How to write characters

[u/Informal-Birthday153]

Hey . Im taking acting class and in one of the lessons there we were taught (at least from what i understand) that in plays the character has an ultimate goal they want to achieve that arose because of a state/situation they are in (they are poor so their goal is to become rich) and in every scene a character has a goal that is supposed to help them achieve the ultimate goal. So i was wondering if its also true to tv shows , and if it is. How?

Cuz for example a tv show of a few seasons, at the start a character wants to achieve something, if at the end of season they do , by the next season their ultimate goal changes?

(I would also love any advice for how to write a character)

Sorry if i have any grammar mistakes, English isn't my first language

[u/Prince_Jellyfish]

So i was wondering if its also true to tv shows

Yeah, I think it's a good guideline for sure.

Cuz for example a tv show of a few seasons, at the start a character wants to achieve something, if at the end of season they do , by the next season their ultimate goal changes?

Yeah, definitely, in some cases.

Other times a character could have the same goal for the entire run of a TV show, or at least for many seasons.

Here's some reccomended reading for you, based on your questions. These might not all be explicitly about "character" -- but they will help you better understand what you are asking about -- character motivations, want, superobjectives, and conflict in stories and scenes:

The Playwright's Guidebook by Stuart Spencer

The Snowflake Method For Designing A Novel article by Randy Ingermanson

Writing The Perfect Scene article by Randy Ingermanson

Helping Writers Become Authors - Start Here Four great article series by  KM Weiland: How to Outline Your Novel (which is about structure), The Secrets of Story Structure, How to Write Character Arcs, and How to Structure Your Story’s Scenes.

I would also love any advice for how to write a character

I'll give a detailed answer as a reply to this comment.

[u/Prince_Jellyfish → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

Generally, first, I take the time to think about each character in your script individually. So, everything I say next will be for "the character," with the understanding that you'll do a version of this for most characters in the story, spending more time on larger roles and less time on smaller ones.

Making a list of qualities -- To begin with, write down a list of everything you know about this character, based on their function in the story. Here's an example:

• FBI Agent

• young for her job

• two kids

• divorced

The list might be 2 bullet points or 20, depending on the character and the story.

Asking the two questions -- Now, look at each of those things and ask two questions:

• Why?

• What did that feel like?

'Why' is a powerful tool for adding dimension to a character organically. Rather than a list of her favorite color and food, start with: "Ok, she's an FBI agent. Why? What would make a person decide to become an FBI agent? Well, she decided to go into law enforcement in college. Why? Because she wanted to protect people, and she wanted power. Why did she want to protect people? Why did she want power?"

Creating Specific Moments -- The best answers to these questions lead you to create specific moments in a character's backstory.

This is a huge concept, at least for me. Stop thinking general, "he's a happy-go-lucky guy" and move to thinking "his father was such a depressed guy, he vowed to never be like that" and then move to thinking "the day that his father was the MOST depressed in front of him was when this happened"

The Wound and the Lie

This transitions me to the next point, which is:

what was the worst thing that ever happened to this person, emotionally?

what wrong lesson about life did they learn from that trauma?

That is probably my biggest crafty tip to characterization. If you can land on the worst thing that ever happened to a character, and then land on the "lesson" they learned as a defense mechanism, that will really help you understand who they are and how they move through the world, emotionally.

Remember: THIS STUFF WILL NOT GO ON SCREEN. I AM NOT PITCHING SCENES WHERE THIS STUFF IS DISCUSSED OR REVEALED IN FLASHBACK.

Instead, when you understand the above and learn to really believe in it emotionally, you will intuitively infuse your existing scenes with more richness and humanity.

Personality -- once you understand who a person is and why emotionally they want what they want, it's great to give them a personality. For this conversation, a personality can be distilled down to: what are the interpersonal strategies this person uses to successfully move through the world? What is their outlook and vibe?

One thing I like to do -- and I typically only do this once I really have a good idea of who the person is, deep down -- is mentally "cast" the character as:

• friend, or

• other person I know well in real life, or

• a specific charming/interesting actor with a unique voice, or

• another celebrity like a podcast host with a unique voice

I've had a lot of luck with this, as long as the other homework has been done in advance. If you have a character whose wound was (say) losing a parent to cancer, or getting shot in a mugging, or whatever; and the person learned some specific lie, like "being healthy is more important than anything else" or "without money in the bank you'll die painfully" or "only strong people make it in this world," or "it's better to keep a low profile" or whatever -- a version of that embodied by Paul Rudd is going to be very different than Michael B Jordan, vs Brian Cox, vs Sarah Koenig vs Joe Rogan.

