Writing from Inside and Outside the Story Universe

In the Core III: Character class I’m teaching online, one of the writers in our group Dave Bullis, made two observations:

Hey Scott,

So something I’ve learned before coming into this class.

1. Character suggests plot. Your characters should create their own problems and dilemma’s.

2. Characters aren’t real people. They’re representations of ideals, etc.

What are you thoughts on this?

My response:

Dave, these two points open a huge door into a massive area of discussion because (A) they are both true while (B) seeming to contradict each other: If characters aren’t ‘real people, then how can they — of their own agency — “create their own problems”?

For a short response right now, let me frame my thoughts with this point: As a writer, we have two basic vantage points in relation to our story universe. Sometimes we are inside the story universe, rubbing elbows with our characters, listening to and watching them. We can do this through direct exercise engagements such as character sit-downs, interviews, monologues, and the like. Also once the characters come ‘alive’ in our imagination, they will just show up — as we putz around the house, shop for groceries, in our dreams. And there again, they pull us into their story universe.

The other basic vantage point for a writer is when we step outside the story universe, the mile high view. Here we gain a degree of objectivity where we can see character interrelationships and subplots, start to identify narrative structure and scenes coming together, themes emerging, and so forth. From this point of perspective, we can oversee the plot by selecting the precise moments of what’s transpiring in that story universe 24/7/365, pulling out exactly what we need to shape the story.

We need both frames of reference and, in my own experience, it’s often a lot of going back and forth from inside to outside the story universe during the course of writing and rewriting a script.

When we are inside it, the characters are real people who have, indeed, created their own problems and that makes sense because they have been living the entirety of their lives, thus each forming their own psyche, the totality of their psychological being. Our task is to dig below the surface of who they present themselves to be to the world and discern the underlying dynamics — wants, needs, Disunity, shadow, memories, associations, fears, etc.

When we are outside the story universe, we should be able to identify how this character or that represents a specific type of narrative function, and that type of thinking is precisely what character archetypes are about. Broadly speaking:

* The Protagonist represents the character moving forward toward a specific goal.

* The Nemesis represents the opposing dynamic working against the Protagonist, thereby creating the story’s central conflict.

* The Attractor represents the realm of the Heart, characters most associated with the Protagonist’s emotional development.

* The Mentor represents the realm of the Head, characters most associated with the Protagonist’s intellectual development.

* The Trickster represents Will, characters most associated with testing the Protagonist’s transformation by shapeshifting from ally to enemy, enemy to ally, to see if the Protagonist is learning what they need to learn.

Using archetypes as tools — not rules! — we can dig down into each character in our story and determine what their core narrative function is, then with that understanding zero in on aspects of their psyche which play most strongly to their respective narrative function.

In the end, there is a way in which we can see how everything that happens in the physical realm of the story (External World / Plotline) services what happens in the psychological realm (Internal World / Themeline). So each character plays a role in impacting not only the plot, but also the Protagonist’s transformation arc.

I love working with these five Primary Character Archetypes. They may not apply to all stories, but they appear in movie after movie. That’s what we’re studying this week in my Core III: Character class. Not too late to join. For more information, go here.

Dave Bullis has a podcast on screenwriting. Check it out here.