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Sample
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Sample
Lesson from the
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Sections in |
Hi! I'm Melanie Anne Phillips, your instructor for "How to Create Great Characters." First off, I'd like to congratulate you on your decision to take this course. By the time you have finished all the lessons, you'll know more about characters than you likely imagined there was to know! In addition, you will have mastered the techniques to create compelling, memorable characters whenever you write.
Each of the lessons in this course provides a bite-sized piece of information about what characters are, how they work, how to build them, and how to use them. Some lessons also contain streaming video and audio, essays on aspects of character development, exercises to improve your skills, and links to additional writer's resources.
Work on each lesson as long as you like. When you are ready for the next lesson, let us know by return email and we will send it to you.
Again, congratulations on taking this first step on the road to creating great characters. And now, it's time to begin your first lesson.
It might seem obvious at first blush that characters are people. But when you think about it, there are lot of characters that aren't human. Animals can be characters, as in the movies "Beethoven," "Babe," and even the shark in "Jaws." In addition, some characters aren't even flesh and blood. There have been stories where the wind, a self-driving truck, or a virus is a character. In "Wizard of Oz" and "Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers," trees are characters. Clearly, physical form has little to do with whether an entity is a character or not.
So what is the quality that makes one tree a character and another just a prop? Simply put, to be a character, an entity must feel like a person. It must strike us as a thinking, feeling entity, be it human or not. But there is more to being a character than that. As an example, consider a street scene in which a number of people are milling about, all headed in different directions, going about their business. Certainly each is exhibiting the qualities of being human, yet not one of these people is a character - they are just background.
In contrast, consider a mob scene in which enraged townsfolk gather to lynch the person they feel is responsible for a string of murders. In this case, the mob is, in fact, a character. What, then, is is the difference between a crowd of people on the street and a crowd of people in a mob that makes one group a character and the other group not?
To be a character, an entity must not only exhibit human qualities, but it must also have a specific purpose, or agenda to affects the plot progression of the story. The street scene people are just milling about, but the mob has vigilante vengeance in mind. Although each individual on the street might have his or her own purpose, as a group they are not trying to achieve a collective objective. That is why the mob comes across as a character, but the street people don't.
So, if a soldier delivers a message to a general and then leaves and we do not see him again, he fulfills the requirement of being human, but does not have any agenda to alter the flow of events in the plot. Therefore, he is not a character. But, if that same soldier were to change the contents of the message, or refuse to deliver it, or intentionally show it to the enemy, or in any other way attempt to impact the flow of events, then that soldier would be a character.
Any entity that exhibits human qualities, but does not have intent to alter the flow of events in the plot is called a Player. For example, in the movie "The Matrix," Neo is a character, and so is Agent Smith, Morpheus, and Trinity. But the cops who corner Trinity in the opening teaser are not. The wino in the subway station that morphs into Agent Smith is not. The Oracle is a character, but the bald-headed child who tells Neo how to bend a spoon is not. Even though the child has a very important impact on Neo's growth, the child's comments are made without intent to affect the course of events. He merely delivers necessary information as a plot device, much like the soldier with the message described above.
In a sense, a player is just a shopping bag which may or may not contain a character. You can put information in the bag, you can fill it with human qualities, but until you give that plot-centric intent, it remains just an automaton in the Grand Scheme of things.
Sometimes a player can contain many characters, such as Dr. Jekyl and Mister Hyde or a person with multiple-personality disorder . In extreme cases, such as science fiction, horror, or fantasy stories, a storyline may even include a spirit that leaps from one player to another. If these players are just bystanders to the story to begin with, then each host starts by not being a character, temporarily becomes a character when it is inhabited by the spirit with intent, then returns to being only a player when the spirit leaves.
Exercises: Identifying Characters
1. List three well-known characters you have come across in a book, movie, stage play, or television episode.
2. Describe why each qualifies as a character, based on the material in the lesson.
3. List three players you have encountered that are not characters.
4. Explain why each is not.
5. List three players you have created.
6. Determine if each is or is not a character and explain why.
Click here to play a 16 minute streaming video (in Real Player format) that provides a good introduction to many of the character concepts we'll be covering in the first few lessons of this course. If you do not have the latest version of Real Player installed on your computer, you can download a free copy at http://www.real.com.
When you are finished with this lesson, just reply to this email, and we will send you the next lesson in the course.
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Copyright 2003 Melanie Anne Phillips
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