Welcome to Day 6 of 40 craft lessons from 40 picture books.
Not all main characters change, positively or negatively. What if a character doesn’t change, yet changes the world outside? That’s a flat-arc character. The word “flat” suggests constancy, which is partly correct: the character stays constant, but the world around them changes.
Annabelle, in Extra Yarn (2012, Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen), is a little girl who discovers a box of magical yarn that never runs out. She begins knitting colorful things—first a blouse for herself, then something for her dog, and then a gift for a boy who laughs at her and his dog. She knits for everyone and changes her little town, filling the pages with more color. Eventually, a greedy king steals the box, but it turns out to be empty. The king throws the box into the sea, but the sea brings it back to Annabelle, and it is full again.
The story begins with Annabelle as generous and kind, and ends with her the same. That’s the key factor in writing an appealing flat-arc character. Decide what your character wants. For example, Annabelle wants to share her magical yarn with everyone. Then introduce external forces that challenge their goal, and show that the character remains unchanged while her environment changes.
A flat-arc character can make a great story if the character earns the change, like Annabelle, who stands against the king. This kind of arc works exceptionally well in biographies, where the character changes the world around them.
I hope reading this blog post has given you new ideas. See you tomorrow for Day 7. If you would like to read these 40 craft lessons on WhatsApp, please join the channel.
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