The Steadfast, Flat-Arc Protagonist in Story: The Beginning
A couple of times, I’ve been asked to explain how positive steadfast, flat-arc protagonists actually work in story structure (or “beat sheets,” if you prefer that term). Steadfast, flat-arc protagonist are protagonists who don’t really change their worldview–it’s more or less the same at the beginning and at the end.
Examples: Diana in Wonder Woman, Moana in Moana, Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke, James Barrie in Finding Neverland, Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Regan in The Quiet Place, Part II.
Luckily, as I mentioned in a previous post, the flat-arc protagonist story has pretty much all the same pieces as the change-arc protagonist story–many of them are just reversed.
This means, that frankly, a lot of the same moments happen, if a little differently.
Writing a steadfast protagonist is like being left-handed in a right-handed world. Same world. Different experience.
Since this can (like a lot of writing concepts) be a little difficult to “see,” I’m gonna go ahead and guide you through a positive steadfast protagonist story.
And even if you never intend to write a flat-arc story, this may still be helpful to some degree, as most stories will feature a flat-arc character, even if they are not the protagonist. (However, I wouldn’t recommend getting hung up on trying to make a side flat-arc character hit all the same points as a protagonist one would.)
One of the most obvious differences in structure is that the positive, steadfast, flat-arc protagonist starts on an accurate worldview–sometimes referred to as the “truth.” This is almost always, more or less, the primary theme of the story. By the end of the story, this worldview will be proven true, so the protagonist ultimately doesn’t flip in his or her beliefs, making him or her “steadfast.” (In contrast, a positive change character will start with an inaccurate worldview–the “lie” or “misbelief” or “flaw”–this is basically the “anti-theme”–the opposing argument to the “truth.” The positive change character will change to the “truth,” the accurate worldview, the true thematic statement at the end.)
However, many stories have more than one theme. Many stories have secondary themes.
Because of this, it’s possible for the positive steadfast character to be steadfast in the primary theme, but be a change character in the secondary theme. A steadfast protagonist may or may not be steadfast for every theme. But by definition, they must be steadfast for the primary theme (obviously).
This is why you may see writers argue over whether a particular character has a change or flat arc, and why the same character may get categorized differently--it depends entirely on what thematic thread the person is pulling.
For example, in The Lion King, Simba is ultimately a steadfast protagonist in the primary theme–he believes in the Circle of Life at the beginning, and even though he temporarily loses sight of that, he ultimately holds true to it at the end. However, he’s a change character in the secondary theme of responsibility–he starts out believing in irresponsibility but flips into embracing responsibility at the end. Because of this, different people may get in arguments about how he arcs.
Someday I will write a post specifically on secondary themes and secondary arcs. For now, I do want to illustrate how secondary themes and arcs play out for steadfast protagonists, as I feel they can be particularly important in understanding them (Simba’s structure being just one example).
Why 3 Steadfast Story Examples?
To say I’m going to dissect three steadfast stories may seem a bit overkill, but there is a method to my madness.
1. This will show you how a protagonist may or may not be steadfast for both primary and secondary themes.
2. There are three categories of steadfast protagonists
- The Flat-arc Character Experiences Little to No Doubt (examples: Regan in The Quiet Place, Part II, Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2015))
- The Flat-arc Character Doubts Applying the Accurate Worldview (examples: Moana in Moana, Peter Parker in Spider-man 2) This doubt may manifest in one of these ways:
- She may question how to actually imbue the environment with the accurate worldview. (How does she actually do what she needs to do with the truth?)
- She may question her wherewithal (Does she have what it takes to do this?)
- She may question her worthiness (Is she the right person to be doing this?)
- The Flat-arc Protagonist Doubts the Accurate Worldview (examples: Simba in The Lion King, Diana in Wonder Woman)
Having three full examples will allow us to cover each of these things. Of course, as with everything I post, don’t feel like you have to read every example if you don’t want to! It’s just that having and studying all three will for sure give you a more comprehensive look at how this plays out–and help us all write better steadfast stories (which is the point).
