Resources on Writing Character

So, I was just fooling around on the internet, looking for an old pal and then got sidetracked onto the subject of writing and it became a challenge to look up resources on the subject of "Character" or creating it or improving on our characters and so on and here we are... a little collection of links having to do with Character:

"Archetypes, Myths, and Characters"

"Character Arc 101"

"Character Building Workshop" (has some of those nifty checklists and also discussion of the basic character archetypes).

"Death Quaker's Big List of Character Archetypes" (a compilation of character archetypes (Natures and Demeanors) found in the various original World of Darkness books).

"Creating Powerful Characters Using Archetypes" (How to Write Character Driven Stories)

"Character Development Exercises"

"What is a Complex Character?"

"Handbook to Role-Playing"

"Character Creation Checklist"

"Character Checklist"

"Quick Stop for Semi-Important Characters"

"creating and developing characters into real, believable people"

"Creating Real Characters"

"Character Study"

"Creating Believable Characters"

"Archetype"

"Archetypal Character"

"Building 'Character' Checklist"

"Create strong, compelling characters through observation and imagination."

"The Professional Screenwriter: Using Character Archetypes"

"Conflict Can Limit Your Characters"

"Character Traits"

"Creating Memorable Characters"

"The Essential Characters: The Villain"

"The Essential Characters: The hero"

"Character Creation Checklist"

"Character Sketch Template"

"Creating Characters - Making them Walk & Talk"

"CHARACTER ARCHETYPES: The Moral Compass"

"Biography Info for Main Characters"

"Character Development Tips"

"Creating Characters"

"Quickie Character Archtypes" and "Female Archtypes"

"Character Checklist for Actors"

"Exercises to help you develop interesting and believable characters"

"Resource: Stock Characters, Cliches, and Archetypes"

"Archetypal Characters: Introduction to Archetypes"

"Screenplay Checklist for Writers"

"Characters and Story"

"experts on creating great dramatic characters"

"On Archetypes"

"Race/Culture Creation Checklist" (for sci-fi but can be applicable to all genres)

"Mythical character archetypes on Lost"

"Creating Characters that Jump off the Page"

"Character 101"

"List of heroic stock characters"

"Strong Characters versus Weak Character"

"BETTER CHARACTERS: DRESSING FROM THE OUTSIDE IN"

"Screenwriting Fundamentals - CHARACTER"

"Creating Characters With Phobias"
PART ONE and PART TWO:

"A Gallery of Archetypes"

"Creating Memorable Characters"

"Character Arc"

"Top 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters"

"Make character growth your story's overarching theme"

"Four Steps to Creating Unforgettable Fictional Bad Guys"

"Character Development from Suite 101"

"Character-Driven or Action-Driven?"

"Creating a character profile"

"How to write believable Characters"

"Creating Characters from Plot"

"Creating Characters from Scratch"

"Creating Leading Characters in a Novel"

"Character Development drives Conflict"

"Character Intersects Plot: A Look at Character Arc"

"The Case AGAINST Character Arcs"

TUTORIAL: Movie Genres

QUESTION: Formats, genre, structure…How long do you think the typical learning curve is for an aspiring screenwriter?

Question: I recently completed a romantic comedy that reads like a modern day fairytail. How do I market this ‘genre’?

Question: I write thrillers and I have a list of producers who have done great thrillers – is this a good way to start submitting my script?

Question: What genre is Hollywood looking for currently?

Question: How do I know if my project belongs on TV or in the movies?

READ THE ANSWERS HERE.

Main Film Genres

Film genres are various forms or identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that are recurring and have similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, syntax, filmic techniques or conventions - that include one or more of the following: settings (and props), content and subject matter, themes, mood, period, plot, central narrative events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, recurring icons (e.g., six-guns and ten-gallon hats in Westerns), stock characters (or characterizations), and stars. Many films straddle several film genres.

READ MORE...

All About Screenwriting

Basic Screenplay Structure

FORMAT
PLOT POINTS
CHARACTER
QUESTIONS to ask yourself
SCRIPT CHECKLIST

I posted one excerpt below, in the previous post to this one. I think this whole webpage might be helpful so, here's the link.

Screenplay/Movie Plot Point Checklist

Between pages 1-5: The HOOK, something that grabs our attention and pulls us in.

