The Science of Creating Unforgettable Characters
Last time, we learned about Vogler’s 12-Stage simplified version of the Hero’s Journey, and applied it to The Matrix so you could compare it to the original 17-Stage Neo’s Journey we covered in this issue.
Today, I want to go deep into what’s arguably THE most important aspect of storytelling: Character Development.
In previous issues, I mentioned that there are, as usual, a couple of opposing views on the subject:
Some writers prefer to start with the plot, and only when the plot is mostly developed, move focus onto designing the more suitable characters to inhabit that world.
Others, myself included, feel that everything starts with the characters, and consequently, that we should invest time into creating deep, believable, profoundly human –that is, flawed– characters before even putting pen to paper to write the story.
Side Note:
I’ve covered all the reasons why I think you should start with Character toward the very end of this issue, under the title “Should we start with the Plot, or should we start with Character development?”
But before going deep into Character, I must stop for a minute to reintroduce the crucial concept of Theme, and how it relates to Character –especially when it comes to the Hero and his Shadow.
Theme is, to put it simply, a moral statement the story is making about the world.
Theme is not a single word, like many people think, but rather a question.
THE QUESTION the story explores and is all about.
“LOVE”, for instance, is NOT a theme.
“Should love always be first, no matter the circumstances?” IS a theme.
See the difference?
The former doesn’t really say anything about the story.
The latter already has the seed of a thousand stories boiling inside it, eager to come out!
A theme doesn’t have to be this simplistic though.
Good Themes usually explore more nuanced moral questions regarding society and our human nature.
Here are some great themes explored by famous movies you’ve probably watched:
“If memories can be implanted and emotions can be replicated, what is the essential difference between a human and an artificial being? Does a being's origin dictate its right to life and experience, especially when it demonstrates a greater capacity for empathy and love than its creators?” – Blade Runner
“In a system designed to crush the spirit and extinguish all light, is it nobler to maintain an unwavering, perhaps even naive, hope for freedom and justice, or is it a more rational and merciful act to accept one's fate and find a semblance of peace within the confines of a brutal reality?” – The Shawshank Redemption
“When faced with a force of pure chaos and destruction that the established system cannot contain, is it justifiable to break fundamental moral codes to achieve a greater good? At what point does the protector become indistinguishable from the monster they fight?” – The Dark Knight
“In a society that has the power to eliminate imperfections and pre-determine an individual's potential, what is the value of human endeavor, ambition, and the spirit that strives to overcome limitations? Does the pursuit of a genetically ‘perfect’ society inevitably lead to a more profound and insidious form of discrimination?” – Gattaca
“In the face of unimaginable evil and systemic dehumanization, what is the scope of an individual's moral responsibility? Can one person's actions, however small or initially self-serving, redeem a lifetime of complicity and make a meaningful difference against an overwhelming tide of hatred?” – Schindler's List
A powerful theme invites us to put it to the test through a plot –that is, a series of events– that takes it to the limit to see if it holds.
(For the writer, a story is, first and foremost, an act of exploration.)
But of course, a plot is nothing without the right character.
It’s not the chain of events –the plot– that makes the story; the story is written by the main character’s reaction to these events!
That’s what people pay to go see!
And these reactions, let’s be clear, come from WHO THIS CHARACTER IS.
That’s why we ALWAYS start with the main character: the protagonist, the “hero” of the story.
Side Note:
As I explained elsewhere, each character, just like each person in the world, is the hero of their own story.
But those are other stories!
A story is always the Journey of Transformation of ONE character: The HERO of the Story!
So, how does the Theme reflect on the protagonist?
THAT is the million-dollar question!
When it comes to character development, a good framework I find extremely useful is to think that each character has:
a WANT
a NEED
a WOUND
a GHOST
The main difference between the character’s WANT and the character’s NEED is that the former is external, and the latter is internal.
And, just as in life, the WANT and the NEED are often at odds with each other!
This opposition and continuous tension between the WANT and the NEED is what makes any character three-dimensional and truly fascinating for the audience to watch!
The constant clash between the protagonist’s WANT and NEED is –directly and indirectly– the source of all the dramatic tension in the story!
On one hand, there is the internal conflict created by these two forces pulling the Hero in opposite directions…
On the other hand, most of the Hero’s failures and defeats suffered along the way can be traced back to their unwillingness to let their goal –the WANT– go, and start embracing and fulfilling their NEED.
But why must WANT and NEED be opposite?
And why is the character so blinded about achieving their WANT, instead of what they actually NEED?
Simply because a story –any story worth paying attention to anyway– is ALWAYS a Journey of Transformation.
