July 2020 – Emilie Morscheck

YA Analysis: Aurora Burning (SPOILERS)

This post is a part of a series for my blog where I break down YA novels. It’s not a review, but rather an analysis of what I liked and disliked within a YA context. This post’s analysis is about Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Aurora Rising/Aurora Burning!

What I liked:

Multiple perspectives
- Why it worked: Each POV character has a unique voice and way of viewing the world. In this instalment of the series, character backstories are expanded to bring more life to them. By focusing in on certain characters in each book, each POV is afforded a chance to be shown in depth. A takeaway here is don’t cram everything about every character into the first series of a book. We need enough to understand them in the first book, but use subsequent instalments to give each character the space they deserve.
Fast-paced plot
- Why it worked: Keeps you moving through the story and connected to the character’s emotions. The plot also does give scenes space to breathe when needed. Scenes flow seamlessly into each other to build tension.
Worldbuilding
- Why it worked: Book two does a great job of expanding on book one without being overwhelming. Another good example of slowly adding detail through a series to create rich worldbuilding. It doesn’t (and shouldn’t) all happen in book one.

What I disliked:

Cliff-hanger ending
- Why it didn’t work: For me, this made the book struggle to work as a standalone. A cliff-hanger ending might be used to keep readers interested in the next book, however, in the case of this series, the character development is enough to keep the reader interested. Coming into book three will mean there are lots of unresolved emotions and back-tracking required to remind the reader of where the plot is at. A cliff-hanger can also work if there is resolution provided to at least some parts of the plot, but none were offered here.
The romantic conflict
- Why it didn’t work: It’s a trope in romance to have the couple fall out over some lie/perceived betrayal. In Aurora Burning, the main couple effectively spends six months together before a huge secret is revealed. This revelation, of course, causes the partner to turn against her lover. In the case of this narrative, after everything the couple has been through in book one and two, it doesn’t make sense that this act would cause a separation – perhaps a small break given the seriousness of the lie. But the characters know each other, they haven’t lied about their fundamental selves. In the end, it felt very contrived to act as a plot device to get character B into a new location for the finale.

Writing Tips

Creating Compelling Character Arcs

I’ve been planning a new trilogy (Bleed For Me), and for the first time, I’ve really delved deep into character creation. A new area of interest for me is in planning character arcs.

There are a few kinds of arcs that a character can go through: transformation, growth, fall and static. In all of these arcs except for the static arc, the character will change in some way. The transformation and growth arcs are very similar, but the transformation arc requires the characters core beliefs to change. With a growth arc, the character can become stronger, more powerful or more skilled, but their beliefs don’t necessarily have to be challenged. The fall arc involves the character losing their way and is often associated with the antagonist.

To help me work out a balanced character arc. I’ve developed a method which involves choosing the kind of arc, and determining the narrative purpose for the character. After that, I work out what I want my character to look like at the end of the book (or series), and work backwards to the beginning of the book. Working backwards helps trick your brain into making sure each step is logical and will help reach the end goal.

It looks a bit like this (downloads at the end):

This worksheet assumes that the character will go through a transformation arc.

Filled out, it looks something like this:

Claudine is one of the main characters in my new series. I decided that I want to give her a transformation arc over the course of three books. The image above includes her arc from the first book in the trilogy.

My first step was to determine her narrative purpose – why I felt compelled to write her, and what I hoped to use her to illustrate. This could be expressed as a statement or question. In Bleed For Me, the question I want to use Claudine to answer is:

How do you become strong enough to face your past?

I used this question to inform the larger themes of the book as well as suggest the journey Claudine will go through. It also helps suggest the end state for Claudine. As you can see in the image, Claudine needs to learn to trust others so that she can become strong enough to face her past. I set the initial state as the opposite of the end state: Claudine is someone who believes she can only trust herself.

The next steps are easy to fill out. What transformation does she have to go through in order to learn to trust others? Well, Claudine will need to see that her old belief is harmful and change her ways. Keep asking these questions until you fill out all of the boxes. Each step should be logical.

In order to allow the change to occur, the character has to make a choice. This can be physical, mental or spiritual, but it should reflect the transition between each of the states. More complex arcs will have more points in between and possibly combinations of arc types.

From here, I will need to integrate these points into my outline. It will help me determine which chapters might be good to show from Claudine’s perspective. It can help me come up with scenes. It will also help me determine how I can continue to develop Claudine in books 2 and 3.

It can be fun to develop these for your other primary characters. How does the antagonist reflect the protagonist? Do other characters play a part in the main character’s arc?

How do you create compelling character arcs? What’s your favourite kind of arc? What tools do you find useful for plotting?

Download the worksheet here:

Creating-Compelling-Character-Arcs_EMorscheck Download