How To Write Character Arcs: WANT VS NEED

Рет қаралды 11,947

Күн бұрын

A story with strong character ARCS is a story people will remember. Whether it be books, movies, tv shows, or video games, well-developed characters take a story to the next level. And two of the key ingredients when it comes to strong character ARCS are want and need. But here's the thing, what's the difference? Don't we all want the same thing that we need? And don't we usually need what we want? It turns out it's not that simple. I read four whole books, surfed many blogs, and took a dive into some video essays, all to learn my way around this topic so I could come here and tell you the difference.
Make sure to subscribe because this video is a lead up to a video dropping next week which is all about where to start your story.
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Books Referenced:
Anatomy of a Story by John Truby
Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
Creating Character ARCS by K.M. Weiland
Story Genious by Lisa Cron
Media Referenced:
The Lion King
How To Train Your Dragon 1 and 3
Inception
Minority Report
Breaking Bad
Wall-E
Inside Out
Ready Player One
The 100
The Hunger Games
Avengers End game
Interstellar

Пікірлер: 69

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER ARC EVER??? Book, movie, tv show, video game, KZfaq video series, play, anything and everything. Alternately, if that's too hard a question. What upcoming media release are you most excited about?!?! I need to know what to get hyped for!

@brotherbuddha89 3 жыл бұрын

Upcoming media release I'm most hyped for would be the Amazon Prime TV adaptation of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, my favorite book series 😍🥰🤩

@houssamalissa4417 3 жыл бұрын

Jaime Lannister in the book series A Song of Ice and Fire Michael Corleone in The Godfather Jimmy in Better Call Saul

@zombiegaby 4 жыл бұрын

I think we can all agree that Zuko's character arc was one of the best ones in ever.

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Yes!!! His arc was amazing. I really want to cover it in a video but I'm so scared of not doing it justice so I keep putting it off lol. I just finished rewatching the whole series though for the first time since I started writing and was surprised to find I love his arc even more now

@s.sumbrella7616 4 жыл бұрын

Yes

@gab5775 3 жыл бұрын

Agreed!

@ojacobsen3727 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, Danny Zuko is one of the great characters. Only dwarfed by Sandy, who needed to forfeit her entire personality and embrace rock n'roll.

@christopherjensen6686 4 жыл бұрын

"He's beginning to believe." Morpheus says, right before Neo absolurely wrecks Agent Smith.

@tropetrinitytrilogy8533 4 жыл бұрын

This was a great example, but now I'm emotional because of How To Train Your Dragon XD I really like Zuko's character arc!

@zacharywood9416 2 жыл бұрын

The copyright claim edit during the Lion King example fkn got me holy shit lol, great video as always!! I always walk away feeling motivated after your videos

@CloudKitten 2 жыл бұрын

I'm glad to hear it

@angelddude Ай бұрын

Grateful for the concrete examples. And the first one I have seen where she analyzed the wants and needs of a series, which I still cannot identify by myself. Great video.

@sathepine 4 жыл бұрын

There's too many to mention! Off the top of my head, aside from Geralt in The Witcher series, I would say Kenshin Himura in Rurouni Kenshin and also Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist (both from manga though). I'm excited and super nervous about The Witcher. I'm really scared it'll look like something I don't recognize. What I'm looking forward to this week is Mindhunter season 2 in Netflix.

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Oooooh the Witcher. I'm SUPER excited for the series. I'm currently most of the way through Last Wish and then get to start on the next one. I read they're basing the first season on the Last Wish, but I'm so confused because the trailers have Yennifer and Ciri in them and they aren't in Last Wish so far... So now I don't know what to think.

@sathepine 4 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten oh you'll meet yennefer in the last wish -- her story is near the end and it's titled the last wish hihihi

@zacharywood9416 2 жыл бұрын

Did you like it?

@houssamalissa4417 3 жыл бұрын

Love this channel, so helpful!

