It’s been my experience that people who come to my seminars tell me that they learned as much about themselves as they learned about their fictional characters. Art imitates life!
I’ve been working on a new book that looks at our lives in terms of a spiritual journey. I’ve often said that people don’t change. They evolve. They become a better version of who they are or a worse version. No one gets a personality transplant.
I will help readers create their own Spiritual Character Maps to see where they been, where they are now, and where they are going. The book will use classic characters in Bible to demonstrate the range of journies people undertake and how those journies echo in contemporary film and television characters.
It’s a bit of a daunting undertaking but I am well into the first part. Hopefully, this book will give some perspective and greater insight. Are you on the path you should be taking? If not, how do you change directions? This book will help.
]]>I hope you’ve been enjoying Writing Advice Wednesday for the last few months, It’s exercises like this that form part of my One Hour Screenwriter course, which will help you write an entire feature film script in 22 weeks. You can purchase it at the shop here. You can also read testimonies here that show my methods have worked for a variety of writers.
This week, it’s time to really let loose…
Describe what makes you explode
Write about something that makes you furious. It can be a work situation, a political issue, a personal dispute with someone, an aggravating annoyance of modern life, an unreasonable demand made upon you, an infuriating relationship or anything else that raises your blood pressure and makes you want to scream!
Take seven minutes and describe as completely as you can the source of your ire and outrage.
Is your anger generated by a specific person? What does he or she look like? What exactly does the person say or do to drive you mad? Describe the physical circumstances of the dispute or bad blood between you. Be as specific as you can.
Is your anger generated by an issue, situation, or annoyance of modern life? What is it about those circumstances that is so
unfair, unreasonable, outrageous or personally offensive?
How does your anger about this make you feel? Does some kind of fear trigger your anger? Be as florid and passionate as you can.
Now take seven minutes to argue and rage from the opposite point of view. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes or on the other side of the issue.
Describe yourself or the situation from the opposing perspective. Be as detailed and cutting as you can.
Make just as strong a case why you are totally wrong, misguided, insensitive or uncomprehending of their position or situation.
Discuss in detail why you are deluded, naïve, selfish, stubborn, shallow or ungrateful. Be as passionate and as convincing as you can.
Great writers argue just as ardently for their villains as they do for their heroes. Even though the villain may be wrong, destructive or deluded, he or she must have a strong personal rationale for all actions and choices.
Explore what fear might be driving the antagonist’s behavior or position. Be zealous on his or her behalf. Suspend your judgment and personal opinion and really try to see the world from your antagonist’s point of view.
Write down all the reasons why your antagonist believes he or she is justified in taking action against your character.
Outline in as much detail as possible your antagonist’s rationale. Describe why your antagonist truly believes he or she is right.
Video Essay of the Week
Speaking of antagonists, Lessons from the Screenplay reminds us of one of the best examples in recent memory:
Let me know what you think of this week’s writing exercise by emailing me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you as we go forward with more of these writing exercises. Next week, you’ll find out just how much a simple conversation can reveal…
Until then, remember- all you need to do is Get Started and Keep Going!
– Laurie
I hope you’ve been enjoying Writing Advice Wednesday for the last few months, but I’m trying something different for the rest of the year’s posts. As well as a relevant video essay I’ve found, I’ll be giving you writing exercises to try if you’re keen to think about your character romantically or need the motivation to get unstuck.
It’s exercises like this that form part of my One Hour Screenwriter course, which will help you write an entire feature film script in 22 weeks. You can purchase it at the shop here. You can also read testimonies here that show my methods have worked for a variety of writers.
This week, you’ll be writing about what makes the world go around:
Describe your first kiss
Take a moment and remember your first romantic stirrings. Who was the object of your affection? What did that person look like? What made this individual so attractive to you?
How old were each of you? Under what circumstances did you first notice this person? How did you meet? Who made the first move? How did that first kiss happen?
Describe as completely as you can all the circumstances leading up to your first kiss or first romantic encounter. How did you lose your heart to this person? Why did this person seem entirely unique and wonderful to you?
Were you both equally entranced with each other? Was it a surprise you didn’t expect? Or was it a long- time secret crush?
How did that early romantic awakening feel? What was it like physically? What was it like emotionally? Were you nervous? Excited? Scared?
Describe the steps leading up to the physical romantic encounter. Where there false starts or mixed signals? How did you feel afterward? Did the magic moment meet or exceed your expectations? Did it somehow disappoint?