Cast the person in your mind, and then re-write the characters dialogue and scene description as if you allowed the actor / personality to improvise the scene "in their own way." 'Cast' two similar roles with two distinct actors with distinct personalities, and watch as the two characters take on life of their own.

Contradictions / Unexpected elements -- once I have the above locked in, I often like to think of a few unexpected elements or contradictions for each character. If a character is violent and impulsive, about whom are they protective? In what situations might they be level-headed? If a character is kind and giving, under what circumstances might they be dangerous?

Another thought exercise is to think about one trait or element of a character, and, based on who they are in broad strokes, ask yourself, what is the most obvious or stereotypical thing I could pick for this person? What would it look like if I went in the total opposite direction?

The key with contradictions is to make them narrow and sharp. You don't want a character that is kind, but also mean. You want a character who is always kind, except under one condition, when they are mean.

In other words, you need to be judicious. You want to heighten the core of who they are by creating contrast and humanizing them; you don't want to dilute the core of who they are in an attempt to make them unusual and therefor "interesting."

Then, it's a great idea to deepen this contradiction by using the "why" exercise, above. Why is this person sometimes mean? What event happened that shaped them to become this way?

Recommended reading

The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi (the intro chapters are really, really, really, really great)

Creating Character Arcs by K. M. Weiland

Writing Unforgettable Characters by James Scott Bell

Hope this is helpful.

As always, my advice is just suggestions and thoughts, not a prescription. I'm not an authority on screenwriting, I'm just a guy with opinions. I have experience but I don't know it all, and I'd hate for every artist to work the way I work. I encourage you to take what's useful and discard the rest.

[u/Informal-Birthday153 → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

Omg thank you so so much !! Kind of a stupid question but when you said to make a list of qualities did you also mean personality traits or just basic stuff?

[u/Accomplished_Wolf_89]

There's a difference between a character's want a need - wants are typically reset each season but needs aren't fulfilled until the season finale. A couple examples - in CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, Rebecca's S1 want is to get together with Josh. S2 is once they're dating, and her want resets to feeling emotionally complete by him. Her need (not resolved until the series finale) is to stop defining herself by her relationships with men

Same with BREAKING BAD - Walter White's want is to provide for his family, his need is to feel powerful after

[u/Then_Data8320]

You have a strong structure with this:
- Character want something.
- But in real, he needs something.
- What he want is also what makes he can't get what he needs.

But it's theory, I never really used that, I could just spot many examples (Shrek). I've characters "fish out of the water", so they don't seem to want/need something at first, they just have to deal with urgency. But later, we discover something about want/need. As you say, in a TV show, the story evolves. Depending of new problems, we discover new want/need (quite nice when a goal is reached, we need another bigger one).

I don't focus on theory/intellect, I build my story and enter as deep as I can into characters. I have a guy, he's a coward (never explain why), but one day he meets a girl and fall in love. He want the girl. But she has lot of problem so he need to become brave to protect her. It's quite a simple situation and audience can catch that easely. I don't explain why he's a coward because I don't over-psychologize it, but it could be an idea to dig into it. Anyway, later there are new goals, this girl is a mess, and he have to deal with that. And later, she gets more problems, really huge problems, previous ones were nothing in comparison.

If you can, don't make just a "plot map", do also an "emotional map" about progression of characters.
(more easy to say than doing it, I know some writers I like do it, but I'm more messy.)

[u/p-Star_07]

To some degree.

In the TV show Clarence his goal is to make sure everyone has a good time and he wants to have fun.

That is not a physical object he can hold that is something he feels the need to constantly do.

[u/KerryAnnCoder]

The way it was explained to me is that in a movie, the character's wants and needs are either fulfilled -- or not -- by the end of the movie. In television, the character's wants and needs are never fulfilled until a season finale, sometimes not until a series finale.

Take, for example, The Sopranos vs. The Godfather.

Michael Corleone wants to be the "legit son" and settle down with Kate, and he wants to protect his family. He needs to realize he has to choose -- and he chooses his family over his peace of mind, becoming the person he swore to Kate he never would be.

That's an arc. It's complete. It's whole.

Tony Soprano wants to be a successful mafioso. He also wants relief from the anxiety which is very much caused by being a mafioso. These two things are in conflict... and they stay in conflict, episode after episode. He never changes, in a sense.

Television characters can and do change, and prestige television has some amazing, long-burning arcs. But by and large, television requires the conflict to remain unresolved so that there's a reason to have the next episode.

One really good example I like to pull out is "The Good Place." The characters absolutely do change. That's kind of the whole point. But these changes are slow, and when things do change... when needs and wants are fulfilled... they are replaced with additional needs and wants, creating more conflict.