Building Character Arcs
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2024
- This video lays out a simple, powerful tool to create vivid, dramatic characters in any kind of script.
Even a minor supporting character can feel alive and interesting - and when they do, it super-charges your story and central characters. Every part of a script gets better when you give the characters a life of their own.
Learn to write for screens - ANY kind of screens, from Hollywood tentpole to streaming series to DIY indie.
Want to know more? Want to work with me? Go to WRITINGFORSCREENS.COM.
Credits Motion Graphics: Xander Brennan, xanbrennan.com
Credits Music: musicfornothing.com
Glenn, I learn something new each time I listen to your videos: these are lessons I am currently implemented or thinking about during my revisions. Timely, appreciated and love that joke! 😁🤙
Thank you so much - it's so encouraging to hear this stuff is USEFUL (and funny).
Thank you for all this important work you do for the writing community! Honestly this content is so valuable and should be seen by many more who need it. Not everyone can teach like that. You're really narrowing it down to the essential tools without making it sound like they are mandatory, I love that approach so much. I feel seen in my questions and like I can really rely on my instincts when I use the support you are giving us here. All the best, you're amazing, keep doing what you do x
Thank you so much for this very encouraging and supportive message! It means a lot to me.
"When you create a character, what is their relationship to the central character." ~GG. A similar analysis happens in music. For example, when I'm teaching a lesson in theory, I will often ask, "what is the relationship between this note (pointing to any note) and that note in the scale? Is it an important relationship? A strong one? Or just a weak one? And what meaning does it have to its root?
Interesting that things cross between art forms!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge (and your humor :) Each of your clips gives me the boot to shut YT and write something.
Thank you - that's so great for me to hear! Keep at it, small steps, enjoy!
Glenn - is it okay for me to say that you are ADORABLE?!? :) Loved the lesson, as per usual, and the fun outtakes!!!
Okay...if you must :) But it's not about me, it's about the WORK! THANK you, though!
@@writingforscreens I MUST! You have the most lovely, positive spirit, which makes you so watchable...and adorable! ;) Thank you!!!
Great help and such fun in the bloopers :D
I'm an expert at blooping.
These videos are amazing and it's so generous of you to pay it forward to other writers in this way. Thank you. Also - LOL the outtakes. Great that you don't take yourself too seriously but you clearly take the work seriously and it's appreciated!
Thank you so much, Sarah! I truly appreciate this comment.
It's a good idea to give every character its own outline, I will try it out! Thank you for this amazing video
Thanks!
This video went so quickly but was helpful. I only understood the intro after watching more than once. In one of my pilot’s, my intention was to write an ensemble cast, but was writing a lead. These questions are exactly what I needed to make the pilot more interesting. Thanks.
These videos DO move very fast, I know. I think I've been counting on people to stop and go back or watch it twice if they want - and that way I don't overstay my welcome. Also, I personally get really impatient with lessons, and too often quit before they're done...so I wanted to get done before everyone quits! :)
Oh and - thank you! I'm so glad if it is useful. It's funny how the "myth of the hero" - which is certainly useful in understanding stories - has become THE RULE OF SCREENWRITING. But really there are SO MANY different shapes of stories, if you look around at literature, theater, etc. Know as many as you can; break them down into outlines for yourself so you can see how they pull off their magic - and then you can do what you think it best!
@@writingforscreens sounds good. Will let you know how it goes. Cheers
This is so true. In one of my past scripts, I was struggling with a lack of conflict and I feel the main character not deep enough. So I started chopping up the script to see what the other characters are doing. Then I found out that one of the minor antagonist actually has a more interesting, deeper story than the main character. I build a script with him as the central character. Then I rewrite the original script with the new script in mind.
In the end, I got two scripts for a short movie and a script for a movie with smaller number of characters, deeper characters, more interesting arcs, and a more satisfying feeling. This sense of unlimited discovery just by simply rewording the same thing over and over again is why I fell in love with writing.
Thanks for putting out these videos. I love watching them at the start of my writing sessions.
Greetings from S.A.
Ok, so this episode was really clever! You do realize that you are complicating my life...
Sorry about that!
Love the wisdom, love the outtakes. Keep it coming!
Thank you!
Once again thank you! These are golden nuggets of information that I have not found anywhere else
Tell your writer and filmmaker friends :)
Very insightful. Thank you!
Thank you. This verifies my beliefs. The main story I am working on is a courtship love story, but it is also about family, and not 'nuclear / blood-related' family, but extended, scooby-gang surrogate family, so all the secondary characters (even some tertiary supporting characters) other than villains have a familial relationship with the 3 main characters. They all care about and protect and help each other.