Page 10: At this point in your script you should have the "MINI CRISIS". The "MINI CRISIS" should lead us into...

Page 17: ...The DILEMMA. Creation of the team and what the movie is about.

Page 30: The REACTION to the dilemma or situation.

Page 45: First "REVERSAL" of the 17 minute point. This point furthers the characters and pushes them deeper into the situation or the dilemma.

Page 60: The "TENT POLE" of the movie. Where the passive characters become active or vice versa.

Page 75: Second "REVERSAL" to the 17 minute point. To reaffirm what the story is about.

Page 90: The LOW POINT of action. The place from which our main character has to rise up from.

SEE THE WEBPAGE

Film Underground a.k.a. Cyber Film School

I'm not exactly sure which name they prefer but that doesn't really matter because they have many articles on their site that should be of great help to aspiring filmmakers and writers.

Their main website is here.

Here's a sampling of some of their articles:

Budgeting an indie film
resolving audio
Film Camera for Shorts
music copyright I
treatment format
Adapt and Overcome
Agent's and Manager's Needs

Screamfest Horror Film Festival

"Discovering the New Blood of Horror and honoring the Masters"

Learn about this film festival and their various competitions by visiting their website.

A SCREENWRITING GLOSSARY

A
action description: the overt, physical actions that happen on screen, such as “He falls down the stairs” or “She pulls a gun, hands shaking.”
actor: a gifted individual who has studied the craft of acting in order to portray roles in performances of dramatic literaure.
alter-ego: a substitute “self” for a writer, usually a protagonist in the writer’s story.
ambience: the overall quality of mood, tone, or atmosphere in a film.
antagonist: a character that puts barriers and reversals in the way of a protagonist’s progress or objective.
archetype: a universal character modeled upon those that have been appearing in stories since the time of our ancient ancestors.
assistant director: a film crew member whose job it is to manage the set protocols and keep the film shoot on schedule.
atmosphere: the dominant mood or emotional tone of a film.
audience expectation: particular elements of a film genre which the audience consciously or unconsciously expects to see.
aural: a film element that can be heard (such as an off screen sound like a dog howling or a gun firing).

...and so on...MORE HERE

Creating Visual Scenes by Dorian Scott Cole

Creating Visual Scenes
Copyright © 2003, Dorian Scott Cole

EXCERPTS:

Step 1.
Think of a scene as a miniature story. Scenes typically have a very brief opening that establishes the conflict, followed by rising tension, and a climactic resolution. Thinking through the scene, and then creating a representative shot, will help focus the drama and influence the visual presentation.

To create a story arc (rising tension) and a representative shot, ask yourself what character need is driving the action to this scene, why there will be a conflict, and what is going to happen in the scene.

Step 2.
Ask how important the scene is to the story. If the scene was missing, would the story still be intact? If no, it is an important scene, so choose an appropriate setting that enhances the drama, and if needed, give it time. But if the scene isn't that important, use the available locations or sets, and give it less time.

Step 3.
Sketch a single shot that represents the entire drama in the scene. This very visual shot would represent the height of tension where the conflict is fully developed, the climax.

This shot can also form the locus of activity in a short scene, so the drama will focus in this space. Any other set features then are incidental, and are there for variety only. However, creating too many scenes in this manner, that limit physical action to a small space, would make the movie (or novel) come off like a stage play. Cinema presents the probability of larger movement. Establishing a locus is one helpful technique for creating a short scene.

In the scene, to create the arc (rising tension) think through the battle. Make sure that the physical action matches your character's personality.

What would your character do? Think about a range of actions: cry, beg, demand, argue, build a case, use metaphors to help... While the original picture may tell the story, an individual character action may need to be altered to fit his personality.

When you are finished, you have a scene that is presented visually, is dynamic, and fits your character.