And for transformation to exist, the hero must start with a certain view of the world and, through their interaction with the events in the plot, get to realize a completely different –usually opposite– view of the world by the end.
That’s what the Death and Rebirth stage of the Hero’s Journey represents: the death of the old worldview, and the birth of a new, more empowering one.
Remember when I said that the Theme is a moral statement about the world?
Well… that’s the new view of the world the Hero needs to conquer and fully embrace by the end of the story!
Side Note:
What we call “story” is simply a delivery mechanism to convey an important message, a universal truth if you will, to other brains, in the only language brains are fully fluent in: The Language of Stories! –more on this here.
People go to the movies thinking “this is a story about an underdog who defies his odds to become a professional boxer”…
When in reality, they’re learning about how a person's self-worth isn't defined by winning, but by having the courage to "go the distance" and prove to themselves that they are more than what society has labeled them.
People go to the movies thinking “this is a story about a hacker who discovers his world is a computer simulation and learns to bend the rules to fight the machines”…
When in reality, they're going through an experience that’s teaching them how the limits of our world are dictated only by the limits of our belief, and that true potential can only be unlocked when we have the courage to shatter the mental constructs we once accepted as absolute reality.
But again, in order for real transformation to occur, the Hero must start their journey on the opposite side of the spectrum; they must believe the opposite moral statement to be true.
They must believe the LIE, before they can wake up to the Truth (The Theme).
In other words, the Hero must believe in a LIE.
That’s the Character’s LIE.
And it is this LIE they have been living by that’s the origin of their WANT.
That’s why they need to receive a Call To Adventure, and leave their Ordinary World –the familiar world built upon the LIE– to venture in a new, dangerous world where, through a series of trials, they must learn to recognize this LIE that has been constantly sabotaging their progress…
Until, and not without being confronted by seemingly insurmountable opposition, deadly stakes, and heavy losses, the Hero finally learns to recognize their NEED, let the LIE –and, consequently, their WANT– go, and as a result can, just like the audience, go back home enlightened having fully embodied the TRUTH of the story: The Theme.
If you understand what I just said in the two paragraphs above, you already know all you need to know to craft unforgettable characters that will move audiences to tears, by conveying to them a profound message about life in the emotionally resonant, mighty language of stories!
But if you want to make the emotional impact of your stories 100x more powerful, you must understand one last final concept: the character’s WOUND.
The WOUND is important because there is no human on Earth who doesn’t carry their own wound(s).
The WOUND is what makes us human, so a character without one is a character the audience cannot relate to, nor identify with.
And if the audience cannot identify with the Hero, the story is doomed from the start: since a deep emotional connection couldn’t be established, the story is bound to fail as a delivery mechanism for the theme.
But here’s where many writers get the WOUND wrong: they add a random wound to the character, as an afterthought, as if they were just completing a checklist!
A random, capriciously assigned wound is utterly useless in character development.
We don’t care if the character has a fear for dogs, or if she’s an alcoholic, or if he feels an irresistible urge to please his father… UNLESS these wounds are inextricably connected to the story.
But… how do we know when a wound is inextricably connected to the story we want to tell?
Simple: the WOUND must be closely tied to the LIE and the WANT.
How closely, you ask?
What about this:
EVERYTHING a character does is to achieve a goal –their WANT– BECAUSE he or she feels that achieving that goal is going to heal their WOUND, or make it go away.
By the way: Don’t worry if you’re feeling a little naked as we talk about these things: a good storyteller must know a lot about human psychology.
Great stories are like little simulations of life, and function in exactly the same way!
That’s why we resonate so deeply with well-told stories: a story is, let’s not forget, a teaching about how we should live our lives, written in the language of our brains!
But that won’t happen, of course, because the WANT, as we know, is based on a LIE.
This LIE, this initial worldview that’s FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED, has had its origin in the GHOST.
The GHOST is an event in the past of the character that produced the WOUND, and gave rise to the LIE.
For instance, if a female character went through a traumatic event in which she was sexually abused by a man, this GHOST is always looming over her head, and every goal –WANT– she devises is unconsciously driven by her strong desire to make this ever-present wound go away.
We can imagine such a character as a successful business person for instance, trying constantly, almost compulsively, to excel in a male-dominated world, because deep down she feels that every new level of success she gains over her male counterparts is going to make her feel more secure, more healed.
The LIE she has been living by is that all men are superficial, only look for their own pleasure without caring about harming others, and are not to be trusted.
The only remaining question is:
What’s the actual TRUTH we want to explore with this character?
We know one thing: the TRUTH, the moral statement about the world we want to deliver with the story, must be the polar opposite of the LIE.
