Map a Character Arc: Wound to Want to Need

Your character changes by the end but you cannot say why, structurally. Give their wound and their conscious want, and you get the arc mapped: what they actually need underneath, the false belief bridging wound to want, and three structural moments where want and need should collide. For writers who want an arc that holds up rather than just feels right.

I'm plotting the arc for {CHARACTER_NAME} across a {STORY_LENGTH} story in the {GENRE} genre. Their wound is: {WOUND}. Their conscious want (what they pursue) is: {WANT}.

Using the wound-want-need framework, identify: what the character's unconscious need actually is (and why it conflicts with the want), the false belief that bridges wound to want, three structural moments in the story where the want and need should collide, the midpoint event that cracks the false belief without resolving it, and the final choice that forces the character to choose between want and need. Present this as a scene-level arc map with brief annotations explaining the psychological logic at each beat.