Quoted from Dreamscale Character arcs?  LOL!!!!  Do we ever really need character arcs?

Sure we do, Jeff.  Character arcs show how people grow.  

Let's take you for instance.  You used to be a boisterous, arrogant, German digestif swilling, ski bum.  And now you're...well...you're....  Okay maybe you're a bad example, but I'm pretty sure character arcs are important.

Jordan

Quoted from Nomad Sure we do, Jeff.  Character arcs show how people grow.   Let's take you for instance.  You used to be a boisterous, arrogant, German digestif swilling, ski bum.  And now you're...well...you're....  Okay maybe you're a bad example, but I'm pretty sure character arcs are important. Jordan

Nice one, Jordan!  LOL...

But I haven't skied in a couple seasons...does that count?

Character arcs are extremely important in my eyes.  As the writer of this failed, albeit "potentially good" story, I fell flat on my face because I wrote this 10 minutes after thinking about it.

Give this a few months, then I'll likely write the feature.

In regards to Character Arcs, my latest: Avenger, has a solid cast of characters, each of whom develops:

Andrew - Angry young man driven by revenge to watchful guardian driven by justice.
Steve - Faithful servant in the Sharp household to Andrew's new father figure.
Frank - Stressed detective hunting his wife's killer to protective father.
Allie - Shy and innocent high school prom queen to a heartfelt love interest.
Grace - Unwelcomed at first, but becomes a part of Frank's life in a caring way.

Just to name a small few of the amount in the script (think there's 30 or so, half of which don't talk and are just there).

17 are important, 8 are main, 9 are supporting.

And each character has their moment in the sun.  Hence my point:  Everyone is developed.  Even the dead people.

Without Character Arcs, this would be another run-of-the-mill attempted superhero flopbuster.

Lee

Guys, just to be clear, I'm mostly joking about the character arcs.  I understand their value, but the level of importance some people put on them makes me laugh, as it's one of those Blake Snyder/guru things that people glam onto, look for, and think must always be heavily stressed - to whoch I dio not agree.

It depends alot on the genre and how important the characters are to the story.

Understand that in most horror scripts, character arc is far from imporant.

That;s not to say that character in your characters isn't always super important.

Make sense?

I know you're joking, lol.

Just putting my point across too, I find character arcs the most important thing in any story.

Even in a horror story, you still need to care for the characters that are getting butchered. Otherwise, you may as well not write it.

That's my two cents anyway.

Quoted from Leegion Even in a horror story, you still need to care for the characters that are getting butchered. Otherwise, you may as well not write it. That's my two cents anyway.

I hear you, but IMO, character arcs are now what make one care about characters,  The characters have to have character - that's what makes one take interest in a character.

Quoted from Dreamscale I hear you, but IMO, character arcs are now what make one care about characters,  The characters have to have character - that's what makes one take interest in a character.

That's kinda what I was saying, haha.

Character arcs ARE the most important thing in writing.  The story is second.  You can have a great story, but if the characters suck you've good more substance over matter.