Creating unforgettable characters
Linda Seger (1990)
1. Researching the character
2. Consistencies and paradoxes
3. Creating the back-story
4. Psychology
5. Relationship
6. Supporting and Minor characters
7. Dialogue
8. Non-realistic characters
9. Stereotyping
10. Solving character problems
1. Researching the character
General research: think about what you already know about it
The context: it shapes your character (historical period, location, culture,
occupation)
Specific research: the news things you have to imagine about it
Who, What, Where, When, Why
It paves the way for the imagination
to give the character life
2. Consistencies and paradoxes
Getting the first idea from observation or experience (authors identification)
Creating the first broad stroke physical description (must be evocative and actable)
Finding the core of the character consistency (predictability)
Finding the paradoxes within the character to create complexity (conflict)
Adding emotion, attitudes and values to further round out
Adding details to make the character specific and unique (imperfections)
Breaking up the characters souls unity
2. Consistencies and paradoxes
Adding emotion, attitudes and values to further round out
emotion
Deepen a characters humanity
attitudes
Opinions, point of view, how it looks at life
Something the character brings into situations
Strong in comedy
values
Believes, values at stake. The character must
Communicate its values, it doesnt discuss them
3. Creating the back-story
Characters biography
The information may never be conveyed to the audience
What the actor needs to know to play the scene
The sense memories. It is not important what happened to the character but how he felt about it
You want to get more of the character as you would do whit a new friend
Dont get stuck with the past: its no dramatic (drama happens at the present time)
It helps to keep up the character in unusual or incredible situations
4. Psychology
Inner back-story
You have to track down the past inner
experiences of the character
The unconscious
Your characters behaviour, gesture and speech
come from the unconscious
The character types
The abnormal
Knowing types will help you to orchestrate
Conflicts. People usually have greatest conflict
with their opposite
4. Psychology
INTROVERTED
depressive
maniac
schizophrenic
paranoid
Anxiety neurotic
psychopath or sociopath
Normal behaviour line
The abnormal
EXTRAVERTED
5. Relationship
The couples: you have to set the qualities for the most sizzle
(love affair, friendship, partnership, etc.)
Drama is essentially relational
Character have something in common
that brings them together
attraction
conflict
There is a conflict between the characters and
this provides most of the drama
contrast
Characters have contrasting qualities (opposite)
transformation
CONFLICT
The television series may run for five
to ten year, delaying the resolution of
the relationship
The characters have the potential to transform
each other for better or for worse
In television series changes are
minimal. In films and novels
transformation may be massive
5. Relationship
Midnight Run
Jack
Jonathan
(bounty hunter)
(bookkeeper)
Their contrasting qualities include choice of jobs,
relationship to their spouses, moral choices
and even eating
Dan
Fatal attraction
The most workable triangles
occur when each character
exercises wilfulness and
intentionally
Beth
Alex
6. Supporting and Minor characters
Give further depth, colour and texture to the story
You must know:
The function Helps define the role and importance of the protagonist
(children for te Mother, Secretary for the CEO, etc.)
Can be a catalyst figure, giving out information that moves the story forward
(children for te Mother, Secretary for the CEO, etc.)
How to fulfil the function
Contrasting the character with the protagonist
Physical (heavy and slim), Attitudes (passionate and cold)
They can be similar (occasionally)
They can have their own paradoxes and personalities
They can be character types (instantly recognizable to audiences)
Details
Give them part of your attention. Invent some little details
7. Dialogue
It has a beat, a rhythm, a melody
Tends to be short, and spare (character do not speak for more than two o three lines)
It is like a tennis match (constant exchange of power sexual, physical, political, social, etc.)
Conveys conflict, attitudes and intentions (do not tell it: reveal it)
It is easily spoken (it makes good actors)
7. Dialogue
Text
plot
The lines spoken by the character into the script
drama
Sub text
What the character is really saying beneath and between the lines
energy
7. Dialogue
Bad dialogue
PRODUCER
Well, come in. It is a real
pleasure to meet you. You know, I
liked your script very much it
is really very good.
YOUNG WRITER
Well, thank you. It is my first
script, and Im really very
scared about what youll think
about it. Im from Kansas, and I
have never been to a big city
before, and I feel really lucky
to meet someone like you. I have
admired your work for so many
years.
PRODUCER
Oh, that is very nice of you to
say that. Lets talk about making
a deal.
wooden
boring
The lines says what theyre thinking
No difference between the characters
7. Dialogue
There are tens of things to do before you write the dialogue
You have to translate real talk into fictional dialogue (stylized, compressed)
For a good dialogue you must sense the character as an actor does
8. Non-realistic characters
Symbolic character
One-dimensional, they personify one quality.
Villains and superheroes are often symbolic characters
One dimensional
symbolic character
Mars
Stepford Wives
Everyman
Multi dimensional
character
Superman
Batman
Joker
Clark Kent
Bruce Wayne
Scarlet
Rick
Taxi driver
8. Non-realistic characters
Non human character
Choosing one or two attributes that will begin to define
the identity of the character
Emphasizing the associations that the audience brings to
the character in order to expand on this identity
Creating a strong context to deepen the character
Lassie
Rub Tin Tin
King Kong
Most animal characters are likely to not change at all in the story
The process of associating a quality to a non human character is the same
of the one used in ads for associating a quality to a brand
Most of the strength for the non human character comes from the context
8. Non-realistic characters
Fantasy character
Character in magical context
Merlin
Wicked Witch of the West (Oz)
Mermaid (Splash)
8. Non-realistic characters
Mythic character
Must add an understanding of the audience
A mythic story represent the meaning in our own lives
You are talking about real heroes
The hero is transformed in the course of his journey
They need enough dimensionality to seem like real
human beings
There must be a sense of mystery (past, dark side, etc.)
The hero is not just a person: hes an idea.
9. Stereotyping
Get rid of the stereotypes!
Usually you tend to stereotype who is different from you
(ethnic minorities, different sexual orientation, religious groups)
You do not need a stereotype in comedy: you want character type
(The character type doesnt suggest that everyone in a certain group has the same characteristic)
10. Solving character problems
You can solve problem if you realize where they come from
Un-likable characters You must come to a term with your own psychology
Vague character improve the research and add some details
General problem it is a story problem, not a character problem
Some advices for breaking through
free writing
hidden agenda
other person reading
what if?
gender switch
