{"id":314,"date":"2011-07-29T13:40:48","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T13:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/?p=314"},"modified":"2024-12-09T18:08:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T18:08:57","slug":"create-complex-characters-that-are-not-black-and-white-in-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/create-complex-characters-that-are-not-black-and-white-in-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Create Complex Characters that are not Black and White in Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

How often in life do you meet someone that is flawless?\u00a0 Conversely, how often do you meet someone that does not have a single good bone in their body?\u00a0 Never.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 We human beings are very complex creatures and that\u2019s what makes us so fascinating.\u00a0 And that\u2019s also what makes good<\/em> movie characters so interesting.<\/p>\n

We, as an audience, or as a reader, are usually not drawn to flat, two-dimensional characters that do what they say they\u2019ll do and practice what they preach.\u00a0 Most of us try to be good people and do good things but we all have flaws \u2013 it\u2019s human nature.\u00a0 Sometimes our own selfishness, jealousy, preconceptions and prejudice creep into our words and actions and it doesn\u2019t make us bad people.. just human.<\/p>\n

The same should be applied to the characters we create in our screenplays<\/a> and novels. These people may inhabit an imaginary world but that world usually reflects our own, even if it is set on another planet, often there is a common thread of humanity that runs through the narrative.\u00a0 If there wasn\u2019t then we would find it extremely hard to identify with anyone or anything and the movie wouldn\u2019t engage us on any level.<\/p>\n

So the next time you sit down in front of your computer and fire up your screenwriting software<\/a>, think about your central characters and their psychological make-up.\u00a0 What makes them tick?\u00a0 What are their hang-ups?\u00a0 Are they coffee addicts?\u00a0 Are they gym freaks?\u00a0 Do any of their hobbies take over their lives to such a degree that they alienate friends and family?\u00a0 Do they have bad habits?\u00a0 Do they lie or cheat?\u00a0 Do they drink or smoke?\u00a0 Do they gamble or steal?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have to be a big flaw, even a small flaw can make a character appear more three-dimensional.<\/p>\n

The other great thing about introducing flaws, even if they are just for you to know as the writer, is that they give you the opportunity to create comedy and conflict.\u00a0 And if you use these flaws when developing your character arcs they will subtly influence character actions and their dialogue.\u00a0 Sometimes creating a backstory for your character can help when deciding on a flaw because it gives you a sound logical reason for their behaviour and choices.<\/p>\n

For instance, say your hero was bullied as a kid.\u00a0 Maybe he was always picked on at the same place, and thus the image of this place was then burned into his\/her memory and associated with bad things.\u00a0 The place could be anywhere.. a hot dog stand, a library, a swimming pool.\u00a0 The point is, as an adult (in your movie), this character can then have a hang up about eating fast food, reading books, or going swimming.\u00a0 The hang up could be that he\/she comfort eats hot dogs when he\/she gets depressed, or throws up if he\/she smells fast food.\u00a0 He\/she may have a bizarre hatred for book readers and book clubs, or read so much that he\/she doesn\u2019t have a social life.<\/p>\n

And remember, the same principle can be used in reverse when writing<\/a> your antagonist or one of his\/her henchman.\u00a0 Maybe your baddie kills people without a thought but has a love for flowers or pets.\u00a0 Maybe he\/she has a penchant for blades and making people bleed but when he accidentally knocks over a young school girl in his car, he feels bad and takes her to the hosipital and waits by her bedside.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about layers. Obviously, certain genres require an absolute “baddie” but even then it’s far more interesting to shape your characters using many contradictory layers.\u00a0 Make them ambiguous in intent so the audience are constantly reassessing their motives and objectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How often in life do you meet someone that is flawless?\u00a0 Conversely, how often do you meet someone that does not have a single good bone in their body?\u00a0 Never.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 We human beings are very complex creatures and that\u2019s what makes us so fascinating.\u00a0 And that\u2019s also what makes good movie characters so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[129,110,128,127,11,7,16,86,112],"class_list":["post-314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dan-bronzites-script-tips","tag-backstory","tag-characters","tag-novel","tag-screenplays","tag-screenwriting","tag-screenwriting-software","tag-script-writing","tag-writing","tag-writing-characters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":677,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movieoutline.com\/screenwriting-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}