Reader Question: What are some keys to developing characters?

A question from Jennifer:

Hi Scott,

Thanks so much for writing your blog — it’s such an invaluable resource for writers who are trying to break in. I have a reader question for you.

Do you have any advice on developing characters? Tips on how to give each of them a unique voice and how to build the right chemistry between main and supporting characters using different personality traits, etc? Any help would be appreciated or even additional resources you know of that deal with this subject — books, websites, etc.

Thanks so much,
Jennifer

Jennifer, you touch on one of the single most important aspects of screenwriting. If you can write great characters, you benefit your screenplay in multiple ways:

* Professional readers live for a script that has dynamic, compelling characters as they help to bring a story to life.

* Actors are on the lookout for multilayered characters, ones who give them ample source material with which to work in developing the role.

* Agents and managers get excited about a script with great characters because they know it enhances the market viability of the project.

* Producers love great characters in a script because it makes it much easier to get talent to commit to the project.

* Studio execs want to see memorable characters in a script because their marketing people can use them in ad campaigns to make a strong impression on consumers.

So Jennifer, your instincts are spot-on in wanting to know how to develop your story’s characters.

There is no one right way to develop characters, but if I had to identify one key component to the process, it would be this: curiosity. A writer should get curious about their characters as that will naturally lead them into their characters.

Now there are all sorts of tools to facilitate that process, everything from questionnaires to biographical sketches, 1st person interviews to monologues. They can all be helpful, but your question zeroes in on a hugely important point related to character development: How to create the “right chemistry” between the characters?

In terms of available resources, at this point you’ll have to forgive me, but I happen to think two courses we currently offer at Screenwriting Master Class are terrific in this regard: Core II: Character and Style and Prep: From Concept to Outline.

In the Core II course, we begin with this principle: Character = Function. A screenplay is a unique narrative form because it’s a blueprint to make a movie. As a result, screenplay characters must exist for a reason and that reason is how they tie into the story’s Plotline and Themeline. Fortunately there are five primary character archetypes — Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster — which serve as invaluable aids in digging into each character, finding their core function, then developing the character into a unique personality who has that function as a central point of focus. The first half of the Core II course gets into all of that.

In Prep: From Concept to Outline, we begin with this principle: Plot emerges from character. Writers in the class begin the prep-writing process with their story’s Protagonist, then build out from there using a series of six weekly writing exercises to determine which characters provide what narrative function (their archetype), develop those characters accordingly, and pull together an outline that addresses both the External World (Plotline), but also the emotional plot of the Internal World (Themeline).

These courses are based on writing principles my SMC partner screenwriter Tom Benedek (Cocoon, Free Willy) and I have used for years, both as writers and educators. Bottom line: They work.

But again, the process of developing characters all starts with curiosity. Why is this character the way they are? What events and people in their past have contributed to making them who they are today? What are their conscious goals? What are their unexpressed goals? What is at the core of their Disunity? Why does this story have to happen to this character at this time?

Those are just a few questions you can use to follow your curiosity into your characters.

For more information on the next 4-week Core II: Character and Style course which starts Monday, March 28, go here.

For more information on the next 6-week Prep: From Concept to Outline course which starts Monday, April 4, go here.

Finally I’m proud to announce a new Screenwriting Master Class course which would seem to be tailor made for what Jennifer is asking: Prep: Character Development. This 2-week online course uses 5 character archetypes — Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster — to help writers focus, understand, and develop their story’s primary characters. I will be teaching the inaugural class beginning May 9. Cost: $195. For more information, go here.

GITS readers, how do you develop your characters so they have a “unique voice,” “different personalities,” and “right chemistry”?