So if the LIE is that all men are superficial, slave to their pleasures, and not caring about others…
The TRUTH must be –in the context of this story at least– somewhere on the opposite side of the spectrum.
Notice here that the TRUTH doesn’t need to be the absolute opposite of the LIE; being OPPOSITE TO THE LIE is enough.
Following the example, we don’t need the Truth to be “all men are selfish and all-caring”, which is obviously not true.
Most of the time, all that’s needed is to “switch one bit” in the LIE program, to add some needed nuance. Something like:
“NOT all men are superficial OR unworthy of trust OR only look for their own pleasure without caring about others”.
Notice that all I did here was to negate a generalization.
(As an interesting aside, all generalizations are, by their very nature, LIES.)
Now that we have the TRUTH –which is almost the same as the Theme, in case you’re wondering– we also have the NEED.
Because the NEED, whatever its name, is always the need to make peace with, accept, and integrate with the TRUTH… to let go of the LIE and the goals the LIE has created in our lives.
And that TRANSFORMATION is the only way to finally let go of the GHOST, and heal the WOUND for good.
In this example, what she really needs to heal the wound is not what the lie is telling her to do –keep collecting external accolades– but rather finding her way to trust a man again.
I bet that now that you know this character this intimately, your mind is already racing with ideas for possible plots that could test her flawed vision of the world and, ultimately, help her go through the healing transformation she so desperately needs –even when she doesn’t know she needs it!
That’s the power of starting with Character!
The plot is just the answer to the question:
What events could I throw at this character to make her understand that their vision of the world –the LIE– is failing her, that it is causing her all these problems and putting her and her loved ones in danger… and that what she thought she wanted is NOT what she actually needs?
Answer this question and you’ll have the first draft of your story.
Now that we know who the Hero is, let me present you with the other character in every story that’s every bit as important as the Protagonist: the Antagonist.
For all intents and purposes, the Antagonist is “The Shadow”, the Hero’s own reflection in the mirror.
But…
Does the Antagonist also have their own GHOST, WOUND, LIE, WANT, and NEED?
EVERY CHARACTER has a set of those…
The only real difference is how much time we, as writers, are willing to invest into defining them!
It’s inevitable that some characters will always receive more love than others during the development process, and of course, the Protagonist and the Antagonist are some of the characters that usually receive the most attention on the part of the writer.
This makes perfect sense, because both, the Hero and The Shadow are the characters that carry the theme of the story on their shoulders; one representing the LIE; while the other is growing and facing radical change to become the embodiment of the TRUTH.
BUT this is where things are different with The Shadow:
The Shadow already walked and completed their own Hero’s Journey!
That’s why the Shadow, the antagonist, is so much more powerful and decisive than the Hero at the beginning of the story!
This seems like a good moment to remind you that, while most stories show us the hero rising to the circumstances in Act III, letting the LIE go, and fully embracing the TRUTH –which gives them the power to win the final confrontation with the Shadow– this is by no means the only way a story can go!
Another option is for the Hero to reject the Truth, and go back to their familiar world, fully embracing and doubling down on the LIE.
We call these kind of stories TRAGEDIES… simply because it’s a tragedy for the character to fail to transform and grow.
The Shadow is a Hero that, by the end of their Journey, rejected the TRUTH and fully embraced the LIE.
That’s why the Shadow doesn’t have the weaknesses that come from the constant inner conflict the Hero is suffering between the WANT and the NEED.
The Shadow already solved this conflict in their own Hero’s Journey, and as a result, has become a formidable force –even if on the Dark Side.
In summary, a story is a confrontation of two characters, one embodying the LIE, and the other called to discover, embrace, and fully embody the TRUTH (or fail tragically, and fully embrace the Shadow, the LIE, instead).
The Shadow is called “shadow” because it’s the Hero’s dark reflection; it’s showing the Hero WHO they’ll become if they fail to rise to the occasion and fall victim to the LIE.
As the writer of the The Dark Knight so eloquently put it:
“You die a hero... or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
And with that, I’m signing off for today’s issue.
See you next week when we’ll learn how to use Vogler’s Character Archetypes to populate our stories with multi-dimensional, believable support characters!
Take Care,
Leonardo
P. S. If you’re thinking you’re having a déjà vu, you’re right: I said last week I would be teaching you Vogler’s Character Archetypes today.
But when I started writing this issue, I discovered that I had too much to cover regarding Character Development to fit it in a quick introduction.
So I decided to go deep into the concepts covered in this issue instead, because I feel that understanding them at a deep level can make a huge difference for any storyteller and screenwriter.
I hope you found this deep dive useful and insightful!
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