The Character Arc meets Story Structure 

When the world needed her most, she returned!

Cannot be anything but grateful for an hour's worth of your expert advice. The occasional technical blips do not distract.

Ellen, I don’t think anyone gives a hoot about the light or the camera battery, you’re literally giving away amazingly useful information and I’m super grateful. Thank you!

Ellen after giving the most lucid writing advice ever: “So sorry if this was super repetitive or incoherent, I’ve been so disorganized!”

It's always a good day when there's a new Ellen Brock video!

I know I'll be referencing this video in the future, so I'll post this time stamps here in case it's also helpful for someone else. 2:15 The four components of the Arc 5:10 The Status Quo 9:46 The Disruption 12:19 The Debate 13:37 The Decision 14:43 The First Plot Point 18:16 The 2nd Quarter 26:07 The Midpoint 30:20 Reaction 30:49 Emotions Come to Light 34:30 Failed Attempt to Succeed 36:54 Things Get Even Worse 37:10 Lowest Point 39:31 The Second Plot Point 44:44 The 4th Quarter (Preparation & Approach) 45:53 Confrontation 48:21 Sacrifice 51:53 Aftermath 53:50 Summary 1st Quarter 55:04 Summary 2nd Quarter 55:59 Summary 3rd Quarter 57:24 Summary 4th Quarter Thank you Ellen, as always, your videos are gold 💛

I am SO sorry for the camera going out of focus at several points. When the sun got brighter, it shifted where the camera was focused. I hope it's not too terribly distracting! Thank you all for watching and for your support! ❤

Your writing videos have been my favorite on the platform. I’m looking to query my 3rd manuscript within the next few months.

There is nothing confusing about your presentation. You are always thorough and complete. Thank you!

Legimately the only writing advice youtuber who clearly has experience and provides university level information for free. Thank you so much for all that you do :)

Ellen! I get so excited when you pop up in my notifications ! You’re a godsend, thank you for all your content, your channel is invaluable! And an hour! The writing gods are smiling upon us today, your long format vids are honestly a masterclass ! Thank you! So excited to dive in !

These videos are invaluable! Thank you so much for sharing.

This is excellent so far! And 1 hour long, we’re so lucky, thank you for making this!! You’re sooo helpful! 🙏

I watched this on my streaming TV a bit back, and I just wanted to jump on my iPad to comment. I LOVE the way you break things down into bite-sized pieces. No gaps. It is what somebody like me needs.

Amazing video. I was already a big fan of the story structure and character arc videos. This one not only combined the two, but also enriched each of them individually. I'm really looking forward to the negative arc and flat arc videos. Also any additional video on scenes, particularly scenes in relation to chapters, would be amazing, since it's what I'm currently trying to improve

Fantastic, Ellen. As for the camera stuff, it really didn't bother me at all. It's SO refreshing to have your videos stay framed the same way and not have endless cuts. I'm tired of videos cutting closer and further away all the time, and including a thousand editing cuts, as if the creator thinks my attention span is approx 2sec. I really like the constant angle and distance; it feels like I'm actually listening to you explain something, rather than watching a hundred tiny clips of a lecture back to back. So please don't worry about the occasional camera focus thing; it's far less distracting for me than the intentional editing other videos have. Also, I think we'd all deal with a lot worse tech issues to listen to such awesome content. Thanks so much for all the great information - I'm going to be watching this again & taking notes.

53:50 Super Helpful Summary Here... shows how character arc is intertwined with the story arc.

you just made me the happiest person on earth I love you ellen 😭❤

Oh, this looks like it's going to be a good one.

I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw this video pop up! Spent all afternoon watching it and taking notes. Great insights as usual. I'd been trying to meld my notes on the character arc and plot structure videos together myself, but this video definitely cleared up some tricky points for me, as well as just adding so much more extra information and ways of thinking of it. It's such a complicated subject where everything is interconnected and you really manage to explain it like no one else. I'm looking forward to looking through the outline of my current project with these new insights in mind.

Great video! Really looking forward to what you'll have to say about the negative and the flat arc.

excellent presentation and crazy helpful. Don't apologize. The visuals, here and always, are fine and the cinematography doesn't matter anyway. The info is what matters most and you do a great job of getting the ideas across. Well done, as usual.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your videos are always great, but this was just pure gold. The references were so helpful! Character arcs are still my problem, so I will surely rewatch this video a lot of times. And an hour of listening to your advice? Give us more! This is great! You can fully dive into the topic, you explain things so very well, always giving helpful examples. ❤

OMG THIS IS SUCH PERFECT TIMING

One of your best videos! I love the visual outline as well - beyond the character arc, it's a great snapshot of how a standard novel's four quarters should flow from start to finish.

This is brilliant, Ellen, thank you! It's perfect timing! Just when I thought I'd give up on completing my second novel, a competition comes along, and your latest video showed up to get my enthusiasm up all over again on writing!