Was it a chance or unexpected encounter? Or did you spend time dreaming, plotting, planning and fantasizing about how to make it happen? What, if anything, did you do to take the initiative?
Take 10 to 15 minutes to complete this exercise. Do not censor yourself; write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about being articulate, artistic or even interesting. Just write.
Let your memories flow. Make your descriptions as detailed and personal as possible.
Now describe the same event from your character’s perspective. How is he or she chasing someone in the story? How is your character trying to seduce someone?
This may or may not be a romantic chase or physical seduction. It may be a psychological dance between two male rivals in a business deal. What are the actions or maneuvers the character takes to win over the other person?
Next, describe the same event from your antagonist’s perspective. What is the antagonist’s psychological dance with the protagonist? How is the antagonist chasing or seducing your character?
Remember: Writing exercises are like priming a pump. They are meant to get your inspiration flowing. They help you gain additional insight into yourself and your character.
You may or may not be able to use any of this material in your story. Right now, don’t worry about what is useful.
Enjoy the process. Expand your imagination. Have fun! Takes risks. Play with your characters and story!
Video Essay of the Week
I’ve done some work with Pixar University in the past, and they continue to produce some of the best storytelling and character work in Hollywood. This is a great examination of emotions, like love, involved in the movie Inside Out:
Let me know what you think of this week’s writing exercise by emailing me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you as we go forward with these writing exercises. The next few articles are going to be holiday-themed. When we return, we’ll be discussing, well, discussion…
Until then, remember- all you need to do is Get Started and Keep Going!
– Laurie
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A friend recently told me about the concepts of “default future” and “linguistic clutter”. Default future is a psychiatric term that posits that there was some “event” or series of events that occurred in your life that created a host of habits/attitudes/actions that makes you either feel safe or that you believe will keep you “safe.”
These are similar to a character’s Strongest Traits in the Character Map. The Character’s Strongest Traits are:
– The traits the character believes are his or her salvation.
– The traits the character relies on to get out of trouble or “fix” problems.
– The traits the character leans on and uses as a crutch instead of making the Leap of Faith and facing his or her fear.
– The traits the character has to a fault.
– The traits the character must surrender.
These emotions/habits/attitudes/actions can keep you from experiencing your true self and separates you from otherwise healthy emotions. For example, if you feel “pleasing others is more important than your own happinesss” then you may resist getting appropriately angry with someone or taking healthy action because you fear that you will make another unhappy or upset.
In the example: Strong good qualities like being diplomatic or conciliatory can easily revert to Trouble Traits of being a people pleaser, swallowing anger and until resentment boils over or being passive agressive. A character’s greatest strengths are always his or her greatest weaknesses.
Continuing the example: The ways the character tries to appease or compensate for his or her fear only feeds the fear and makes it grow stronger and more powerful. When the character surrenders the Strongest Traits the traits don’t just disappear. They simply operate more appropriately in the background. The character won’t cling to these traits (walking on egg shells or being overly diplomatic and conciliatory) as a crutch to try to fend off or deflect the fear. Instead, he or she will turn and face the full force of the fear head-on and realize developing healthy attitudes and acting on appropriate boundaries can make others angry or unhappy.
One way to break the pattern and spot your own “default future” is the same situation/pattern keeps coming up again and again. You end up in the same set of circumstances facing the same kind of difficulties. Do you have a mini “GROUNDHOG DAY” in your own experience?
A character goes round and round the Character Map repeating troublesome behavior and masking or denying his or her fear and until the character either falls to the Dark Side or Makes a Leap of Faith and flies in the face of fear.
One of the ways to understand and in some case identify default future thinking in yourself is through an exercise called clearing “linguistic clutter.
Here’s the process: Take 5 minutes and without stopping write down everything that comes to mind. Write about everything makes you feel or believe that you are safe as well as everything that makes you feel unsafe. The trick is– you can’t stop! This process is analogous to “clearing the mind of clutter” so that new ideas, attitudes, habits, patterns have a chance to emerge. This is a really revealing exercise. Do it everytime you feel stuck.
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I drove along the Great Ocean Road along the West Coast of Victoria to the Twelve Apostles Rock formations. It was a spectacular and slightly harrowing journey with a friend. Lots of fog and high twisty mountain roads on the very dark way back.
