Arc
An arc is the whole-deck narrative shape. It is the largest level of the storymaking hierarchy: the curve the audience travels from opening tension to final release.
An arc is more than a structure. It is a commitment — picking Hero's Journey commits the deck to a transformation; picking Sparkline commits it to a peer-gap reveal; picking Consultant's Gambit commits it to opening with the answer. The arc determines what every subsequent decision (block sequence, loop choice, opener, closer) must do.
Properties of an arc
- Direction. Where the story is going.
- Tension shape. Where stakes rise, where they release.
- Transformation. What changes between start and end — knowledge, position, or action.
- Closing register. What the final beat lands as: decision, ask, proof, or question.
Where it sits in the hierarchy
Arc → blocks → loops → slides → components. The arc is what makes the rest cohere.
How to pick
Match arc to narrative temperature and audience needed-state-after. A board recommendation is rarely a Hero's Journey. A founder fundraising rarely benefits from a pure Inform arc.
See the arcs catalogue (Hero's Journey, Consultant's Gambit, Sparkline, etc.) for the canonical shapes.
Failure modes
- No arc. A deck assembled by topic. The audience never feels they are going somewhere.
- Wrong arc. A persuade-deck built on an Inform arc.
- Mixed arcs. First half Sparkline, second half Pyramid. Confuses the reader's expectation.
Canonical phrasing
The arc is the contract you make with the audience in the first thirty seconds. Break it and they lose the thread.