Thank you so much! This was great! I can’t wait to hear you speaking on the negative character arc

honestly your explanations are best i've ever seen. thank you so much for your videos.

This is so beautifully explained!! Thank you so much! 😄

Thank you Ellen! I'm making games again, but I've got a bunch of detailed outlines for books. I watch all of your videos to see if I can make improvements. On one book series, I had everything lead up to a big battle at the end, but it felt kinda empty. The good guys won, there was revenge, the kingdom was saved... but it was just empty. I realized that I didn't have a "Use the Force, Luke." moment. The character arc was missing from the end. I went back and edited in some character flaws for the main characters that got resolved on the journey, and it really improved the ending. I wish I saw this video 2 years ago! 😄

please do not ever worry about any technical difficulties (except for low audio, that's the #1 thing that makes me stop watching a video, and your audio is perfect) I love all of your videos I always rewatch them over and over bc they are so packed with info that I need multiple times to absorb everything and have it 'click'.

The best writing channel around! Even on videos largely irrelevant to me, I learn useful stuff that I suddenly recall when I get stuck!

Great outline. I’ve had story ideas tumbling around my brain for ages I’ve been honing. This really helped me realize why I was struggling with certain shifts. I kept trying to make a timid character jump in the deep end sink/swim style and I realized I needed to have her be tossed there unwillingly or find a different pathway for it to feel natural.

this was a great reminder of how my story needs to stay on path! lol i'm writing a love story with the main character learning to get over a biased view on the world. i can stay ive made mistake already but i think i can make it work.

I absolutely love these long-form videos and they give me so much clarity. Information trumps lighting and camera every day of the week. Thank you so much for turning on another light blub in my dark creative writing space.

Didn't notice any problems at all. Very lucid and well articulated. Thank you!

This is JUST WHAT I NEEDED, right when I needed it. I was really fretting that the external and internal arc midpoints are a couple if scenes apart (because it's a plot point where the brown stuff hits the fan, and he has to flee for his life, not sit there and contemplate what a complete mess he's made of things!), so thanks for putting that at ease. What I'm grappling with at the moment is that my protagonist has to learn TWO lessons through the events of the plot - kind of two parts of the same lesson. Thinking he might learn one during the Dark Night beat and the other closer to the climax 🤔

This is why I love your channel - you use movies as examples! As a writer, i see my books as movies. I enjoy movied even more than books😊

Thanks as always for the video! For one story in particular I realize I have been thinking of the plot and character beats as separate parts, so I want to make the effort to have them intertwined like you described.

This is great, clear, and the distractions were minimal. Thank you.

I have watched this video so many times, and I'm positive I'll continue to come back and reference it! Thank you for providing the most thorough, actionable writing advice on the platform! ❤

All the way from Scotland, your content has helped me for over a decade. Thank you. I'm a hobby writer, but love this content all the same

The best hour of today, thank you!

This is hands down the most helpful advice about character arcs I've ever seen. I have been trying to wrap my head around it forever, and this finally made it click. I have a great plot and characters I like, and I knew the characters needed to have a misbelief that was corrected by the end, but it seemed so amorphous and I really didn't understand how it connected to the plot beats. I have a lot of re-writing to do now, but I have used the notes I took from this video to build a stronger story. Thank you, Ellen! You're the best.

Another fantastic video Ellen, thank you! Look forward to the follow up video(s?) about the negative and flat arcs. Always love the super valuable information you give. You rock!

When Ellen posts, it’s like Christmas!! 😂 Saving to watch tomorrow on my day off 😊

Hi Ellen, thank you from Poland. Yet another great video as always. Language does not matter. Udnerstanding the structure and the hero's journey is the same in Polish and English. I think this video goes well with the one that you have made about the story structure. Everything fits in nicely. I recommend everyone to watch it as well.

Super grateful for you, Ellen!

It's so nice to see a new video on your channel! Thank you for your work 💕

I can't wait to have time to watch this video. Hopefully this weekend maybe Sunday. Thank you Ellen for this hour long video. I'm in a slump and need a spark. Take care!

Thanks, Ellen, for another amazing video!

This is so sickeningly good. My gosh

Thank you for making this video! It was just what I needed.

The camera issue? What camera?) I was so engrossed in the lecture that didn't even notice it. Great vid! One of the most useful and structured on YT. Thanks for the many examples, it's the most valuable part. Can't wait for the bad arc lessons!

This video coming out on March 21st feels like a real new year treat to me. (The year starting with the spring equinox)

Some schools/books do differ in approach, and it is confusing after reading more approaches to choose the best or find the mix. Excellent videos I do enjoy watching and listening. Helped a lot

I was JUST thinking of your channel and lo and behold there's another video out!! Thank you for making these, they help immensely

This is amazing. I just finished studying your other video about character arcs, so this one comes really handy. I'll deep dive into it as soon as I can. I've already learned a lot and can't wait to learn more.

