What Is the Narrative Arc? Know Everything About Narrative Arcs
Today we have a very informative blog for writers, authors and anyone interested in literature because today we are going to talk about the narrative arc.
So, what is the narrative arc? This is a very interesting question because people sometimes mix it up with the plot of the story as well as the character arc of the story.
While they are very much related, the narrative arc of the story is actually something quite unique and understanding it and the basic concept behind it will provide you with a good basis as an author.
So, let us get on with it right now and understand what is a narrative arc.
So, What Is a Narrative Arc?
The definition of a narrative arc can be complicated but let us help you understand this in as simple terms as possible.
If you want to have a clear understanding of anything then you need to know its beginning and its middle and its end. That is the same case with a story, if you want to have a good understanding of the story or write a good one then you need to understand how it starts, how it goes on and how it ends.
That is the narrative arc of the story.
The narrative arc of a story is the path of the story and it is also the backbone of the story which demonstrates the entire course of action of everything that happens in the story from the rising of the action to the climax as well as the falling of the action.
There are different kinds of narrative arcs out there but every negative arc is about the flow of events.
This is important for a story because you cannot have a story where everything stays the same then the story will not be worth it.
For example, you cannot start a story with a boy and a girl loving each other and also continue the story with the same thing of the boy and the girl loving each other and end the story with the same thing.
You need to have a story where the boy and girl meet and then they fall in love but then their families don’t agree to it and then the couple fight the world to preserve their love.
That is a narrative arc.
The narrative arc of a story usually has a starting point which can be broken down into multiple sections such as the set-up as well as the inciting incident and rising action.
This can lead to the climax which can lead to the failure or success of the protagonist and falling action and then the resolution.
What Is a Plot and The Difference Between a Narrative Arc and A Plot?
When we talk about the plot of a story, it is the individual events that make up the story. When we talk about the narrative arc of the story, it refers to the path the story takes.
This means that the path of the story contains the individual events of the story. In order to simplify it, you can think of the narrative arc as the branches of the tree called the story and the plot being the individual fruits of the story on the branches.
You can also think about the plot of the story as the skeleton of the story which contains every event of the story but those events need the support of something and a progression i.e., the narrative arc or the spine of the story.
If you would like another analogy then the narrative arc of the story is like a map of the entire continent on which your country is, it does not have a lot of details but it gives you a bigger picture about where everything is. The plot of the story is like a detailed map.
So, What Is a Character Arc?
If you know the meaning of a narrative arc then understanding the character arc is much simpler and easier to understand.
The negative arc is the direction of the whole story which means it is a bird’s eye view of how the entire story proceeds.
Every story has multiple characters and each character has a character arc. The character arc of every character only focuses on the journey of that character.
This means that the protagonist can have a character arc quite similar to the entire narrative arc and that of a side character can be different because they might not be part of the story throughout the whole narrative.
Here Are The 6 Primary Types of Narrative Arcs
Rags to Riches (rise)
This is one of the most common types of negative arcs in stories and it follows a path where the protagonist usually begins in a poor situation.
The study progresses and they continue to improve their life and get into a position that is better than what they started with.
This is one of the oldest types of narrative arcs out there and can be seen used in multiple popular novels around the world whether it is “Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen” or whether it is “A Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare”.
Riches to Rags (fall)
If the first one was about the protagonist starting out their journey poor and becoming rich then this is exactly the opposite of it and this is also popular.
We can see this kind of arc in a lot of places but one of the very popular types of stories with the riches to rags is of kings losing their power along with their wealth.
These kinds of stories are usually excellent if you want to convey a message out there in the world about people neglecting their wealth and not working hard enough to maintain their position in the world.
We can find stories like this of riches to rags in the form of “Catch-22 by Joseph Heller” as well as “Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger”.
Man in a Hole (fall then rise)
The third kind of narrative arc is very popular around the world because it is much more practical than the other arcs.
In this kind of narrative arc, the story usually starts with the protagonist being in a situation that is alright, that situation might be great or that situation might be normal.
This then leads to the character facing a lot of trouble and a lot of obstacles that diminish their position in the world.