Setting up 3 Examples of Flat-arc Stories
I’ve decided to dissect Finding Neverland, Princess Mononoke, and Wonder Woman as examples for the above reasons. Each of these examples has a clear, accessible secondary theme. (For now, think of a secondary theme as a “lesser” theme, worldview, or truth that usually feeds into the primary theme.) Each film features a different category of protagonist.
Finally, I’ve chosen them because I recently rewatched each of these films, so they are fresh on my mind. 🙃😉
Let’s break their components down, shall we?
Protagonist: James Barrie
Primary Theme (Accurate Worldview): Playfulness empowers us and helps us cope by getting us to believe in something bigger.
Primary Anti-theme (Inaccurate Worldview): We should go through life seriously. Playfulness is inappropriate.
Primary Arc: James Barrie is a positive steadfast protagonist who doesn’t doubt the primary theme at all.
Secondary Theme (Accurate Worldview): Sincere friendship is more important than reputation.
Secondary Anti-theme (Inaccurate Worldview): Reputation is more important than friendship.
Secondary Arc: James Barrie is a positive steadfast protagonist who entertains some doubt through the middle concerning friendship being more important than reputation.
Primary Theme (Accurate Worldview): We should strive to live in peace with others, by not giving into hate.
Primary Anti-theme (Inaccurate Worldview): We should use hate as fuel to defeat our enemies and get what we want.
Primary Arc: Ashitaka is a positive steadfast protagonist who is unsure how to apply the theme to the wider world.
Secondary Theme (Accurate Worldview): We should face death calmly and humbly. It’s okay to seek healing and life, but we should not rage or try to cheat the inevitable.
Secondary Anti-theme (Inaccurate Worldview): We should seek the death of our enemies, and when confronted with our own, rage onward arrogantly and destructively.
Secondary Arc: Ashitaka is a positive steadfast protagonist who never seems to doubt the secondary theme.
Primary Theme (Accurate Worldview): We should fight for the world we believe (which comes from choosing love/mercy)
Primary Anti-theme (Inaccurate Worldview): We should allow humans to suffer the world they deserve (which comes from choosing punishment/justice)
Primary Arc: Diana is a positive steadfast protagonist in the primary theme who doubts her accurate worldview.
Secondary Theme (Accurate Worldview): People have both good and bad in them. They are gray.
Secondary Anti-theme (Inaccurate Worldview): People are black or white (innately good or innately evil)
Secondary Arc: Diana is a positive change character in the secondary theme. She moves from having a black and white view, to seeing the gray (the truth).
Ooooh–look at those juicy thematic arguments and strong protagonists just waiting for their plots!
Of course, since character arc, theme, and plot, all intertwine, you probably won’t see these things so clearly in your drafts–you may not figure out the theme until you’ve already gotten deep into the character arc and plot, for example. The creative process is messy, and it often feels like a chicken vs. egg conundrum.
But certainly understanding what the end product is meant to look like, will help you get there.
Just to clear something up, in case you are new around here, the “anti-theme” or “inaccurate worldview” is, to put simply, the opposing argument. You may have heard this same basic concept called a “misbelief” (if you like Lisa Cron’s Story Genius), a “lie” (if you like K. M. Weiland’s methods), or sometimes it is even considered a “flaw” when within a character. These different terms may arguably have slightly different meanings, but they largely tap into the same idea: an opposing, inaccurate worldview.
Anti-theme = Inaccurate Worldview = Lie = Misbelief = Flaw (to some degree)
Theme = Accurate Worldview = Truth (I have also sometimes heard this called the “Central Idea”)
Really, I could feed any of these story examples through any of the popular structures in the creative writing world: The Hero’s Journey (Vogler’s version), Save the Cat!, or 7 Point Story Structure. This is because (in my opinion), these all say similar things, just from different angles, with different emphases–basically, most well-structured stories will fit any one of them, believe it or not (believe it!).
So I’m going to just use a general hybrid version to dissect these examples.
Never forget that the following are just principles and guidelines–you don’t have to have everything exact, and I will be talking about some variations along the way. You’ll also see how some beats overlap. This is meant to help, not hinder.
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