@pogacsa2914 4 жыл бұрын

Girl your channel is awesome! I think the only reason why your channel hasn't blown up yet is because there are so many of these writing advice channels. But yours definitely stands out! Anyway, you've just earned a new subscriber 😃

@HexlGaming 3 жыл бұрын

„Art; there are no rules“ beautiful

@MrMarcsz 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your great videos, they are very helpful :) plus your background is really inventive and looks great, you definitely deserve as much praise as bigger channels!

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much

@AliCatGtz 2 жыл бұрын

This was another fantastic video! Got some valuable information from this 💜 I can’t wait to dive more into your content 😸

@CloudKitten 2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful! and thank you for the lovely comment!

@jrnhokland532 3 жыл бұрын

As a movie lover and a clinical psychologist: The deepest character arc is that of Joker. In the beginning, Arthur Fleck suffers from a serious depression with psychosis and numbing medication, and the question is suicide. In the end, Arthur is clinically non-symptomatic: No medication, no depression, no psychosis, no suicidal impulse (that impulse hit Murrey in the face). In the end, Arthur satisfies the criteria for anti/dyssocial personality disorder - but he's no psychopat: not calculating/controlling, not sadistic, not hurting people who doesn't deserve it. He's antisocial - and hey, so were all the people who handled the gilliotin when the French broke out from under tyranny and wrote their new constitution. Arthur wishes to survive (depression and tyranny). Arthur needs to come out of denial and remember his mother's abuse: At 75, Denial is Lost ;-)

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

That was definitely an interesting arc and I don't have the experience to properly analyses it so it's nice to see a take from someone with psychology knowledge. I do love movies where the characters face complex trauma

@chaeyoungvideos5742 4 жыл бұрын

thank you for this!

@muhammadbasitmasood1940 2 жыл бұрын

Love the way you explain these complexities with so much enthusiasm. Wish you million views and subscribers.

@CloudKitten 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much 😀

@spirit4460 Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tutorial!

@CloudKitten Жыл бұрын

You are very welcome

@sublimeretrieval7832 3 жыл бұрын

That's some great color theming in the background! 📕📗📘📙

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you!! It's a pain when I need to find a book and can't remember what the spine looks like, but otherwise I love it

@author_apmobley 4 жыл бұрын

Deadlines are definitely as scary as Voldemort

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Especially book deadlines which you have right on your heels 😱

@jemondy5460 4 жыл бұрын

Yay you're back! *does happy dance*

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Ahhh thank you for noticing

@heinrichkrull2523 3 жыл бұрын

It's hard to choose my favorite arc from any of Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon's character arcs in Ninjago. But I think my favorite arc is seeing what happend and the side effects from his abusive relationship with Harumi. This is do to it's represantation of something that happens alot in real life, but is either played off as a joke or is not taken serious enough in real life. That being an abusive relationship where the female of heterosexual relationship is the abuser, not the male.

@garybertier6630 3 жыл бұрын

Michael Dorsey in Tootsie. Love that transformation.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

And then there's me having not seen them yet and skipping over those examples whenever I find them in the book because I plan to watch the movies one day. I should really bump those up my To-Be-Watched list

@imacheetah100 4 жыл бұрын

I like the way you explain things

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you ❤

@calebking1130 4 жыл бұрын

Great video! Mind if I share it to a writing group I’m in?

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Mind? Mind?! It would make me super happy if you did

@ace_of_cups4096 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten in that case, im sharing ur channel on my own writing platform hq, lol!

@sjlees 4 жыл бұрын

favouritee character arc was Mr gold / rumple off once upon a time

@dahgurr4833 4 жыл бұрын

so wants are just the little things, but needs are the realizations?

@lightspark7820 3 жыл бұрын

I might go Luke Castellan from the Percy Jackson series, other than maybe Zuko.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I still need to read that series

@lightspark7820 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten Would highly recommend; great story with great character arcs and dynamics.

@christophermurawski4361 3 жыл бұрын

Question - at what point in the story does the characters WANT have to be obvious to the viewer? Can they develop a want early on in the story, or does it have to be from the very first scene?

