This is a very brief summary of Bob Mayer's session on 'Writing your story in 3 dimensions: Characterisation.'
I stress brief because Bob provided copious helpful notes and I'm picking out a few main points I jotted down too.
-Everyone has a core motivation. Victor Frankl called this the 'One Thing'.
When a character reaches a moment of crisis, we discover their 'one thing'.
-Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
-What do you want?
-What do you really want?
-What do you need?
-Don't pitch plot, pitch character.
-Give the character an anomaly.
-In your first scene, what your character is doing sets your character.
-In your last scene, we need to see character doing something emotional they weren't capable of at the start. This demonstrates arc growth.
2 comments:
I love:
"Don't pitch plot, pitch character"
"In your first scene, what your character is doing sets your character"
"In your last scene, we need to see character doing something emotional they weren't capable of at the start."
I'm having trouble with my hero and heroine's core motivations at the moment. Cursing them doesn't seem to help... Perhaps throwing them across the room...?
Let me know how you get on with that solution, Lacey! :)
I love the last quote too. It's something I tend to do unconciously but will really look for it now.
Love when that character arc goes full circle.
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