Since the start of this blog, I’ve been talking a lot about plots and character arcs. In our Writing Tips series, we’re in the middle of a sub-series about Positive Change Arcs, with a Flat Arc series and Negative Arcs post to follow. But all of these plot points might seem a little unrealistic to you… I mean, does this really happen in real literature?

To answer that, we must turn to the Bible, the greatest book ever written. “But the Bible doesn’t have a plot!” You might say. If you believe that, you’re very mistaken. Not only is the Bible full of character arcs and plot points, but it also tells the story of humanity—the ultimate plot.

Today is an introduction to a new series about the four main character arcs, and how they play out on a large scale in the story of humanity. Don’t worry if you don’t understand these character arcs yet… as I said before, I’m planning to look at them in-depth in our Plots and Character Arcs series. But you don’t need to understand character arcs to be able to trace them in the story of humanity.

If you remember, I provided a character arc template at the beginning of our Positive Change Arc series. Well, for this series, I’ll be filling out templates similar to that to show you what the story of humanity would look like as a character arc.

The four character arcs we will look at are the Positive Change Arc (those that are ultimately redeemed), the Flat Arc (God Himself), the Negative Change Arc (those that ultimately reject God), and the Negative Flat Arc (Satan).

These four arcs correspond to the main roles of any story: the contagonist, the protagonist, and two types of antagonists. While many would like to think that Man is the ultimate MC of this story, I believe that it would be more accurate to give God that title. After all, this story is about Him getting the glory He deserves.

I suppose there could be many variations of these ultimate characters. After the first Positive Change Arc is over, it could be said that believers embark on a series of Positive Change Arcs, growing more and more like Christ until He takes them home. It also could be said that God, in a sense, is an antagonistic force towards Man—but only because their sin goes against His holy character.

Despite these different speculations and variations, I’m going to stick to the four character arcs I mentioned above. I think what we discover in our study of them should be plenty to chew on for a long time.

I’m very excited for all of the amazing insights we’ll find in this series, and I trust that it will be a blessing to you, as well. Though some of are most likely already familiar with the story of humanity, this unique take on it just might show you things you’ve never seen before.

Comment below your thoughts on this new series!