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

The want will generally be tied to your characters initial movement, and motivation. It will be a driving force, so earlier it's hinted at, the better, but it really depends on the story and what the inciting incident is. Basically if you can start with your character actively working toward their want, that can be a good way to start in the thick of things and show good character agency, but there are definitely other ways to jumpstart the story. As for when the want should be obvious (in my opinion) you have way more wiggle room and can be about as slow as you want. I think more important than making the want obvious is to just convey the character has a want since that will give them a sense of agency and will make them feel like a character who existed before the story started.

@frogiesaurus7649 3 жыл бұрын

How to train your dragon 3 made me cry so much 😢

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I literally did a whole video on all the ways HTTYD3 manages to make you cry because I couldn't get over how much it made me cry lol

@kasaibouF29 3 жыл бұрын

So by this logic, Luke Skywalker in TLJ has wants and needs, and that makes him a well written character. His want is to die on an island, but his need to confront his past.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not lol but yes, he is well written in that he has a solid want and need and they are both thematically relevant and are reconciled in the end.

@alialali9350 3 жыл бұрын

"sometimes the story will have to end on that bittersweet note of interior gain and exterior loss" damn I think that this is what actually happened with Ellie at the end of the last of us 2 when she let Abby go, she lost 2 of her fingers and a lot more but she regained some of her humanity and she was ready to go on a path of healing from trauma and guilt. also I think that what happened with Ellie is also related to the psychological and moral needs.

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

I wish I'd played an analyzed the game before making this type of video because that would certainly be a great example to explore. TLOU2 has so much interesting want vs need aspects to unpack. I did a 42 minute video essay on it and I still feel like I've only just scratched the surface of that game's depth.

@alialali9350 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten the last of us 2 is certainly one hell of a story that worth revisiting over and over. Also your analysis of it was great and one of the best on all of youtube.

@smfknj6010 3 жыл бұрын

There’s nothing truer in this video then when you say that somebody on their day off would probably want to spend their day in the oasis but how bad with that suck if it happened to be on the day it was shut down

@favoritestory2653 4 жыл бұрын

What's the background music😭😭

@clintcarpentier2424 3 жыл бұрын

What if the character knows what they need, but are still willing to sacrifice it for the story?

@CloudKitten 3 жыл бұрын

Well generally they would still have a need, just maybe a more internal one. The need usually relates to their major (or one of their major) flaws or shortcomings. So they may have a need they're willing to sacrifice, but maybe the deeper need is they need to trust others to bear some of the burden and not try to take on the world on their own, or something similar. Basically in most stories your character learns something at the end and that something is rooted in their need or even is just what they needed. You can of course have a character that doesn't have a need at all or doesn't have a flaw they work through, or have a need they're aware of (which sort of makes it not a need, but a want), which I believe is called a flat character arc, and is sometimes used in very plot driven stories. So I think maybe that's where yours would fall. Not sure though since I don't know the nitty gritty. Flat arcs aren't a bad thing, just less common

@clintcarpentier2424 3 жыл бұрын

@@CloudKitten I didn't give any of my characters an arc. It wasn't a conscious decision, if it happened it happened; I was more focused on keeping the story progressing. Angel has two overt needs, they're genetic, and she can't do anything about them other than capitulate to their will. However, the story takes her away from accessing mollification of these needs. If there is a lesson to be learned, it hasn't been addressed; I don't know if this is a bad thing, but she does have at least a trilogy.

@lindapenttinen3382 4 жыл бұрын

Best character arc? That is a hard one. Maybe Aang from Avatar the last airbender as he transforms from little child to powerful Avatar he waa meant to be. But there are so many good ones I cannot really decide. Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin is also good or Ken Ichijooji from Digimon Zero Two.

@CloudKitten 4 жыл бұрын

Avatar is a pretty good one. If you aren't already aware of Hello Future Me you should check out his vidoe essays on Avatar. They're amazing.