The Art of Character
Intensive 1002: Advanced Fiction
San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference
Saturday, February 18th:, 9:00 AM—12:00 Noon
David Corbett, Instructor
Section Headings:
— Conceiving the Character: Sources
— The Centrality of Scene in Conceiving the Backstory
— Five Cornerstones of Dramatic Characterization
o Desire/Yearning
o Defense Mechanisms/Adaptations (Pathological Maneuvers)
o Vulnerability
o Secrets
o Contradictions
— The Character’s Physical Nature
— The Character’s Psychological Nature
— The Character’s Sociological Nature
— Roles
o Protagonist
o Opponent
o Secondary Characters
§ Types vs. Characters
§ Dramatic Roles vs. Types
• Ghost
• Revenant
• Crucial Ally
• Betrayer
• Stranger/Visitor/Outsider
• The Village
CONCEIVING THE CHARACTER: SOURCES
Primary source material for characters:
•
•
•
•
The Story
Real People
Types & Archetypes
Other Sources (Natural World, Dreams, Art)
The Art of Character
Page 1
THE CENTRALITY OF SCENE IN CONCEIVING OF THE BACKSTORY
Scenes test character. And we reveal ourselves most unequivocally when we’re tested. It
often matters little how we feel or what we think—thoughts and feelings can be changed,
replaced by other thoughts and feelings. Our actions, on the other hand, occur in the
world, and cannot be taken back. Our inner life matters in exact proportion to how much
it motivates, elucidates, or serves to justify what we do.
Of specific importance: scenes of helplessness, when the character’s “day-to-day”
personality fails, forcing him to rely on traits previously buried, repressed, unconscious,
untapped, or unknown.
FIVE CORNERSTONES OF DRAMATIC CHARACTERIZATION
Desire/Yearning
A. Story = desire, struggle, consequences, discovery
B. Story relies on tension, and tension is created by unmet desire.
C. The three main areas of unmet desire:
a. Internal questions: Have to do with dignity, identify, purpose, self-worth.
b. External struggles: Have to do with tasks performed in pursuit of a goal.
c. Interpersonal relationships: Have to do with a connection with another
person.
Exploring the Layers of Desire:
Ø
Ø
Ø
Ø
Lack
Yearning
Weakness/Wound/Limitation/Flaw
Desire
Ask and answer these four questions:
1) What is missing from my character’s life? (Lack)
2) What is the way of life the character secretly wants to live, the person he wants to
be? How will being that person and living that life help slake the thirst identified
by the lack? (Yearning)
3) What aspects of the character’s personality are “ruining his life” (even if it’s mere
inexperience)? Weakness/Wound/ Limitation/Flaw)
4) What does the character want in the story, and how will achieving it gratify the
yearning? (Desire)
The Art of Character
Page 2
Defense Mechanisms/Adaptations (Pathological Maneuvers)
It’s important to recognize that the Weakness/Wound/Limitation/Flaw isn’t just a
psychological trait, revealed only in thoughts and feelings. It demonstrates itself
dramatically in behavior.
Ø Because of my fear of failure (a weakness), I never strive for what I truly want,
instead settling for what’s easily achieved or simply provided.
Ø Because of the death of my lover (a wound), I never allow myself to get too
deeply involved with anyone else, because it just awakens the pain of loss and my
fears of my own mortality.
Ø Because I was raised poor (a limitation), I’ve become obsessed with success,
terrified I may slip back into poverty.
Ø Because of being bullied and even abused as a child (a wound), I now lash out
with irrational rage at anyone who triggers my fears of being victimized—
including not just enemies and competitors but loved ones. (Note: See how a
wound, which harms only the individual, has been externalized into a moral flaw
by which the character harms others.)
As these examples indicate, the Weakness/Wound/Limitation/Flaw has probably created
a pattern of behavior that is “ruining his life,” characterized by:
Ø On the one hand: avoidance, denial, or settling for less; or
Ø On the other hand: acting out, cutting or other self-injury, irresponsible risk
taking, casual sex, substance abuse or some other form of over-indulgence, etc.
Ø Finally, some form of abusive behavior toward others, exemplified by a selfish
regard for one’s own wants over any concern for others, or a disregard for the
pain one causes.