COMPLETE ARTICLE

Advanced Writing - Adapted from Writers Workshop Script Doctor

Advanced Writing - Adapted from Writers Workshop Script Doctor
Copyright © 1994, 2001, Dorian Scott Cole

Information on these pages is for writers who want to perfect their writing by raising their skills and writing standards to a very accomplished stage.
Creating Visual Scenes
Not "Just The Facts" In Stories
Engaging the Audience with Questions
Showing and Telling in Film
Understanding and Using Symbols
How To Engage The Audience
Making Stories Visual
The Writer's Craft - Views
The Purpose Of Dialogue
Using Concept To Focus The Story
Base The Story On Character Or Situation?
Choosing A Genre
Creating Honest Characters
Realism: Where To Draw The Line
Emotional Distancing
Developing Symbols and Motifs
Originality - Stretch Your Writing Skills
Originality - Outrun Tired, Predictable Storylines
Writing In Sequences
How To Raise Dead Characters
How To Use Motivation To Form Characters And Plot
What Is Visual Writing?
Five Power Points In Stories
Where To Begin Writing. How To Fix Your Story
Wife For Sale Example - Writing By Process Example
How to critique a screenplay (or story)

Distribution notice (General): You are free to give this article in its entirety to others (small groups, under 100) as long as the copyright with my name (Dorian Scott Cole) is included.

VISIT "THE VISUAL WRITER" WEBSITE

Hollywood's Best Kept Secret: The Expanded Scene Breakdown

from Christopher Keane:

"What is Hollywood's Best Kept Screenwriting Secret? Answer: The Expanded Scene Breakdown. What is the Expanded Scene Breakdown? It's the middle step between the story development stage and the script itself.

Another step in the screenwriting process, you ask?

The Expanded Scene Breakdown is a 20 to 40+ page point by point, step by step, scene by scene outline of the entire screenplay in prose form using dialogue, character development, action, etc. It's an essential way to see the entire movie before you reach the screenplay stage."

READ THE ARTICLE

Structure and Character - by Robert McKee

from Robert McKee:

"Plot or character? Which is more important? This debate is as old as the art. Aristotle weighed each side and concluded that story is primary, character secondary. His view held sway until, with the evolution of the novel, the pendulum of opinion swung the other way. By the nineteenth century, many held that structure is merely an appliance designed to display personality, that what the reader wants is fascinating, complex characters. Today both sides continue the debate without a verdict. The reason for the hung jury is simple: The argument is specious.

We cannot ask which is more important, structure or character, because structure is character; character is structure. They're the same thing, and therefore one cannot be more important than the other. Yet the argument goes on because of a widely held confusion over two crucial aspects of the fictional role - the difference between CHARACTER and CHARACTERIZATION..."

READ THE ARTICLE

What are film genres?

From the website:

Film genres are various forms of identifiable types, categories, classifications or groups of films that are recurring and have similar, familiar or instantly-recognizable patterns, syntax, filmic techniques or conventions - that include one or more of the following: settings (and props), content and subject matter, themes, mood, period, plot, central narrative events, motifs, styles, structures, situations, recurring icons (e.g., six-guns and ten-gallon hats in Westerns), stock characters (or characterizations), and stars. Many films straddle several film genres.

Here's their list:

Action

Adventure

Comedy

Crime/Gangster

Drama

Epics/Historical

Horror

Musicals

Science Fiction

War

Westerns

The part you'll appreciate about this website is that it goes into detailed explanations of each major genre type and even discusses some sub-genres.

VISIT THE WEBSITE

The Five Key Turning Points of All Successful Scripts

I loved my writing classes with Michael Hauge through the UCLA Writer's Program. I learned solid storytelling and proper craft***. Mr. Hauge was very approachable, easy to talk to and he seemed to genuinely enjoy being there in the classroom no matter how many dumbass newbie wannabe questions students needed to ask but were always too embarrassed to ask anyone else. He's one of the good guys.

This article from Mr. Hauge's website is well worth reading with the disclaimer by me that there is no chiseled into concrete ABSOLUTE RULE about the right way to write. If you've studied screenwriting, you already know that.

If you've spent time on writers' messageboards and forums, you will often see quite heated and silly debates about "the rules." I say there is only one "rule" and it is:

Whatever works, works.
Meanwhile, it doesn't hurt to listen to somebody who knows what the hell they are talking about explain a few basics. That's why I recommend you read the article named in the title of this post. Here's another link to it. And here are a few excerpts:

"Though writing a successful Hollywood movie is certainly not easy, the stories for mainstream Hollywood films are all built on only three basic components: character, desire and conflict."

"Film stories portray heroes who face seemingly insurmountable obstacles as they pursue compelling objectives... Plot structure simply determines the sequence of events that lead the hero toward this objective."

