Creating Characters: What Do You Need To Write A Watch-Worthy Character?

For me, one of the harder parts of creating stories is squaring away the character’s stories.

It’s sometimes difficult to determine where you character will end up because you’ve already spent so much time creating a character worth seeing in 3D, it’s hard to take him/her back to being 2D and on a sheet of paper! What I mean by this is, it’s hard to bring your character to an end whether it’s good or bad because by the time you reach the “fade out”, you’ve already spent countless hours with this character! You know them! You know what makes them tick. You know their motivators and drives. You know their wants, needs and fears. You know their backstory and their potential. Wrapping that up into a tight package and getting ready to ship it out can be quite difficult. Either way, it’s necessary!

Let’s Talk Process:

My character, of course, hinges on my story. What am I trying to say or convey? What lesson am I reigniting? What anecdote am I attempting to relive? What dream am I bringing to fruition?

All of these things will assist in creating my characters!

When writing “Low” I knew that Lori was going to be rough around the edges, down on her luck and at the end of her patience rope. She wasn’t going to be immediately likable, so I had to drop nuggets of redeeming qualities and hope for her future to keep the readers interested in coming back for episode 2.

In addition to approaching my characters this way, I usually write out a list of questions and answers that I should know about my characters to help with their personal and interpersonal development.

Here’s a bit of that list:

For my current script, “Sabbatical”, it’s a bit different because there really aren’t many redeeming characteristics of my main character. This is no Heroes Journey or an Underdog story, so the world around him has to be overflowing with characters that make the story worth it and move the story along. Creating characters that exist in this way is fun but also not work for the weak! Getting the depth out about my main character becomes the job of my background characters while also remaining their authentic selves within their own storylines and separate plots.

Why I chose to write a character like Samuel in Sabbatical is beyond me! I am just so drawn to the person who constantly loses… The one who cannot seem to get out of his own way… The down trodden and hopeless! Those are my characters. And while they don’t always win or make it to the end, I still manage to feel for them and root for them.

I love depicting how hard and brutal life is within my characters all while giving glimmers of hope in those around them. I guess the dreamer in me can’t help but to create hope and opportunity to prosper [and mentor] wherever I go.

And, That’s All Folks!

Welp, there’s a glimpse into the process of creating the characters that I certainly want to see on TV. Now, do all of my characters end up like Lori and Samuel (discussed above)? Absolutely not! Sometimes I do love a Heroes Journey or a simple protagonist tale/antihero/villain protagonist/supporting protagonist tale, but many times, I like stories that hit closer to home and fall in a different category completely. And, as we shift as a society in terms of what we like to watch in our free time, I think that we’re into the story of the person who can’t get out of their own way too (look at us binge-watching Insecure, Euphoria, or House of Lies).

As I continue to tweak the characters within my latest script and determine how they will overlap or coexist, we may revisit this conversation!

Regardless, thanks for reading (especially about more creative things like writing!)

Best,
Bree