Reader Question: Where should a character be in their development when we, as writers, first get to know them?
A reader question from Tracy M:
Whether by interviewing their characters or taking a walk with their characters on the beach, many writers harp on the importance of getting to know their characters before they type Fade In. It’s clear how this can help create 3 dimensional story people.
My question: Since characters often evolve and change over the course of the story, what stage in development should a writer consider his or her character to be at when he or she is “getting to know his/her characters”. Is it best to assume that the character you are getting to know is the character before the story has started?
This is a terrific question, one that I’ll be curious to see how GITS readers respond. Speaking personally as a writer and teacher, I’m generally in alignment with your instinct, that it is best to focus on delving into a character’s life before FADE IN. This is especially true for a Protagonist character. A few reasons why:
* Assuming that you’re dealing with a story where the Protagonist goes through a metamorphosis, it’s critical to understand their beginning psychological state, what I call Disunity. That not only dictates where you begin their transformation-journey, it also can imply where they need to end up. For example, in The Shawshank Redemption, Red begins the story as a hopeless individual, turned into a cynic through the daily grind of institutionalization. At one point, he specifically tells Andy, “Hope is a dangerous thing. Drive a man insane. It’s got no place here.” That initial emotion state suggests that if Red is going to change, it will be from hopelessness to hope. And indeed, the final words of the movie are these:
RED (V.O.)
I hope I can make it across the
border. I hope to see my friend
and shake his hand. I hope the
Pacific is as blue as it has been
in my dreams.
(beat)
I hope.
So knowing what is at the core of a character’s disunity can plant the seeds of where they end up psychologically.
* It’s important to know the backstory and root causes of a Protagonist’s psychological makeup in order to understand how they see the world, why they believe what they believe, what they want, what they need — key aspects of their psyche.
* Then there is the big writer’s question: Why does this story have to happen to this character now? If you imagine a Protagonist living in their world from birth until today, what is it about this specific moment that necessitates you picking up and writing their story? There’s a way in which any story exists as a means by which a character is forced to deal with their own psychological ‘stuff.’ Digging into your character and grasping what and who they are at the beginning of the story can help to answer this question.
Personally while I want to know as much as I can about a character’s beginning emotion state, I’d rather leave most of the details of where they end up and how they get there for a later stage of prep-writing. I suppose I like this because it allows me to make those discoveries alongside the character.
But I guess there’s an argument to be made about knowing comprehensively what a character evolves into at the end and working backward. If anyone works that way, I hope you will share your thoughts on that approach.
The main thing is to dig into your characters. They provide the heart and soul of your story, and can, if handled well, lead you into and through your plot.
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