All good, Ellen! No worries, very helpful.

Thanks so much for your awesome content. No need to apologize for camera or looking at notes!

Very interesting and useful! I can't wait for the video about flat arcs - your other character arc video made me realise that the best way to write my current project might be with a dark/grey flat arc (I was trying to make it work with a positive arc, because the way story beats are described is often oriented in that way, but that wasn't satisfying because I ended up with a different message than what I wanted to convey)

I never knew writing was so sophisticated

Thanks, this has given me some new ideas for my novel.

No need to apologise Ellen about the quality of your video. Your videos are extremely helpful and useful.

Thank you, this video is extremely helpful to me as a new author. My debut novel fell flat and I think a big part of the reason is that I failed to make the story character driven. I appreciate this insight and I plan on using it in my next novel.

Thanks Ellen! It was really helpful to go thru this with u while visualizing my own heroes journey that im writing. It was nice to see that my plan is well thought out, but you inspired me to make a change in the relationship between 2 of my characters which i think will lead to a way more interesting story. So thank you!

Hi Ellen! I just fell over your channel and am superdelighted. When I realised that I am a methodological pantser, everything made finally made sense. Thank you for revealing myself to me! I followed your advise and have now put together a structure sheet that works for me. However, I still struggle to now how to structure side plots and how to integrate them with the main story. If you would consider doing a video on that theme, I think it would be a great help for many. Thanks again, your channel is so great!

Great stuff, Thank you for your gift and generosity.

Thanks Ellen you're a rockstar. Love how you are able to both break story down into a million pieces AND weave everything together (like character arc and plot). I'm wracking my brain to reconcile this video with my novel, and it may be that mine is a negative arc... I'm going to review your video on that! But one thing you helped me realize is that I can use SHREK as a masterwork to compare. My story is fantasy that focuses on a class divide between magic users and non users, but the real story in Book 1 is a love story. Shrek and Fiona represent the low and high class, and they go on a quest together. Mine is similar in this, so I'll look to that movie (which I've seen ~10 times)!

Oh, yes? You bet I'm watching/listening to this today.

I hope the negative arc and the flat arc will also get that much attention, since I feel like they usually get treated very poorly as little more than an after thought.

Very good teacher, thoroughly well structured and helpful, thank you

this is so helpful as your videos always are!

One thing id love to see a video on is analysis of success stories that drastically strayed from the story arc structure or heroes journey blueprint. It seems like nowadays its mandatory to follow these blueprints but that mentality seems to clash with my creativity bone. There must be examples out there.

Thank you for the notes at the end! Very helpful!

First stop apologizing 😊 your passion and commitment to sharing the craft could not be more appreciated or well-delivered. I am inspired and look forward to more! Thank you Ellen.

So thankful that you're back! 🎉

THIS!!! IS THE VIDEO I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR!! TY

helpful! a negative and flat arc version would be awesome

🥺 I’ve been wrestling with my outline and character sheets then I see this new video. 🎉❤

Looking forward to negative and flat arc videos. Especially the dark flat one.

Great, great help with my story. Thank you Ellen!

Was waiting for this - thank you so so much!

Yesssss! I needed this!

This is EXACTLY the topic I needed for my project right now! 🙏🏼

This video was absolutely fantastic and extremely helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise

Excellent video. Thank you.

You’re amazing this is exactly what I was looking to learn. Thank you.

This is so helpful, and you explain it so well. Thank you!

Great presentationよ. Your mashed potatoes not as mushy as you might believe ❤ loved it! Thorough; continued few example films helped; made me think of sensible edits immediately. Thanks!!

I would really love to hear your take on the reason the anime Hikaru no Go hits so hard. It's a very different story structure than the one you've outlined here or prior, but I think breaking down why specifically Hikaru's emotional arc in the last few episodes is so moving might be a great case study.

I think that a character often has more than one belief/lesson to keep track of. At least when I started to apply this to my WIP, I ran into that.

This is amazing!

Great video!

Excellent!

Thank you

I personally like this setup better in terms of the lighting. Some older videos are a little dim. Audio could be improved, but overall it works.

Thank you for yet another comprehensive lesson! I'm not entirely sure what to make of all the character beats you mention, because while I'm definitely writing a positive arc in my story, I feel like I'm barely hitting any of the character beats you mention. Even though my story is very character driven. So, I'm now low-key questioning all I've written... Oh well, I guess the exception makes the rule. 😂

Bingeable xxx I'm saving this for later

I really appreciate your advice :) "Unfortunately", I write in german. It will not be possible for me to book your services for my writing or send you a chapter for your analysis. But that's okay, there is so much valuable input in your videos :)