CHARACTERS AND CHOICES

-or-
How to Make Your Fake People Feel Real
by Eric Toms

This is a loose transcript from a conversation I had with a writer friend of mine about character…

ME: Hey man, I read your script.

FRIEND: Oh great! So what’d you think?

M: Honestly, I had a really hard time getting into it.

F: What? Didn’t you like the twist at the end?

M: The plot was fine, but I just didn’t care about your characters. They felt really stock.

F: Well, I just didn’t have time to get into their details because I had so much going on. Besides, would it really matter if you knew the personal inner workings of GANGSTER #1?

M: Yes! Yes, it would!

Detail-less characters

Though plot is an important part to your story, if you don’t care about the characters then no one will care if they’re strapped to a chair surrounded by TNT that’s about to explode. One very important way your readers will care about your characters is if they really believe they’re real people. The best way to do that is by making specific choices.

My friend was right in the regard that we don’t need to know everything about GANGSTER #1, but we should know some things. They weren’t thawed from ice and sent on a mission, so let’s give him or her a backstory starting with visual cues. These cues can be seen straight away as soon as a character walks onto stage or screen. It’s the way they dress, the way they keep their hair, which accessories they carry with them, if they have a scar from an old job – anything that shows the audience they are more than just GANGSTER #1.

My friend was right in the regard that we don’t need to know everything about GANGSTER #1, but we should know some things. They weren’t thawed from ice and sent on a mission, so let’s give him or her a backstory starting with visual cues. These cues can be seen straight away as soon as a character walks onto stage or screen. It’s the way they dress, the way they keep their hair, which accessories they carry with them, if they have a scar from an old job – anything that shows the audience they are more than just GANGSTER #1.

STUDYING CHARACTERS

Jack Lemmon in Glengarry Glen Ross

Lets take a look at one of my favorite plays/films, Glengarry Glen Ross. Specifically let’s look at two very different characters, Shelley “The Machine” Levene and Ricky Roma. Shelly Levene is an elderly man who has had a streak of bad luck. Without telling the audience we know he’s in dire straights because of his posture. He constantly hunches, as if to let us know he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His clothes are ill fitting and out of style, this is not a guy who does not have money to spare. His droopy glasses accentuate his age and crumbling physical state. 

Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross

Conversely let’s take a look at Ricky Roma. Ricky’s back is always board straight, showing the audience his virility and strength. Ricky’s clothes are tailored and very expensive, because this is a man who exudes a winning attitude. His hair is perfectly quaffed and his cufflinks cost more than your car. These are all visible cues. Before the actor takes a breath, we the audience get a very strong sense of who they are as characters and how they will interact with the world around them.

Now that is just a few examples. I would like to ask you to pay attention to all of your choices you make throughout the day. When you get annoyed how do you react? Do you throw your hands up in the air? Roll your eyes? Grit your teeth? When you put on an old pair of pants and $20 in the pocket, what do you do? Fist pump? Squeal? Post on Twitter? All of these reactions reveal a lot about your character. 

“A writer should create living people.”

–Ernest Hemingway

LET’S BUILD A PERSON

Stock “Gangster”

As an exercise, let’s build out GANGSTER #1. Chances are you’ve seen enough movies to know what a stereotypical gangster looks like, so let’s make some unique choices and give our audience a gangster they’ve never seen before, and hopefully drum-up some empathy when they die on page 51. Gangsters in stories are nearly all men, so let’s make ours a woman. She’d be one of very few women so she’d have to be very tough. That means she’s been in a lot of fights. Maybe our gangster has a scar on the bridge of her nose, signs of a broken nose from a fight fought years ago. And speaking of fighting, our gangster isn’t built like a Hollywood starlet who weighs 105 lbs. No way! She’s got muscle and weight, and she knows how to use them.

The Thug Life Chose Grandma

She’ll have to run if the cops show up, so no heels. She doesn’t want to look like a thug, so she’d dress a little run-of-the-mill, able to blend into a crowd. Her clothes would be a little baggie so she could conceal a weapon. Our gangster lives in a dangerous world so it’s possible that she could have lost a loved one along the way, so maybe she has a tattoo of their death date on her arm. And, to that end, she could be religious. In the hopes of swaying some good favor with God, maybe she wears a crucifix, a Star of David, or a Allah Crescent Moon. She wants to blend in, but may have a braggadocios streak in her, so she wears an expensive, diamond studded watch. She maybe from the streets, but she’s no bum. 

Real Life Gangster “Sister Ping”

Her hair would also probably be utilitarian, pulled back into a ponytail so as to stay out of her face while dumping a body in the desert. Our gangster lives a dangerous life and maybe her feelings have been cut off over the years, so maybe she can’t maintain a stable relationship. In place of that what if she found companionship through an animal? Our gangster has a soft-spot for dog, specifically pitbulls. They’re tough, yet lovable dogs, so maybe she wears a pitbull T-shirt or bracelet that reads “Pitbull Mamma.”

THE RESULTS

Now we have a full articulated GANGSTER #1 who not only drives the story forward when she ties up our hero in act II, but the audience knows (and hopefully feels) something about her. Even if the character never speaks (see: Groot, Harpo, Chewbacca) adding these details to your characters will give your audience a stronger sense of the world you are creating. The more articulated your characters are, even the ones who don’t have much time on the page, the more believable your world will be.

If you liked this article then check out my piece on Screenwriting: 5 Most Common Mistakes here:

https://erictoms.com/screenwritings-5-most-common-mistakes/

And here’s a great article on Transitions by the lovely and talented John August:

https://johnaugust.com/2020/two-transitions-in-a-row