Weekend Workout: Character – Action Part 1 (of 6)

REMINDER: You’ve got until Monday, March 12 at MIDNIGHT PST to enter Round Three of the 50 First Lines Challenge.

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I was told in my screenwriting program at University of Washington that “characters are the sum of their actions.”

Let me explain.

Let’s say there’s an accident on the side of the highway and a man is signalling for help. A business woman who has just accepted an award for her “contributions to the community” sees the accident, but is very late for an important meeting regarding a competitive multi-million dollar bid. She can’t lose this deal. She sees there are more cars behind her. Someone will stop. She drives on.

An illegal immigrant is the next person to see the accident. If she stops, she’s at risk of being discovered by the police. But she can see that the man is hurt. She stops to help.

Now, that was an obvious way to get you to think about who these two people really are. But, don’t get too mad at the business woman, because she has the opportunity to redeem herself in her story and we like that. She may be motivated by one thing now, but she’ll be motivated by something else later.

Our actions, as humans, are complicated. They are driven by a whole schwak of emotions and experience. The business woman isn’t a horrible human being, she just lives in fear that she’ll be a failure . . . like her mother always predicted she would. And until she breaks out of that cage, she’ll probably continue to do things that eat away at her conscience.

Knowing the motivations (the hopes and fears) of our characters helps us to develop actions that are more believable. And if those actions are to change (i.e. at the end of the story business woman sacrifices a million dollar deal for someone else), we need the story to support that change in a believable way. Meaning, the character arc has to develop meaningfully and logically over the course of the story. Otherwise, the actions are empty.

Taking the time to really look at WHY your character does the things she does, instead of simply doing what you need the next action to be, will help in developing characters people care about.

NOW WRITE!

Set your timer for 5 minutes.
Start at the top of the page with the following startline: 

The cage that keeps my protagonist from truly expressing herself looks like . . .

Write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

When the timer stops, Set your timer for 7 more minutes.
Start with the following line:

The thing my protagonist regrets not doing most is . . .

Write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

When the timer stops, Set your timer for 10 more minutes.
Start with the following line: 

The scene where the cage is lifted happens when . . .

Write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

Read your exercises, make notes, highlight what makes sense.