That being the case, I gave them all their own arcs. I showed the reader what it is that motivates them, and what obstacles they have. I used the same tools I used with the main characters to get the reader to bond with them: create empathy, create identification, create admiration, create curiosity, and even give them a sense of humor if possible. The more screen time a supporting character gets, the more arc they get.
What I learned doing this is one important principle, which is to make their arcs inform the main story. Nothing in their arcs is a wander away from the main story. Everything about them ties into the main story in a direct way that supports the main narrative, including the building of their character.
This is the same principle I try to follow with secondary plots or subplots. Rather than being separate, anthological stories that don't truly support the main story, they need to be critically linked to the main story. They have to be integral to it, and important to the main story. If you don't do that, you end up with a fractured mash-up of unrelated arcs. And that does not work well.
That's another lesson I learned from Pulp Fiction: The characters each have their own story, but at some point it all dovetails together into a coherent narrative. All those character arcs become important parts of the main story, so even with all the nonlinearity and jumping around, the movie is really then one story.
And what I discovered is that if you approach subplots, secondary plots, and secondary and supporting characters in this manner you are espousing here, what this does is helps create a consistent, coherent narrative that can keep a reader focused, and happily in that fictive dream.
So glad it connected with you and felt useful! Thank you!
Fantastic illustrations, succinctly put-now I'm looking at your other videos, thank you for the great content!
Thank you for the comment, so glad it's helpful!
hello, thanks for this video, short and straight to the point, well explained. i love your videos!
Thank you so much!!
This explains why convoluted character biographies haven't worked for me. I've downloaded character question sheets and wasted a lot of time ''interviewing'' characters who still felt flat or didn't even make the cut. You have simplified what I have been overthinking for a very long time. I am going to apply your tips to my outline. This is going to be great for keeping track of how any secondary character moves the central story forward. Great stuff and super fun to listen to.
Thanks! Great to hear it's of actual use!!!
Planning on picking up my screenplay from long ago. Glad I found this channel.
So glad to hear this - I hope my videos keep encouraging you to explore and work on your ideas, old and new.
im glad I found your channel
I am too! Thanks for being here.
Thank you.
Every video is full of amazing advice. So glad I’ve just found your channel 😊
I am, too!! Thank you so much for posting this.
@@writingforscreens The 6 questions video was a massive light bulb moment for me, you shall be accompanying me on my evening walks for the foreseeable future! Thanks again :-)
@@wisefactoring Yay! I need the exercise.
Really great video
Thank you!
Your channel is gold. Every piece of advice is very practical. I would like to see more about characters creation.
For me creating characters is confusing. What is your approach? It seems to me you do it from " outside - in". How do you create a character different from you? How do you "feel" them?
Thanks for the question! I talked about it and other character issues in todays "Ask Me (Almost) Anything: How Do You Make An Audience Care About The Characters" :) Hope it helps!!
@@writingforscreens thanks. I'm gonna check it.
@@writingforscreens I watched the episode, I liked it. But I still have a last question.
In the outline you define the characters traits: "Optimistic", "Intelectual", etc. When you write your script you try to guess how an optimistic intelectual behave (using imagination and life experience) ? If you do it right the character is believable. I really appreciate what you do 👍
@@JoseRodriguez-ze7xt I think the most useful way to do this is to not just label or judge the characters "optimistic" or "intellectual" - but to find behavior that shows us they are these things. Look for moments in their story where these traits will be dramatic action - they aren't optimistic if they don't ACT optimistic when dealing with the other characters. Think about what THEY think, and how they feel, and what the scenes are like for them - what are they trying to DO or GET in their lives, their story? How does each moment relate to that thing - is it helping, or getting in the way? And then yes: you do just "guess" - but I like to think of that guess as imagining :) We can only "make things up" based on our own observations and experience - so try to observe and experience as much as you can! (That includes just reading about things like war or crime that you don't want to really be part of.)
@@writingforscreens Nice.
Great video as always!
Thanks!
Love this!
Thank you!
thanks!
This video help me so much for writing my outline story. Thank you.
Very happy to hear this, thank you!!
your videos are so practically helpful it is fantastic
Thank you so much - it's the one thing I want them most to be! A great way to begin 2024 :)
You are a hero to me my friend
Thank you SO much!
Today I realized that Glenn is a reincarnation of the Magi Melchior who celebrated the infant Jesus with gold, myhrr and frankincense. His safe navigation, wisdom and generousity is no less appreciated. 🙏🏻
Just a guy, actually. Everyone has magic, and no one is really special. So just keep working on your stuff.
Today I learned, the nurse actually has the third most lines in the play.
Ha! But her name isn't in the title, so....
Lol. I guess i found the video i was asking for. 😎
Haha - yes, I was going to tell you about this...enjoy!
