Star Keepers: Character Arc Development

 So, to develop my story, I've been working to develop my characters and the arcs they go through throughout the book, hopefully to help me figure out what needs to happen in each chapter. I've broken the story down into about ten section, and analyzed where the characters would roughly be at the time. It's a good practice for just about any writer, so I thought I'd share a few on here.

Introduction	What do they need or want?	What do they gain or learn?	What conflict or dilemma do they face?	How does it move their story forward?
Gavin	He wants to prove himself a good captain	He steps into his role as captain of a ship	Living up to the example his family set	He begins his leadership as a captain
Aghri	He wants to defend and protect worlds from invasion	He becomes first officer under the son of his hero	He is suffering from homesickness and depression	He starts to acknowledge his loneliness
Digus	He wants to escape from his dismal reality	He gains an offer to get off the planet by sinking his city	He struggles with the morality of his actions	He takes a step toward becoming a villain
Nikola	She wants to prove herself a great pilot	She starts her first position aboard an actual ship	Making a good first impression on her superior officers	She starts her journey with the Star Keepers.
Long Tail	He wants to serve and escape from his nightmares	He becomes a communications officer aboard the Arrowhead	The same old nightmares and panic attacks	He is introduced as Gavin’s best friend
Garrison	He wants to do his duty as a Star Keeper officer	He starts getting used to working under his younger cousin	He struggles with working under his cousin	He starts to work out his issues with Gavin
Qarian	She wants to fight and defend the people of the United Worlds	She is given the chance to work with a young newcomer	She is wary of the new captain’s ability	She adjusts to working with a new captain.
Bardlun	He wants a nice quiet final run of service.	He starts his final run of service under a new captain	He is feeling the effects of his old age.	He starts his final run of service.

The Call	What do they need or want?	What do they gain or learn?	What conflict or dilemma do they face?	How does it move their story forward?
Gavin	He wants to pull off his first big mission	He learns of Digus’s actions on Hedes	Figuring out who’s behind the terrorist actions and stopping it	It gives him a focus for the remainder of the story
Aghri	He wants to help the people of Hedes from the terrorist	He learns of Digus’s actions on Hedes	Figuring out how to help the people of Hedes	He is given a people to focus on and protect
Digus	He wants to sink the city and avoid capture	He gains a potential adversary in the Star Keepers	He attracts the attention of the Star Keepers	He is given greater obstacles to overcome
Nikola	She wants to help out with this situation	She starts her first real adventure on the ship	Facing up to the challenge	She is given an adventure to embark on
Long Tail	He wants to check out this cool-sounding planet	He gets a chance to brush up on Hedian languages	Some slight panic attacks, but nothing big	He starts this ship’s first mission
Garrison	He wants to do his duty as a Star Keeper officer	He is assigned an important mission	He still struggles a bit with working under his cousin	He gets an assignment to focus on
Qarian	She needs to defend the people of Hedes from this enemy	She is given an essential assignment	She understands the serious nature of this situation	She gets the chance to see the captain in action
Bardlun	He wants to do what he can to help	He gets a situation where he can be of good use	He is a bit afraid this run won’t be peaceful after all	He starts studying up on Hedian culture

Traveling to Hedes	What do they need or want?	What do they gain or learn?	What conflict or dilemma do they face?	How does it move their story forward?
Gavin	He wants to make sure that this mission is successful	He gains the friendship of Aghri	Coming to terms with his own responsibility	He gains a strong ally in Aghri
Aghri	He wants to help Gavin step into his own as a captain	He gains a friend in Gavin	Figuring out the situation on Hedes	He and Gavin start to work together as a team
Digus	He wants to do as much damage as possible before the ship	He gains access to the control tower	A time crunch before his opportunities run out	He moves his plan forward
Nikola	She wants to learn about these Hedians	She starts to study the race of Hedians	The long history of the Hedian race	She and Bardlun are shown to care for one another
Long Tail	He wants to pick up the language of Hyukteri before arrival	He learns a great deal of Hyukteri language	A very short span to learn their specific language	It shows him hard at work
Garrison	He wants to make sure the ship is ready for the planet	He analyzes the hull’s ability to withstand the moon field	The planet’s moons will mess with the ship’s systems	He is shown hard at work
Qarian	She analyzes the situation on the planet	She gains insight into the villain’s abilities	Figuring out just what kind of enemy they are dealing with	She is shown to be good at what she does
Bardlun	He needs to research the data on the Hedian people	He learns about and studies the Hedians	Due to them being cut off, there isn’t much information	We see him doing what he does

Entering Hedes	What do they need or want?	What do they gain or learn?	What conflict or dilemma do they face?	How does it move their story forward?
Gavin	He wants to get onto the planet safely	He experiences going through the planet’s moons	The impenetrable dust cloud around Hedes	He gets to Hedes
Aghri	He wants to get through to help the people	He experiences going through the planet’s moons	The dust cloud around Hedes	He gets a glimpse of the Hedians’ situation
Digus	He wants to prevent the ship from getting there	He learns to track them through the tower	Figuring out a way to stop them arriving	He begins looking beyond his city
Nikola	She has to fly through the cloud	She gains the experience of flying through	The enormous dust cloud	She pulls off her first major test as a pilot on the ship
Long Tail	He wants to get to the planet safely	He learns that a lot of moons is very bad	Holding on as they pass through the moon field	He arrives on Hedes
Garrison	He wants to get the ship through safely	He learns to navigate and work with his new pilot	Plotting a safe course through the moon field	He has to be very careful getting them through
Qarian	She has to help her crew get through the moon field	She gains a sense of just how isolated the planet is	Watching as the crew gets them through the moons	She has to sit on the sidelines
Bardlun	He needs to help his team understand this world	He studies the effects such a field would have on the planet	Understanding those living in such a situation	He starts to understand the people living there.

Hedes	What do they need or want?	What do they gain or learn?	What conflict or dilemma do they face?	How does it move their story forward?
Gavin	He needs to lead his crew to stop Digus	He learns much about his crew and his job	Bringing in Digus and leading his crew	He learns and grows as a captain as he chases Digus
Aghri	He wants to help the people and understand them	He learns about how the Hedians survive in their environment	Being in such an artificial environment	He experiences a world opposite to his own
Digus	He wants to sink the city despite the Star Keeper involvement	He scopes out the Star Keepers and works around them	The Star Keepers investigation	He starts to develop a rivalry with the captain
Nikola	She wants to help with the investigation	She learns about the people of Hedes	Not being particularly needed in the investigation	She tries to find ways to be helpful in the situation
Long Tail	He wants to help but stay out of trouble	He learns about the world and people of Hedes	He is concerned about the situation raising nightmares	He helps out with the situation
Garrison	He wants to figure out the situation and beat Digus	He puts together lots of clues about Digus	Figuring out how to beat a genius working under Gavin	He puts his brain to good use working around Digus
Qarian	She has to deal with an escalating situation	She starts to understand who they’re dealing with	Digus and all of his tricks	She and Garrison work together to stop Digus
Bardlun	He needs to work with the city government to stop Digus	He learns the inner workings of the city	Studying the people and understanding the criminal	He puts his skills to good use to defeat Digus

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