Vulnerability
•
•
•
•
•
Existential/Physical (risk of injury, wounding, even death)
Emotional (risk of feeling a lack of purpose, worth, happiness, etc.)
Interpersonal (risk of loss or disconnection)
Moral (risk of judgment)
Situational (wrong place wrong time, bad luck)
Secrets
Secrets represent what we fear, if exposed, will undermine or even destroy forever our
standing among our friends and families, community and peers.
They automatically create depth: what is inside (hidden) and what is outside (revealed).
The Art of Character
Page 3
Contradictions
Contradictions serve two key dramatic purposes:
1. They defy expectation and thus pique our interest.
2. They provide a straightforward method for depicting complexity and depth.
Specifically, they provide a means by which to portray:
a. subtext (the tension between the expressed and the unexpressed, the visible
and the concealed)
b. the situational subtleties of social life
c. the conflict between conscious and unconscious behavior
d. suspense (we want to know what the contradiction means, why it’s there).
Types of Contradiction:
1. Contradictions Based on Physical, Ironic, or Comic Juxtaposition
a. the tiny man with the booming bass voice
b. the ballerina with chubby knees
c. the beautiful young woman with the dwarfed limb—or a wig to conceal
her chemotherapy-ravaged hair
d. the prim sorority sister who throws back vitamins with a cup of hot coffee
e. the middle-aged mother who dresses like her teenage daughter
2. Contradictions Based on Our Need to Serve Multiple Social Roles
3. Contradictions Based on Contrasting Influences
4. Contradictions Based on Competing Morals or Goals
5. Contradictions That Result from a Secret or Deceit
6. Contradictions Based on Conscious vs. Unconscious Traits
7. Dispositional Contradictions
THE CHARACTER’S PHYSICAL NATURE
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
The Senses
Sex versus Gender
Sexual Attractiveness
Race
Health
Deportment and Fashion Sense
Quirks, Tics, and Bad Habits
The Art of Character
Page 4
THE CHARACTER’S PSYCHOLOGICAL NATURE
Pain
Promise
Fear/Cowardice
Guilt/Sin
Shame/Failure
Death/Loss/Disconnection/Sorrow
Courage
Atonement/Forgiveness
Pride/Success (the “Golden Moment”)
Love/Connection/Joy
THE CHARACTER’S SOCIOLOGICAL NATURE
Ø Name
Ø Family
o Spouse
o Father
o Mother
o Siblings
o Grandparents
o Extended Relations (Uncles, Aunts, Cousins)
Ø Friends
Ø Class
Ø Work
Ø Education
Ø Politics
Ø Religion
Ø Geography
Ø Home
Ø Tribe
ROLES
Ø Protagonist
o responds most deliberately to the inciting incident that changes the world
as it exists when the story begins
o feels the deepest impetus to action
o has the greatest at stake in the story
o arouses the deepest empathy in the reader or audience
o serves as the focus of the story’s moral premise
Ø Opponent
o The desire, will, and power to deny, destroy or claim for himself what the
protagonist wants (Unity of Opposites)
The Art of Character
Page 5
Ø Secondary Characters
Types vs. Characters: Transparent vs. Opaque
o Theophrastian Characters (Moral Types: The Gossip, the Flatterer, the
Backbiter)
o Dickens: Uriah Heep, Daniel Peggotty, Mr. Micawber, Jeremiah
Flintwinch
o Characters Based on Characteristic (Types):
§ Fairy Godmother, Girl Next Door, Femme Fatale, Whiz Kid,
Absent-Minded Professor, Reclusive Genius, Mad Scientist, Bad
Boy, Gentleman Thief, Evil Twin, Evil Clown, Holy Fool, Wise
Child, Hooker with a Heart of Gold, Warrior Monk, Cannon
Fodder/Dead Meat, Ingénue, Jailbait, Jewish Mother, Monster-inLaw, Magical Negro/Ethnic, Pompous Ass, Naughty Nerd, Snooty
Servant, Devoted Domestic.
o To make such a characterization more complex: secrets, vulnerability,
contradictions, backstory
Dramatic Role (Help vs. Hindrance to Main Character) vs. Type
§
§
§
§
§
§
Ghost
Revenant
Crucial Ally
Betrayer
Stranger/Visitor/Outsider
The Village
*****
The Art of Character
Page 6