The Role of Failure (and Conflict) in Character Arc

The change arc. The process whereby, over the course of a story, the protagonist becomes aware of their weakness and evolves in whatever way is necessary for them to achieve their story goal.

Joseph Campbell called this kind of character The Hero with a Thousand Faces because, while each protagonist is different and they each have their own problems, their journey is the same. Their success and happiness are being blocked by a specific flaw that must be dealt with. And most of the time, when their story begins, they’re blissfully unaware that there’s even a problem.

So how do we turn our ignorant, stuck character into someone who recognizes their fault and actively works to overcome it? 

Failure. 

Yes, you read that right. Failure is the key to growth. When a character makes poor choices, acts impulsively, or lets fear get the better of them, things don’t end well. Failure generates more (and bigger) problems and conflict—which lead to more chances for them to either dig a deeper hole or climb toward the light. 

Failures are learning opportunities. And just like parents have to sometimes let their kids fall down, authors must provide those same chances for our characters if we want them to grow.

Failure Accents the Character’s Flaws 

The fatal flaw is your character’s antiquated and ineffective approach to dealing with life’s problems. It consists of mental and behavioral components that work in tandem to protect the character from experiencing emotional hurt. For example, someone who believes people will exploit his vulnerability if he lets them get close may embrace unfriendliness. Technically, this approach works; it certainly keeps people from taking advantage of him. But it does a lot of damage because no one is willing to risk a verbal lashing to have a relationship with him. Over time, he’ll feel isolated and lonely and will probably start to doubt his own worth because he can’t seem to build connections with anyone. 

At the beginning of the story, your character is likely oblivious to their fatal flaw. But then conflicts arise, and as they maintain a death grip on their ineffective but comfortable old habits, they become aware of the flaw and how it’s holding them back.

Just like real-life self-awareness, this is a slow process for our characters. They may not want to see the truth at first, but as each failure brings their weakness into focus, the character eventually becomes aware of it. This is the first step toward growth, and the only way for the character to get there is to fall on their face multiple times. As authors, we have to provide the conflict scenarios that will provide these important failures.

Failure Highlights the Need for Change

But awareness doesn’t necessarily result in change. How often do we recognize a flaw or shortcoming in ourselves and actively take steps to correct it? Your character will react the same way. With each conflict that comes along, they’ll stick with their old ways because those are familiar. But each instance of digging in their heels and refusing to change will create bigger problems—not only for them, but for the important people in their life. And those choices will bring them no closer to reaching their story goal.

It’s painful (for them and for us), but these repeated failures are necessary if the character is going to not only recognize their flaw but realize a need for change.

Failure Pushes the Character to Embrace New Methods

Once the character acknowledges that something’s got to give, they’ll begin altering the way they respond to conflict. Instead of always resorting to dysfunctional methods, they’ll toy with new, healthier approaches, taking baby steps toward change.

But while the character is now moving in the right direction, they’re still going to struggle and make mistakes. As the story progresses, the character’s plight will worsen until they’re faced with a situation where half-measures just won’t work. They must fully embrace the change they’ve been flirting with. At this point, the character will finally reject their old, ineffectual habits and replace them with new ones that will allow them to become the person they were meant to be.

“Finally” will always show up toward the end of a character’s arc because growth takes time. 

The character will need multiple conflict opportunities to face their demons. In the beginning, they’ll fail spectacularly, which will reinforce (in their mind) the need to cling to methods that aren’t working. Toward the middle, they’ll have more successes—but those will only be partial victories. Growth still needs to happen. And then, in the end, once they fully commit to their new way of dealing with conflict, they’ll finally be able to win. 

This is the one-step-forward-two-steps-back formula that works so well in stories because it mirrors real life. It takes time and courage to see flaws for what they are and choose the hard road of discarding them and their limitations. Success and failure are intermingled, both parts of a process that eventually result in meaningful growth. And conflict is the vehicle through which we provide these necessary opportunities for our characters.

Want your conflict to go further? 

The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 1 & Volume 2) explores a whopping 225 conflict scenarios that force your character to navigate relationship issues, power struggles, lost advantages, dangers and threats, moral dilemmas, failures and mistakes, and much more.

You can also find the whole collection of entries in one place at One Stop for Writers.