characters

Notes from Lecture #9 and #10 and some of #11 of wsff

• 24:00

• 35:00

• 57:00

• 21:00

• 34:00 Q&A

• [ ]

• What is the purpose of characters are - characters fulfill different roles, how they are used shapes your story and plot

• How do you make your readers care about your characters?

  • Establish empathy
    • Likability
    • they are like us
    • Make them nice
    • save a cat
    • make them dance
    • show others liking them
  • Establish rooting interest - is what they want interesting to us
    • characters who want things are more interesting than those that don’t
    • there are exceptions Hitchhiker’s Guide
    • why can’t they have it
    • personal connection to the plot
    • suddenly it’s personal
  • progress

• Three sliding scales of Empathy

  • Likability
  • Proactivity
  • Competence

• Iconic Heroes

  • They don’t change much on those sliding scales
  • James Bond
  • Super Heroes

• Flaws, Limitations, and Handicaps

  • Sanderson’s laws can be applied to characters
    • 1st law relates to motivation
    • Case Studies:
      • Michael Lost - lack of progress
        • Even progression backwards is better than no progress
      • Charlie Lost
    • Hit your characters hard in their flaws if you want to encourage them to change

• Hang a lantern on it

  • It’s like saying: I know this seems like a problem, but I’ll address it later

• Learn how to give each character a unique voice

• Don’t info dump

• Villains

  • Give them motivations that are worthy but put those motivations at odds with the protagonist

• Avoid adverbs in dialogue

  • he said softly

• Establishing shot