Week5: Story arcs & Note

What is a narrative arc?

Narrative arc is a term that describes a story’s full progression. It visually evokes the idea that every story has a relatively calm beginning, a middle where tension, character conflict, and narrative momentum builds to a peak, and an end where the conflict is resolved.

5 Classic Elements of a Narrative Arc

Exposition. This is the reader’s introduction to the story. The exposition offers background information to prime the audience for the rest of the story, including introducing the main character(s) (the “who”), setting (the “where”), and circumstances or time period (the “when”).
Rising action. This is when conflict begins to ramp up. The rising action usually begins with what’s called an “inciting incident”—the triggering event that puts the main events of the story in motion. This is when the audience starts to see what your story is really about.
Climax. This is the highest point of tension in your storyline, and often the point at which all the different subplots and characters converge. Typically, the climax requires the main character to face the truth or make an important choice.
Falling action. This is what happens as a result of the protagonist’s decision. During the falling action, the conflict gives way to resolution. Loose ends are tied up, and tension begins to dissipate.
Resolution. Also known as a denouement, this is how your story ends. The resolution of a narrative arc isn’t always happy, but it does close the loop and show how the events of the story have changed the characters and the world around them.

8 STEPS IN THE DAN HARMON STORY CIRCLE:

You — A character is in a zone of comfort,
Need — But they want something.
Go — They enter an unfamiliar situation,
Search — Adapt to it,
Find — Get what they wanted,
Take — Pay a heavy price for it,
Return — Then return to their familiar situation,
Change — Having changed.

Analysis of story arc

1. You: Miles Morales, an ordinary high school student who admires Spider-Man. He loves to listen to music, draw, dislikes tying his shoes and aspires to independence ……But his cop dad (who hates Spider-Man) is against all his hobbies

2. Need: Luckily, young Miles has someone to talk to, his Uncle Morlun, a man his dad used as an antagonist. The uncle understands him, approves of him, encourages him to do what he loves and takes him deep into the underground tunnels to collaborate on an entire wall of graffiti. It is also here that Miles is bitten by a mutant spider and undergoes a series of physical changes which make his life a mess.

3. Go: Meanwhile, the city’s most notorious crime boss, Kingpin and has built a highly secretive supercollider that opens up a space-time gateway to other universes, and different versions of Spider-Man from other universes have arrived in Miles’ world.

4. Search: Miles gets used to his identity and skills with the help of the other Spider-Men, and they start planning how to stop Kingpin.

5. Find: Miles needs to find the key to shut down the collider and stop it in its tracks so he can save the world.

6. Take: Miles inadvertently discovers that one of Kingpin’s men who has been hunting him is actually his most trusted uncle, Morlun. After learning Miles’ identity, Morlun is ready to set him free, but as a result, he dies at the hands of Kingpin’s gun.

7. Return: The Peter Parker of this universe is a failure, middle-aged, burger-loving, physically fit, slacking off at work, divorced due to differences in outlook with his wife, and the death of his closest relative, Aunt May. Of course, he eventually rediscovers his sense of duty as Spider-Man with Miles’ persistence and joins him in the fight against Kingpin.

7. Change: Considering that Miles was not yet proficient in his skills, Peter decided that he would turn off the time machine (then he would not be able to return to his own time and would die here) and he tied Miles to a chair in his dormitory. Unable to contact Miles for days on end, and having experienced the death of his brother, Dad suddenly feels that there is nothing more important than valuing his loved ones, and a confession through the door of his room brings Miles to a sudden realization, transforming him into a superhero.、

Characters Archetypes Breakdown

Hero