Open forum question from Mahmoud:

I think I have question that I don’t know if you answered it or not. But here goes.

How to make powerful unforgettable characters?

I know this question is kinda tough, but help us in giving ways to get into the character, you making it talk to us.

Are there some drills or techniques to do that?

If a writer can create “powerful unforgettable characters,” I think we’d all agree they have won half the battle in writing a successful script (the other primary aspects being good story concept and strong story structure). And more than just contributing to a great script, compelling characters can:

* Grab a script reader’s attention

* Help an agent, manager, and producer sell a script to a studio or financiers

* Appeal to actors so they want to play those roles

* Attract a top-flight director to the project

* Benefit the movie in getting a distribution deal (if it’s an indie production)

* Make it easier for a studio marketing department to sell the movie to consumers

* Connect with moviegoers

But how to create them? There are several books on the subject:

“Creating Unforgettable Characters” by Linda Seger

“Dynamic Characters” by Nancy Kress

“45 Maser Characters” by Victoria Schmidt

I’m sure GITS readers can suggest others.

But for purposes of this post, let me mention two points.

First get curious and dig into your characters. This implies that you believe your characters ‘exist,’ that they have their own life-histories, back-stories, and world-views. Because if they do, then that transforms the writer into a psychologist – posing questions to characters, analyzing their responses, stitching together possible interpretations of why they are who they are, what is going on in both their External World (action and dialogue) and their Internal World (intention and subtext). The more you dig into your characters and learn about them, they more they can reveal the multiple layers of their persona, which in turns gives you a wealth of narrative material with which to work.

How to do this? Create a questionnaire and ‘ask’ characters to respond, everything from biographical information to habits and beliefs. You can do this in the third person, where you describe how the character would respond to the questions, or better yet, ask questions to your characters ‘directly’ and see their responses in the first-person. That approach puts you one step closer to the character and as a side benefit, you can start to hear their voice (i.e., affectations, idioms, lingo, speech patterns).

Based upon the answers you get, time to put on your psychologist hat. Look for unusual or distinctive responses, perhaps key biographical information and how that could have affected the character in question. Maybe that results in another set of questions to put in front of the character.

The point is to get you engaged with each character, immerse yourself in their world-view and life-experience. Hopefully in this process, they’ll begin to come ‘alive’ in your mind.

By the way, Robert Towne said the single best question you could ask a character is this: What are you afraid of? People devote enormous psychological time and energy to avoiding what they fear, so if you can dig into a character and determine an answer to that question, you will likely get at the root of much of who they are.

The second point is to identify the narrative function of each of your primary characters. Screenplays are a unique narrative form where every character has to have a reason to exist, some point(s) of connection to other characters and the plot. I look at this as their narrative function.

It’s one thing to churn out detailed biographies and world-views of your characters, but if you don’t understand their function, then it can be a challenge to figure out how all the pieces fit together into a coherent plot, let alone create compelling figures.

In my view, most screenplays will have five primary character archetypes at work: Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster. For more background on the subject, go here.

If you look at each of your major character through the lens of character archetypes, there’s an awfully good chance you’ll see how each of them fulfills a primary function to the story. Once you identify that, you can then use that as a base upon which to develop each character.

Beyond that, the key is your willingness to go into your own Self and find those emotions, passions, memories, and experiences that most deeply affect you – because our characters are a reflection or projection of who we are.

How about you? How do you go about creating unforgettable characters?

[Originally posted 11/8/09]