are going. The lower the curve, the worse.
A dashed horizontal line marks the baseline: the neutral point where a character's fortune is neither notably good nor bad. Think of it as "normal life before the story begins."
In the example above, Jane begins below the baseline at Gateshead (an unhappy childhood), rises through Lowood and Thornfield as her circumstances improve, crashes when the truth about Bertha Mason is revealed, resets at Moor House, and ultimately rises to her highest point at the reunion.
Fortune Modifiers
Each keyframe on a character arc has a fortune modifier that determines how the curve shifts at that point. There are six modifier types:
- Major Rise (▲▲): A dramatic improvement. Victory, revelation, or breakthrough. Use this for moments like Jane inheriting her fortune or reuniting with Rochester.
- Minor Rise (▲): A small step forward. A new friendship, a piece of good news, a quiet moment of hope.
- Neutral (●): No significant change. Status quo, traveling, or setup for what comes next.
- Minor Fall (▼): A setback or moment of doubt. Not catastrophic, but things are getting worse.
- Major Fall (▼▼): A devastating blow. Betrayal, loss, or rock bottom. The discovery of Bertha Mason would be a Major Fall for Jane.
- Reset (◆): A fresh start. The slate is wiped clean and fortune returns to the baseline. This works well for act breaks or moments where a character starts over, like Jane arriving at Moor House.
Note: Changing a modifier on an earlier keyframe affects the entire curve from that point forward, so a single change can reshape the whole arc.
Character Arc Presets
When creating a new character arc, you select a character and choose from four preset templates:
- Positive Change Arc: The character overcomes a flaw and grows. Classic redemption or hero's arc. Starts neutral, falls through struggle, then rises through breakthrough to a new self.
- Negative Change Arc: The character falls from grace. Corruption, tragedy, or a villain origin. Starts with virtue, then descends through temptation and compromise.
- Flat Arc: The character stays true to their beliefs while the world changes around them. The steadfast hero. Fortune dips as they're tested but rises when they're vindicated.
- Custom: Two blank keyframes to shape however you like.
Each preset comes with pre-configured keyframes and fortune modifiers that shape the initial curve. You can rename, add, remove, or reorder keyframes after creation.
Keyframes
Each keyframe on a character arc has:
- Label: A short name for the moment (e.g., "Bertha Revealed").
- Fortune Modifier: One of the six types that shapes the curve.
- Brief Description: A one-line summary.
- Character State Notes: A rich text field for recording the character's emotional and circumstantial state at this point in the story.
- Chapter/Scene Assignments: Link keyframes to specific chapters or scenes so you can track where each emotional beat falls in your manuscript.
In Edit mode, you can add new keyframes, delete existing ones (minimum of two required), and drag to reorder them.
Comparing Character Arcs
One of the most powerful features of character arcs is the overlay system. When you select a character as the primary arc, checkboxes appear next to every other character in the sidebar. Check any of them to overlay their fortune curve behind the primary one.
This lets you see how multiple characters' fortunes rise and fall in relation to each other. You might notice that one character's fortune rises exactly as another's falls (a hallmark of conflict), or that two allies share similar trajectories (suggesting their fates are intertwined).
Use the Select All / Deselect All button at the bottom of the sidebar to quickly toggle every character's overlay on or off.
Tip: Click any character's name in the sidebar to make them the primary arc. If they're currently an overlay, they'll swap with the current primary. No need to uncheck and re-select.
Visualizer Settings
The gear icon in the top-right of the visualizer opens settings that control what's visible. These are especially handy when you've overlaid several characters and the canvas gets busy.
- Show Plot Points: Choose whether keyframes appear for all characters, only the active character, or none at all. Hide them entirely to compare the raw shape of multiple fortune curves without the diamond clutter.
- Always show labels: Hide every label by default. Hover or click any keyframe to reveal its label on demand. Great for at-a-glance shape comparison across characters.
Tip: Click any empty space on the canvas to deselect the current keyframe and let its label fade away.
Reordering Character Arcs
In Edit mode, drag handles appear next to each character in the sidebar. Grab a handle and drag up or down to reorder the list. This controls the display order of character arcs in the sidebar and when comparing overlays.
Character Arcs in a Series
In a series, a character arc spans the whole series: one curve from Book 1 to the finale. In the This Book view, keyframes from other Books dim so you can focus on this volume's stretch of the journey. See Book Arcs and Series Arcs and This Book vs All Books.
Character Arcs on Character Sheets
Each character's fortune curve can also appear directly on their character sheet via the Character Arc Block. This compact view shows the same curve and keyframes; click any keyframe to jump to the full editor on the Arcs page.
Deleting Character Arcs
Deleting a character arc removes the arc and all its keyframes. The character itself is not affected; only the arc tracking is removed. You can always create a new arc for that character later.