Along the way we got to talking about the emotional status quo of characters. Too often characters seem to have emotional amnesia, especially when off stage for a couple of scenes. What’s a character’s emotional status quo?
It’s the emotional temperature of the character when he or she enters a scene. What has happened to the character in the previous scene? How does that event drive the character into the next scene? If, for example, the character’s internal Fear is activated how is that made external in action in the next scene?
Where on the Character Map does the character move? Does the Fear drive the character to act against his or her self-interest by lashing out with a Trouble Trait? Or does the Fear drive the character to retreat into his or her Mask? Perhaps the character tries to cope with the Fear by pushing forward with the Strongest Trait.
Each scene must build on the emotion of the previous scene. Each scene must be propelled by cause and effect. In other words, your character does something, which causes something else to happen or forces the character to try a different tactic. This has an effect on the character’s emotions which causes your character to do something else, etc.
Each and every scene must have conflict, conflict, conflict. Without conflict there is no way to struggle toward a character’s inner truth. Without conflict, the audience has no edge-of-the-seat eagerness and excitement to see what will happen next.
Your principle character must drive the action in each individual scene and in the cumulative sequences. His or her actions must set off the chain of events that propel the story forward. If all your main character is doing is reacting to the actions of others, rethink the scene or sequence. What can your character do to set events in motion?
Here are some examples from Erin Brockovich: Erin’s vulnerability and Fear is activated by the disapproval of the office staff. That leads her to lash out with her confrontational and defensive Trouble Traits. When she needs help the staff rejects her. That activates her Strongest Traits. She takes on the problem alone and her determination and moral concern leads her to investigate the toxic spill.
INT. MASRY & VITITOE – RECEPTION AREA – DAY
Morning. Erin walks in, wearing her usual garb. She passes
the coffee area, where Jane, Brenda, and Anna are milling.
Brenda sees her, gives Anna a nudge. They both check out her
short hem. Anna nudges Jane, who looks as well. Erin
glances over just in time to see all three of them staring at
her judgmentally. She stops in her tracks and stares back.
ERIN
Y’all got something you wanna discuss?
The women go back to stirring their coffees. Erin walks on.
INT. MASRY & VITITOE – ED’S OFFICE – DAY
Ed is walking into his office with a coffee cup in his hand
when he trips over the same box of files again.
ED
Damn it!
(calling out)
Brenda!
(no answer)
BRENDA!
INT. MASRY & VITITOE – FILE ROOM – DAY
Erin is alone, filing as she talks on the phone.
ED
Where’s Anna?
ERIN
Out to lunch with the girls.
ED
Oh. Huh.
(beat)
Well, look, I have to open a file. Real
estate thing. Pro-bono.
He plunks the box of papers & files on her desk. She stares
at it, with no idea of how to go about that.
ERIN
Oh. Okay.
He sees her staring at the box.
ED
You do know how to do that, don’t you?
ERIN
Yeah. I got it. No problem.
ED
Good.
Ed heads out, but pauses before leaving.
ED
You’re a girl.
ERIN
Excuse me?
ED
How come you’re not at lunch with the
girls? You’re a girl.
ERIN
I guess I’m not the right kind.
Erin goes back to work. Ed starts out then stops.
ED
Look, you may want to – I mean, now that
you’re working here – you may want to
rethink your..wardrobe a little.
ERIN
Why is that?
ED
Well…I think maybe..some of the girls
are a little uncomfortable because of
what you wear.
ERIN
Is that so? Well, it just so happens, I
think I look nice. And as long as I have
one ass instead of two, like most of the
“girls” you have working here, I’m gonna
wear what I like if that’s alright with
you?
Ed hides a smile. He nods. As he exits, Erin returns to work
and remarks, without looking up….
ERIN (CONT’D)
You may want to re-think those ties you
wear..
Suddenly self-conscious, Ed looks down to his chest…
INT. MASRY & VITITOE – FILE ROOM – NIGHT
Erin is at her desk, staring bewildered at the files from the
box Ed gave her, which are now spread across her desktop.
She sees Anna packing up her things to leave.
ERIN
Anna? With this real-estate stuff —
could you remind me, cause I’m a little
confused about how exactly we do that.
Why are there medical records and blood
samples in real estate files?
ANNA
(exasperated)
Erin, you’ve been here long enough. If
you don’t know how to do your job by now,
I am not about to do it for you.