Pre-Production Unit: Research - Writing Research: Fleshing Out The Characters Part 1: Research

One of the key parts of the feedback given in my second tutorial (see 'Tutorial #2 Feedback' post) was that I needed to make my character unique. They all sounded the same.

Now to be honest, when you've known a friend for years you do gradually behave and talk the same when around each other. However I do agree that they do need their own personalities and these said traits need to come through their dialogue and mannerisms.

And this is what this post is about: fleshing out my characters.

Before I can begin I need to research methods used to help make unique characters. I searched online for articles and books and found some interesting tips.

1. 'All Your Characters Talk The Same - And They're Not A Hivemind!'

This article written by author Charlie Jane Anders gives several tips on how to make characters sound different to one-another. The two main tips I took from this were A) listen to other people's conversations to learn how people communicate and B) Your characters will be expecting or hoping for a certain response based on what they say. Basically if we want to get a certain reaction from someone, then we'll word our sentences in a way that provokes that reaction. If I can get this into my dialogue then it may add to my characters' personalities. 

A third tip that was given was the sentence length one which was also suggested in my tutorial.

Article Link: http://io9.com/5379280/all-your-characters-talk-the-same--and-theyre-not-a-hivemind?trending_test_a&utm_expid=66866090-62.H_y_0o51QhmMY_tue7bevQ.1&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fio9.com%2F5379280%2Fall-your-characters-talk-the-same--and-theyre-not-a-hivemind

2. '11 Secrets To Writing Effective Character Description'

I learned some key points from this article, written by Rachel Sheller, mainly these:

- Describing a character can be boring if not done properly. The writer explains after giving a seemingly good example:
"This description is so mundane, it barely qualifies as an “all-points bulletin.” Can you imagine the police searching for this suspect? No identifying marks, no scars or tattoos, nothing to distinguish him. He appears as a cardboard cutout rather than as a living, breathing character. Yes, the details are accurate, but they don’t call forth vivid images. We can barely make out this character’s form; how can we be expected to remember him?"

She makes a good point: if I read the descriptions of my characters now, I don't care about them, there's nothing vivid about them that stays in my head. "Brown haired, brown eyed male" just doesn't tell us anything about Sean. 

- Make certain details really specific.

"In my earlier “all-points bulletin” example, the description of the father’s hair might be improved with a detail such as “a military buzz-cut, prickly to the touch” or “the aging hippie’s last chance—a long ponytail striated with gray.” Either of these descriptions would paint a stronger picture than the bland phrase brown hair. In the same way, his oxford shirt could become “a white oxford button-down that he’d steam-pleated just minutes before” or “the same style of baby blue oxford he’d worn since prep school, rolled carelessly at the elbows.” These descriptions not only bring forth images, they also suggest the background and the personality of the father."

One strong, detailed piece of information could be what's needed in the script to push my characters from the page to 3D.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/11-secrets-to-writing-effective-character-description