This position can also be in the form of things like mental peace as well as power and it can also be the entire setting of the story of how the world goes into turmoil.
However, the reason why this kind of narrative arc is popular is because the product or the story makes a complete recovery.
If we are to plot this out then it is going to be like a ‘V’ shaped arc.
Icarus / Freytag’s Pyramid (rise then fall)
The fourth kind of arc is often known as the Icarus arc or the Freytag’s Pyramid. This is a narrative arc where the character starts in a bad position.
They might not be in the best of situations and they might be in a state of struggling or they might not have reached their ultimate potential.
This then results in the rise of the character in the narrative arc where the character rises above their present situation and improves their present situation into something that is much more favourable.
This then usually leads to the character falling into a state of bad situation once again and that situation may be just as bad as how they were in the beginning.
These kinds of narrative arcs are very popular when it comes to stories that showcase greed and other bad values etc.
Cinderella (rise then fall then rise)
The name of this narrative arc is explanation enough because this narrative arc follows the exact arc of the Cinderella story.
The narration starts with Cinderella being in a bad position and then she gets to be in a good position at the ball and then return to a bad position followed by the prince finding her.
This narrative arc is a little bit more complicated than the other ones we have on the list but this kind of a journey makes for a very interesting storyline.
Oedipus (fall then rise then fall)
If you know what the Cinderella narrative arc is all about then this is just the opposite because it is about the character starting in a good position and then falling and then again regaining their position but not being able to maintain that and falling once again.
The name of this narrative arc is often called the Oedipus narrative arc because of how tragic the story is and this is one of the most critical types of narrative arcs that ends sadly for the character.
It might be difficult to write a story with this kind of a narrative arc but if you do manage to do it then you might just create a masterpiece.
So, How Do You Structure a Narrative Arc?
Exposition
This is when the story starts as we are introduced to the characters as well as the setting and we try to understand the mood of the novel.
This is a point of time in the story where do not really see a lot of conflict but we see the starting of something that might become a problem later on.
Authors must get this point of the story right because if they mess up the exposition then it can be a problem for the climax or the rising action.
Rising Action
The exposition of the story is followed by the rising action where we see the seeds of the conflict that was planted in the exposition finally coming to bloom.
This is when we see things becoming a little bit more complicated and tense as relationships mature in the story and people find their calling.
Since the readers already have a basis for everything in the story with the previous bits of the narrative arc, they will be able to acclimatise themselves with the rest of the story and a little bit more complexity of the story because of the rising action.
This is a situation that is right before the climax.
Climax
We finally come to the climax of the story where everything comes together into the most heart-racing point of the story.
This is when decisions are made and this is when conclusions are drawn and every tension is dissipated with action which can be in the form of a fight a discussion, a war or anything that the narrative arc leads up to.
Falling Action
After the climax is finally over, we come to the falling action when the readers are given time to settle down with the conclusion.
Sometimes, stories have this and sometimes they do not as they end abruptly but we feel that having a gradual falling action in the narrative arc is a good way of simmering things down so that people are more comfortable with the conclusion.
That does not really mean you need to have this but having a falling action in the narrative arc will be much more comfortable for your readers.
Denouement
This is then followed by the final conclusion of the story and this is when things like “happily married” or “lived happily ever after” happen.
If the story ends on a positive note, then the denouement gives the readers a sense of warmth and happiness.
If the story ends on a negative note, then it makes the story memorable for all the readers.
Is It Ok for Your Story to Have Multiple Narrative Arcs?
It is not only okay it is actually very common because most stories have more than one narrative arc.
Stories commonly have a main plot and then there are subplots as well as internal plots and these act as supports to the main plot.
The different character arcs actually intermingle together but you need to have relations between all the plots otherwise you are going to have different stories.
We hope this blog has been helpful for you to understand what are narrative arcs and how can you create the perfect narrative arcs for your novel.
And if you already have such a story with an amazing narrative arc ready with a manuscript then you need to publish it and we are here to help you with that.
We are Orange Publishers and we are the fastest growing as well as most popular traditional publishing company with years of experience in publishing all kinds of genres.
We would like to help you publish your latest novel and we welcome you to visit our website to check out everything we do.
