CHARACTERS: BUILDING THE FOUNDATION (The Writer's Process, part 11)

You’re going to have to do the work… but it’s worth it!

Ultimately, your characters come from you: everyone you've ever known or wished that you had known comes into play when you're populating your writing. This is true for both fiction and non-fiction – even the way you portray real people in your writing emanates from your perceptions of how the world works.

In this post, we'll explore:

- How to build character foundations from your personal experience

- A systematic approach to understanding character motivations and actions

- Techniques for creating complex character networks

- Methods for integrating audience concerns into character development

- Ways to view your story from multiple character perspectives

If you take just one thing from this post, it should be this: YOU have to build the foundation for your characters. AI can help only after you've established that foundation.

What follows is a system of questions and techniques I've developed over years of writing for TV and Film.

PHASE 1: BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

Your characters are composites drawn from your complete life experience, the people you’ve known or wished that you knew. How you “think” the world works. Your understanding (or lack of) about human nature. Your observations about human behavior.

Character work is all about digging deep into your empathy.

This applies to both fiction and non-fiction. Even when writing about real people, you're filtering them through your perspective and understanding.

CHARACTER IS ACTION

We know characters by what they do.

- What they do

- How they react to situations and other characters

- Choices under pressure

- Behavior in relationships

- Consequences of decisions

PHASE 2: THE CHAIN OF KNOWING

Audiences follow a chain of knowing as they experience your story. They enter each scene with certain knowledge, learn new things, and carry that understanding forward.

For Each Character, Consider:

Current Status:

- Where are they physically?

- Where are they emotionally?

- What is their immediate situation?

Historical Context:

- What actions led them here?

- What decisions created their current situation?

- What patterns of behavior are relevant?

Motivation:

- Where do they want to go?

- What do they think they want?

- What do they actually need?

Options:

- Available choices (give yourself time to really think through the “what ifs” and “why nots”)

- Forbidden or impossible choices

- Who can help them?

- Who is opposing them?

- Internal obstacles

- External obstacles

Let's take a scene from "Cheers" where Sam considers selling the bar.

- Current Status: Sam's behind the bar, financially stressed but putting on a brave face

- Historical Context: His past decisions about money, his identity tied to the bar

- Motivation: Wants financial security, thinks he wants to sell, needs to maintain his sense of self

- Options: Sell, find investors, take on debt, or make major changes to the business

Of course, once news gets out that Sam’s thinking of selling, every character in the story is going to push and pull him.

SCENE SPECIFICS

For each scene, you can take the “chain of knowing” and apply it to the characters:

Initial Knowledge State:

- What do they know coming in?

- What do they think they know?

- What are their assumptions?

Perceived Trajectory:

- Where do they think the situation is heading?

- What do they expect to happen?

- What are they planning?

Action Requirements:

- What must they do to achieve their goals?

- What resources do they need?

- What skills must they employ?

Reality vs. Expectation:

- What actually happens?

- How do events diverge from expectations?

- How do they adapt?

PHASE 3: THE CHARACTER NETWORK

Characters exist in a network of relationships that create tension and drive the story.

Draw a circle with your protagonist in the center. For each of their contradictions, draw lines outward to characters who embody opposing forces. Label each line with the tension it represents.

Example: Sam Malone from "Cheers"

- Center: Sam (recovering alcoholic who owns a bar)

- Connected to: Coach (aging with grace) ↔ Bar Patrons (challenging his ego)

- Connected to: Diane/Rebecca (romantic failures) ↔ Past Conquests (romantic success)

- Connected to: Bar Owner (responsibility) ↔ Former Athlete (glory days)

CHARACTER INDEPENDENCE

For Each Supporting Character:

1. Develop their own contradictions

2. Create independent story arcs

3. Build subplot conflicts

4. Establish multiple network connections

5. Impact the main narrative uniquely

PHASE 4: SERVING YOUR AUDIENCE

In past posts, we’ve defined our audience and what their concerns are. You can use audience concerns to shape character contradictions and conflicts.

Development Steps:

1. Identify core audience concerns

2. Create characters representing different viewpoints

3. Build conflicts around these concerns

4. Force characters to make difficult choices

5. Challenge audience assumptions

Multiple Perspectives

Write an outline from each major character's perspective, treating them as the protagonist of their own story.

For Each Character:

1. Write their version of the story

2. Place them at the center

3. Track their complete arc

4. Define their critical moments

5. Map their relationships

THE WRITER'S PROCESS

Remember:

- Character development is iterative

- Early mistakes are natural and fixable

- Trust your instincts about direction

- Characters should be contradictory

- Each character is the protagonist of their own story

NEXT STEPS WITH AI

These foundational elements give AI concrete material to work with. In our next post, we'll explore how AI can help you:

- Analyze character relationships

- Identify potential plot holes

- Suggest character development opportunities

- Test character consistency

- Generate scene variations that challenge your characters

YOUR TURN

I'm SURE you have your own methods for creating characters. Share them and let's see how it all works together.

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