Hi Glenn, i have a question about chatacter arcs which allways kinda confused me and i would like to have your opinion on it. As far as i understand the character arc is all about the journey of a character to overcome, learn or conquer something, learning a valuable lesson or about fullfilling their wants and needs, and so on.... But in some of my favorite movies which turned out big box office hits i struggle see that arc.
Just yesterday i watched Raiders of the lost Ark. It is a fun ride of a movie with a lovable main character but Indiana at the end is basically the same as he was at the beginning. So my question is, do i misunderstand something about chatacter arcs, do i fail to see it or is the topic overrated?
EDIT:
Actually i just saw this very question answered in your video "Do You Need To Have Conflict In Every Scene?" Never mind 😅
No worries! The topic of characters changing or learning IS ridiculously over-rated. I also discussed it here:
LIVE - SCREENWRITING AMA: “What If My Character Doesn’t ‘WANT’ Anything?” - czcams.com/video/8nCQvwohrIc/video.html
@@writingforscreens Just watched it, great episode thanks you very much! It even answered another question i had.
Thank you for this great video! I've got a related question (Novel): I’ve got an important side character, who is absent from the first part of the novel almost until the middle, except for two scenes in which he sets up a later plot point involving the protagonist. Should I include more scenes about him, even though they are not really relevant to the plot at this point, to remind the reader of this story-thread or is it better to keep him “off-screen” until his role becomes larger? (In the second half, he is in almost every scene and becomes the protagonist’s reluctant sidekick.)
I think that sounds really good: why NOT have a character develop and "bloom" in the second half?! It would keep things interesting and un-mechanical. There's no "rule" that all characters have to be in the whole story. ESPECIALLY in a novel.
It sounds delightful, just the way you imagine it.
Hi Glenn, Thank you again for your invaluable videos. They are helping me get to work! i have a character based on a real person who's story is well known within the environmental activism world. What are the rules pertaining to basing a characters situations on a real person? Can i slightly tweak the experiences they went through or must i be more careful? thanks! m
Thank you! This is NOT legal advice, I am not a lawyer, but my opinion is - DO NOT write about a real person. Even if they are a public figure. You CANNOT slightly tweak. If you do, then whatever company wants to produce it will show it to their lawyers, and they will insist you rewrite it until it is completely unrecognizable. But your script will have been written leaning on all that "real" stuff, and so the new version will suck.
I am assuming that you are not writing a flattering portrait. Do you want to be a person who devotes all that time and effort to shame, humiliate or attack someone else with your art? Why? Why them, and not the idea they hold or the behavior they do? Don't be petty and shallow.
If you are planning to write a heroic portrait: see if you can get their written permission/release to tell your version of their story. Have a lawyer look at it.
But I think you should create a new character who does or believes whatever it is you don't like or want to use. Someone original, someone that is so unique that they come alive and are around long after the person you know about is forgotten. Reach an audience who doesn't know or care about the things in the activism world - and make them feel it and see it with an original story.
Also, I think I did talk through this in some detail here: "Can I write about the true life story of a famous athlete who is alive?" - czcams.com/video/MCqw_qW0DCQ/video.html
@@writingforscreens Thanks Glenn! Great advice. It's a positive story line about the person within the script. They aren't the main character. I will play with creating a new character under similar ideals and obstacles. That will be fun. I will consider reaching out to them as well. That might be fun too. It's a beautiful, dramatic story with great twists and turns that embrace the heart of the script. Again. Thank you! m.
@@writingforscreens just saw your 2nd reply. I will watch.
@@hawksnestvision Oh, super-cool! I am glad to hear you're taking that approach. Keep working at it, make it yours, sounds terrific.
Is it ok to outline in the first rewrite rather than the first write?
Certainly! (In my "Screenwriting Step-By-Step" project I repeatedly shift from scripting to outlining and back and back again!) The MAIN rule you'll hear from me: if it's helping you write and enjoy writing, and not hurting your health or relationships - do it! There's no right way, no single path for artists. Learning what works for you is the point: trying out all sorts of different things is a good way to do that.
Also: you CHANGE, and different projects require different methods. Check out the video "CREATE A RITUAL" - czcams.com/video/MtDxVsiI3Zs/video.html
@@writingforscreens ❤❤❤❤❤
P.s Ily
that might be obvious when you hear it, but it's actually not. Thanks!
Thank you, I appreciate the comment!
Thank you.
Very happy that you liked it, thanks!
You are helping me get my story together. Until I listened to you I have too many ideas and get lost in them. I now have strong characters and the beginnings of strong story. I am enjoying the process and the challenges and insights you raise. :))))
@@ozdigg9254 I'm glad!