Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger Read Free Book Online

friends? Of your most favorite and least favorite relatives?
    ADDING VALUES, ATTITUDES, AND EMOTIONS
    If you create only consistent characters, they can still be dimensional. If you add some paradoxes, your characters will become more unique. And if you want to deepen the characters further, there are other qualities that you can add. You can expand upon their emotions, their attitudes, and their values.
    Emotions deepen a character's humanity. In Working Girl , we empathize with Tess McGill as the downtrodden secretary. When she discovers that her boss has lied to her, you can feel her discouragement, her sense of betrayal, her sadness and hopelessness. In one short emotional moment, we in the audience connect with Tess, and have a greater understanding of what moves her.
    In many of the best stories, we empathize with the character. We can feel Rocky's frustration. We can feel Ben's moment of joy in Chariots of Fire when the race has been won. We can sense the yearning of Shane; the depression of Conrad in Ordinary People; the disgust Sally feels (in When Harry Met Sally) when she first meets Harry; and in Dangerous Liaisons, the self-loathing of Valmont.
    The kind of emotions that are actable and understandable can be defined in a number of different ways. I've heard some psychologists humorously describe the emotions as mad, sad,
    glad, and scared. As a beginning list, it's not bad since each category implies other emotions.
    Mad implies angry, filled with rage, peeved, frustrated,
    irritated, and flying off the handle.
    Sad implies depressed, feeling hopeless, discouraged,
    self-destructive, and melancholy.
    Glad implies joy, happiness, and ecstasy.
    Scared implies fear, terror, horror, and anxiety.
    The novel of Ordinary People adds emotional layering when it describes Conrad's depression:
    To have a reason to get up in the morning, it is necessary to possess a guiding principle. A belief of some kind. A bumper sticker, if you will. . . . Lying on his back in bed, he gazes around the walls of his room, musing about what has happened to his collection of statements. Gone now. . . . Instead, the walls are bare. They have been freshly painted. Pale blue. An anxious color. Anxiety is blue; failure, gray. He knows those shades. He told Crawford they would be back to sit on the end of his bed, paralyzing him, shaming him. . . . 5
    In my consulting, when I find emotional layering missing from a character, I often recommend that the writer go through the story and ask what each character is feeling in each scene. Although not all the answers need to be layered into the script, understanding the emotions can produce a much richer character and a much deeper scene.
    Attitudes convey opinions, the point of view, the particular slant that a character takes in a certain situation. They deepen and define a character, showing how a character looks at life. Novels, in particular, can convey attitudes because of the
    subjective nature of their approach. The writer is able to get behind the character's eyes, to see the world through his or her point of view.
    In the novel of Witness, we can see Rachel's attitude toward the funeral of her husband, Jacob.
    Rachel Lapp, seated on a straight chair facing the coffin, her back to the preacher, listened closely and tried to take solace from the preacher's words. An Amish funeral was supposed to be a celebration of sorts. Another Christian victory. But Rachel had sometimes found the spirit of the thing a bit difficult to summon up. Even when the decedent had lived a long and happy life, as was so often the case among the Amish, dead was still dismal as far as Rachel was concerned, and no amount of preachment could redress it. 6
    The world of the funeral is seen from Rachel's point of view, giving the reader insight into Rachel's attitude toward death. This short paragraph also implies a spirit of rebellion, since Rachel does not see death with the same spirit that other Amish do. This attitude