The Essence of Character Driven Storytelling

Scott Myers
Go Into The Story
Published in
4 min readMar 7, 2019

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“While spending a lot of time inside the story universe with the characters is critical, it’s also important to step outside and assess what you’ve got.”

In my Character Development Keys class, a question arose on the discussion boards about how best to gett to know characters and hear their voices. It’s one thing to answer questionnaires about characters — what’s their favorite color, do they prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream — but that’s pretty surface level. Besides, how do you know it them you’re talking about or your own responses to the questions?

I dashed off this response:

Getting to know and hear characters is a challenge. Two things. The first is almost spiritual in nature. Believe your characters exist. Their story universe exists. Indeed, the fact they have ‘come’ to you suggests they want you to tell their story. And since it’s their story, the primary task — at least in the story prep and crafting process — is to reach out to your characters, immerse yourself in their individual and collective lives, as well as their story universe, and see what you can learn about them. So again, believe they exist.

The second is based on the first, but more practical in nature: Use direct engagement exercises to reach out to your characters. For example, create a scenario where you interview them. You are a psychiatrist. They are your client. Engage them directly in conversation and write down every Q&A. Get curious. Ask questions.

Another direct engagement exercise: Character sit-down. Shut the door. Turn off your phone. Close your eyes. Do some deep breathing. Basically like meditation. The idea is to get out of this world and transport yourself to their world. Focus on one character. Try to do a ‘Vulcan mind meld’ (for you Star Trek fans) where your mind and their mind is one. Set a timer for 10, 15, 20 minutes. Close your eyes and blind type (or hand write). Don’t edit. Rather write down everything that comes to mind. Even if it seems stupid or unrelated, put it down. Your mind will wander. Don’t berate yourself, rather let go those thoughts of this world — “I have to go…

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