Essential Elements of Developing Characters
David Corbett, a New York Times Notable author, has penned a comprehensive guide for writers titled The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV. In this book, Corbett presents a foundational framework known as the Five Cornerstones of Characterization.
The Five Cornerstones are designed to help writers create deep, believable characters that resonate with audiences. These elements combine to create characters that feel authentic and multi-dimensional, each facet informing the others to produce compelling narrative conflict and growth.
- Desires: What the character wants on a conscious level; their goals and ambitions that drive their actions. Good drama occurs when a character wants something and is prevented from getting it due to another character's opposing desire.
- Weaknesses: The character’s flaws or internal struggles that create conflict within themselves and prevent them from easily achieving their desires. The author emphasizes the importance of desire in a character, suggesting that the main character must have some kind of need or want driving them.
- Secrets: Hidden truths or private thoughts that the character keeps from others (or sometimes from themselves), shaping their behavior and relationships. This creates drama and tension in the story.
- Capacities: The character’s talents, skills, or competencies they possess, which enable them to act and change their world but also come with limitations. The fourth cornerstone is that something unexpected happens, making the character vulnerable.
- History: The character’s past experiences and background, including formative events and traumas that influence their worldview and patterns of behavior. The story should be driven by the main character's internal desire, discovered bit by bit.
Corbett also suggests that to truly understand a character's desire, one should mine their own life experiences. The exercise of listing one's conscious desires, both external and internal, can help in creating believable characters.
This book, containing over 400 pages of suggestions for creating memorable characters, is a practical guide for writers to construct characters that go beyond stereotypes by grounding their motivations, vulnerabilities, and potentials in a comprehensive structure of human complexity.
Michael Mohr, a Bay Area writer, former literary agent's assistant, and freelance book editor, has also highlighted the importance of characterization. His writing has been published in various magazines, and his blog pieces have been featured in Writers' Digest, Writer Unboxed, and MASH. His writing/editing website and blog can be found at www.michaelmohrwriter.com.
The goal is for readers to finish the book and for the characters to seem real and relatable. The book offers insights on characterization for fiction, film, and TV, using Greek tragedy, modern psychoanalysis, and the psychology of Myth. The second cornerstone of characterization is that the character will face a series of hurdles preventing them from achieving their goal. The third cornerstone is that the character exhibits a seeming contradiction, which creates drama and tension in the story.
In conclusion, The Art of Character provides a valuable resource for writers seeking to create compelling, believable characters. By understanding and applying the Five Cornerstones of Characterization, writers can craft characters that are psychologically realistic and resonant for audiences, driving their stories forward with rich, complex narratives.
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