Character Development - How to Write Better Characters
5#FantasyStorytelling #CharacterDevelopment #Writing
Character Development - How to Write Better Characters
How should writers approach character development in their writing? What resources and strategies should writers consider when it comes to character development? We talk about that on today's video!
In today's video, Caleb Monroe (comic book writer, screenwriter, and part of our Storytelling Braintrust) joins Jay Sherer to dig deeper into story structure. Do all stories need the same structure? What's the best structure for storytelling? How do different types of writers approach story structure? We talk about all of that... and more!
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WANT MORE? CHECK OUT JAY'S ONLINE COURSES:
- Fiction Writing: How to Find an Avid Audience as a Writer: https://www.udemy.com/course/writing-...
- Fiction Writing: How to Write a Concept that Sells (Coming Soon!)
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THE RECLAMATION SOCIETY'S ORIGINAL STORIES:
- Star Wars: Rivals: https://youtu.be/wrqWoTLRzCw
- DEATH OF A BOUNTY HUNTER: https://mailchi.mp/99c612968e83/dbh-q...
- TIMESLINGERS: https://www.reclamationsociety.org/timeslingers
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Want the full, unedited, 2-hour conversation with Caleb Monroe? Become a member of The Story Geeks Club (VIP Tiers): https://www.patreon.com/thestorygeeks
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JAY'S NOTES:
Question #2: Why does character development matter and how important do you think character development is in a story? How do you think or address characters and their development? What does your process look like when you’re dissecting character development?
Why Character Development Matters:
In my mind, stories are the pinnacle of effective communication because they can engage the whole person. And when the whole person becomes engaged--meaning emotionally, physically, mentally, and even spiritually… then understanding, interpretation, and meaning can be achieved.
Because the existence of humanity is a mystery--we don’t know why we’re here, we don’t know how we came about, etc… HENCE: we are hungry for stories. Because stories shape our perception of what’s real and what’s true.
If you think about it, we’re surrounded by information. Wherever you’re sitting, look around. There’s information everywhere. What ISN’T readily available is “why” those things are there.
We’re going through the coronavirus pandemic right now. It’s out there. In fact, we can’t really see it. But it causes fear, because it has an impact on us: emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually… the fact that it exists isn’t in question. It is. BUT, the really compelling question is WHY. Why does the coronavirus exist?
Here’s why I think character development is of the utmost importance in storytelling: Because without it, we cannot fully discover the truth in the human experience.
First, there’s no such thing as a story without characters.
Second, those characters are dealing with conflict in some way.
BUT, I do think there’s one alternative to character development that we should also talk about and I’ll get to that in a second...
For me, character development is understanding how people respond to conflict.
And not every character is going to respond in the same way.
SOME might even stay exactly the same--they might end the story in the same place they started it… but some of the characters NEED to change.
And when we see a character change--or develop--then we put ourselves into the story to see how we might change or develop.
That’s why it’s so important, because it’s essential to our brains in responding to the story itself.
One caveat…
There are a few kinds of stories that engage the brain slightly differently…
The first is mystery, where the character development has technically already happened… and now the conflict is figuring out HOW the characters developed to the point where they were able to commit a crime.
The other example are franchises where it’s more about seeing how a character will deal with the conflict, but we don’t inspect them to develop much. Here I’m thinking of Indiana Jones, James Bond, Lara Croft, etc. That’s a more “serialized” story where we want to see the main character change ever-so-slightly relative to the conflict into which they’re placed.
In those stories, the character development is: subtle, a retread of former lessons learned, or it’s about the secondary characters changing a developing.
Those stories, to me, tend to be far more escapist, though.