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ON TEACHING CHARACTER WRITING (thread):
Now, right off the bat, I'm speaking "against" a paradigm that everyone subscribes to and a lot of people have succeeded doing. That is the end result. This is about how it's taught, why it doesn't work for me, and how I do it.
1/9
Now, right off the bat, I'm speaking "against" a paradigm that everyone subscribes to and a lot of people have succeeded doing. That is the end result. This is about how it's taught, why it doesn't work for me, and how I do it.
1/9
It essentially goes like this:
"This character fears this and this is their fatal flaw and they're the kind of person who..."
Basically, you're donating a manufactured psychology to your character. That's how I see it.
I've tried it before, but here's my problem:
2/9
"This character fears this and this is their fatal flaw and they're the kind of person who..."
Basically, you're donating a manufactured psychology to your character. That's how I see it.
I've tried it before, but here's my problem:
2/9
Are we building humanoid machines and bestowing them with life?
Or are we creating humans whose lives are intrinsic?
In other words, what is your definition of "character"?
3/9
Or are we creating humans whose lives are intrinsic?
In other words, what is your definition of "character"?
3/9
I don't argue with the results because Hollywood exists (meaning it works). It works really well. But I'm not sure how. (It's my NVLD. Normal people confuse and fascinate me.)
To me it's, "Here's your psychology, now tell me how it manifests."
4/9
To me it's, "Here's your psychology, now tell me how it manifests."
4/9
As usual for me, I swim upstream.
I start on the outside. "She dresses like this. She speaks like this. Here is her outward personality."
Then I ask, "Why?"
There's her personal history and backstory, but that really doesn't *necessarily* make her unique.
5/9
I start on the outside. "She dresses like this. She speaks like this. Here is her outward personality."
Then I ask, "Why?"
There's her personal history and backstory, but that really doesn't *necessarily* make her unique.
5/9
Instead of asking about fears and fatal flaws, I ask, "What's your trauma?"
Second person because I ask the character.
After long conversations and building trust - learning about each other - she'll reveal to me what happened to her or what she did.
6/9
Second person because I ask the character.
After long conversations and building trust - learning about each other - she'll reveal to me what happened to her or what she did.
6/9
Maybe it's because I deal with PTSD that I believe everyone does. At least my characters do. Or maybe it's *how* I deal with it.
But my next question is, how would you express this trauma in a world where you could do anything, be anything?"
7/ 9
But my next question is, how would you express this trauma in a world where you could do anything, be anything?"
7/ 9
Then the people she knows. Then her relationships to and feelings for them. It goes from there, but the point is, it's more of a conversation with a character than it is putting pieces together and seeing what comes of it.
8/9
8/9
I get that the paradigm works. I wish I could understand how people have done it that way for so long.
But mostly I think we don't need to teach it that way anymore. How deep are Tony Stark and Captain America, anyway? Flawed, for sure. But human?
9/9
But mostly I think we don't need to teach it that way anymore. How deep are Tony Stark and Captain America, anyway? Flawed, for sure. But human?
9/9
Is it me? Or do I approach character the way actors do?
Ohhhhh, so that's what this means: https://twitter.com/JJSmithPrime/status/1335234716857901056?s=19
Ohhhhh, so that's what this means: https://twitter.com/JJSmithPrime/status/1335234716857901056?s=19