"In a properly structured movie, the story consists of six basic stages, which are defined by five key turning points in the plot. Not only are these turning points always the same; they always occupy the same positions in the story. So what happens at the 25% point of a 90-minute comedy will be identical to what happens at the same percentage of a three-hour epic. (These percentages apply both to the running time of the film and the pages of your screenplay.)"

SEE A DIAGRAM OF HAUGE'S SIX STAGE PLOT STRUCTURE [IMAGE LINK]

Read the entire article (you won't be sorry and do remember to be wise about mentally storing away or using all the expert advice there is to be had in cyberspace and in books).

If you are a new writer (as yet unsold and/or unpublished and most likely without an agent although you may have been writing for years and have many finished works), you might believe that craft*** doesn't matter as much as character which doesn't matter as much as theme which doesn't matter as much as plot and story structure and on and on and any combination of the above.

It ALL matters.

Please, please, please do not take as gospel anything proclaimed by self-styled "gurus" of the writing trade that you will find lurking around online writing communities and messageboards. Listen to it all, sift through it, keep what makes sense or what you've had confirmed from truly authentic sources then discard the rest.

Heh heh... I've offended more than one fake guru suffering from Rampaging Ego Syndrome when I've made available the REAL deal by way of linking to a real authority or perhaps by posting the very excerpt posted by the Ego-Fake-Guru person as if it had been their own words.

LOL, I even had to have one messageboard shut down to public view when I caught one of the dummies posting my own writing as their work! Of course, it didn't hurt when the messageboard company was contacted by the reporter from the Washington Post who also objected to having her work copied and pasted without any attribution. That's a definite no-no.

In any event, Mr. Hauge's knowledge and expertise is absolutely worth listening to and digesting and then using if it makes sense to you. Give it a whirl.

Meanwhile, keep writing! Just..do..it.

***CRAFT: There seems to be some confusion over the meaning of this word as it applies to "writing" or "screenwriting." Craft is merely the bare bones mechanics of how you put those words onto that paper (or computer screen). Craft is NOT storytelling.

Craft is, for example: When do I doublespace? How many pages should I write? How do I format a page (spacings, indentations, tabs, etc.)?

Even though "craft" is the mechanical means by which you reveal story and character and incident, it is not the actual story, etc. Yes, craft might involve WHEN certain elements happen in the course of telling a story but craft is not the actual story. Is that too confusing? I hope not.

BOOK NOTES: "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" [Robert A. Heinlein]

This book, published in 1991, was created by the editors of Analog and Asimov's Science Fiction magazines and they've had experienced well-read and well-loved writers of the genre of science fiction contribute essays on the subject.

The first essay, by Robert A. Heinlein, is titled, "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction" and I found a gem to share with any writer of any genre and even beyond narrative fiction -- this would apply as well to writers of screenplays. Mr. Heinlein writes:

For me, a story of the sort I want to write is still further limited to this recipe: a man finds himself in circumstances that create a problem for him. In coping with this problem, the man is changed in some fashion inside himself. The story is over when the inner change is complete - the external incidents may go on indefinitely.

People changing under stress:

A lonely rich man learns comradeship in a hobo jungle.
A milquetoast gets pushed too far and learns to fight.
A strong man is crippled and has to adjust to it. A gossip learns to hold her tongue.
A hard-boiled materialist gets acquainted with a ghost.
A shrew is tamed.

This is the story of character, rather than incident. It's not everybody's dish, but for me it has more interest than the overwhelming pure adventure story. It need not be unadventurous; the stress that produces the change in character can be wildly adventurous, and often is.

Well, there you have it. As I continue on in this book, if I find anything else of special fascination, I'll share it on this blog.

Writers Guild of America on strike

Beware of Fake Screenwriting Gurus

The Artful Writer blog is very informative about what actually goes on in the biz. One of their most valuable postings is a warning about "screenwriting expos" and the so-called gurus of screenwriting who will be happy to critique your logline or script... for a fee. It's a scam.

These bottom-feeders troll writing messageboards, trying very hard to impress the impressionable with their genius and inside knowledge. If you spend any time at these boards, you might begin to wonder how is it possible that this uber-busy professional-in-the-movie-biz has so much time to hang out at messageboards for writing newbies? Know what I mean, chili bean?

Heh heh... in any event, the fakers sure do get their panties in a wad when you pull that curtain back.