Character

1. Characters are Art, Distinct from People

A character is a work of art—an emotive, meaningful, memorable metaphor for humanity, born in the mind-womb of an author, held safe in the arms of story, destined to live forever.

Artistic constructs. Unlike real human beings who are ever-evolving works-in-progress, characters are finished works-in-performance. They are crafted by an author to be clearer, more complex, and more accessible than anyone we might know in reality. Characters express everything they experience, allowing readers and audiences to know them to the core and remember them indefinitely.

Beyond reality. Characters exist within the confines of their story, their lives beginning and ending with the narrative. They are not bound by the limitations of reality; if they could, they might escape their fictional suffering. Great characters are more layered and dimensional than the human stuff of their making, serving as enduring metaphors for the human spirit.

Enduring legacy. While real people eventually pass away, characters can live forever in the imagination, spilling from one story into another. They become guides and models, enriching our insights into ourselves and others in ways that real people often cannot, precisely because they stand still for our study.

2. Plot and Character are Intertwined, Not Opposed

Plot is character; character is plot.

Inseparable elements. The debate over whether plot or character is more important is specious; they are two sides of the same coin. A role only becomes a character when an event brings their actions and reactions to life, and an incident only becomes a storied event when a character causes or experiences its change. Without characters, events are meaningless; without events, characters are static portraits.

Value-charged change. A storied event is defined as a moment of value-charged change in a character's life. This change can be caused by a character's action or their reaction to external forces, reversing the charge of a value at stake (e.g., Love/Hate, Justice/Injustice). External and internal events flow fluidly, each affecting the other.

Mutual influence. Turning points often swivel around revelations or decisions that simultaneously reverse the plot's direction and reveal or shape the character's inner nature. To change a character, you must redesign events to express their new self; to change events, you must reinvent the character's psychology to make new choices credible.

3. Deep Self-Knowledge Fuels Character Creation

All fine character creation begins and ends in self-knowledge.

Author's foundation. Creating compelling characters requires more than just observing others; it demands a deep understanding of oneself. An author's taste, knowledge, originality, showmanship, and moral imagination are all filtered through their unique self-awareness. The more a writer penetrates the mysteries of their own humanity, the more they perceive and express the humanity in their characters.

Research is vital. While self-knowledge is the taproot, it's not enough. Authors must supplement their inner world with extensive research across four paths:

• Personal: Inventorying meaningful emotional experiences from memory.
• Imaginative: Blending disparate experiences and ideas through free association.
• Book-Bound: Studying psychology, sociology, history, and other disciplines.
• Grounded: Observing and experiencing the real world firsthand.

Beyond imitation. Without a reservoir of unique knowledge and self-insight, a writer can only imitate others. Original characters grow out of an original perception of humanity, which is honed by testing personal theories against history's beliefs and focusing on moral imagination, logical implication, and self-knowledge.

4. Character is Built from Outer Traits and Inner Truths

Outer traits of characterization anchor a character’s credibility, while the inner qualities of the true character shape the character and his future.

Masks and reality. Characterization encompasses all observable traits and outer behaviors—the masks or personae a character wears in relationships (age, gender, job, attitudes, etc.). These details provide clues but are not the full reality. True character is the unseen, inner nature—deepest motivations and rock-bottom values revealed by choices and actions under pressure.

Credibility and intrigue. Characterization serves three primary functions:

• Credibility: Honest characterizations make readers/audiences believe in the character's actions.
• Originality: Specific, unique traits make characters surprising and flexible.
• Intrigue: A unique characterization captures curiosity, making us want to know the true character behind the mask.

Beyond the surface. Readers and audiences instinctively look past characterization, seeking the answer to "Who is this person... really?" They look for events that build pressure and expose the true character through their choices, which are the only way to trust what lies beneath the surface.

5. Complexity Arises from the Unity of Opposites (Dimensions)

Within the harmony of every well-designed role, a set of living contradictions intersect.

Heraclitus's principle. Just as reality holds together through contradictions (hot/cold, wet/dry), so does human nature. People love and hate, seek truth and deny the obvious. Complex characters display a specific self, then change into its opposite and back again, creating a unity of opposites.

Defining dimensions. These dynamic oppositions form dimensions, making characters unpredictable and fascinating. Dimensions can exist:

• Between two aspects of characterization (e.g., abuses partner but coddles children).
• Between characterization and true character (e.g., seems frail but is strong inside).
• Between characterization and subconscious desire (e.g., hyperactive but deeply calm).
• Between two conscious desires (e.g., loves husband but desires lover).
• Between a conscious and subconscious desire (e.g., wants love but subconsciously hates women).
• Between two subconscious motivations (e.g., self-love vs. other-love).

Consistent tension. Dimensions must be consistent yet variable, creating unresolvable tension. While a character may have many dimensions, one tends to stand in the foreground, defining their essential spirit and unique identity.

6. Antagonism and Dilemma Reveal True Character

The only dramatically compelling and character-revealing decision is a choice between two things of more or less equal value.

Pressure cooker. True character is not revealed in easy, risk-free choices, but when a character faces powerful, negative forces and must make a decision in a dilemma. These dilemmas involve choosing between two equally desirable (positive dilemma) or equally undesirable (negative dilemma) possibilities.

Beyond simple good/bad. Clear choices between simple positives and negatives are trivial. Dilemmas put characters under pressure and at risk, forcing them to dig deep and revealing their core identity. The greater the risk and pressure, the deeper and truer the choice.

Levels of conflict. Antagonistic forces that create pressure come from various levels:

• Physical: Nature, man-made environments, bodily maladies, time.
• Social: Institutions, hierarchies, ideologies.
• Personal: Intimate relationships (family, friends, lovers).
• Internal: Conflicting desires, subconscious impulses.

By confronting these antagonisms and making difficult choices, characters reveal who they are and how they change, demonstrating that "Character is destiny."

7. Character Arcs Show Change, Driven by Inner Need

Character change puts dimension into action.

Incomplete potential. At the start of a story, major characters are often incomplete, possessing untapped mental, emotional, and moral potential. Character 'need' is this void, something half-done yearning to be finished. The inciting incident exposes this need and propels the character toward experiences that will fulfill their potential.

Arcs of transformation. While most characters are revealed but don't fundamentally change, six genres (Redemption, Degeneration, Education, Disillusionment, Evolution, Devolution) focus on character arcs. These arcs show a change in the character's core nature, specifically in their morality, mentality, or humanity.

• Morality: Changes in how they treat others (e.g., cruel to kind).
• Mentality: Changes in their view of reality and life's meaning (e.g., meaningless to meaningful).
• Humanity: Changes in their overall being (e.g., immature to mature, full to empty).

Completion at climax. Character arcs seldom follow a smooth line but move in dynamic zigzags. At the story's climax, the protagonist's need to complete their humanity propels them to the absolute limits of their experience, fulfilling their potential for better or worse and becoming a completed character.

8. Characters Span a Spectrum from Realism to Symbolism

Every figure you create is a metaphor for either a social identity... or an inner identity... or a combination of the two.

Metaphorical beings. All characters, whether realistic or fantasized, function as metaphors. They exist on a spectrum from Realism (characters like us in worlds like ours) to Symbolism (characters as abstract representations in imagined worlds).

Symbolic types. Symbolism gives rise to various character types:

• Archetypes: Universal essences (Hero, Mother, Mentor) endlessly varied but retaining basic patterns. Dimensionless and unchanging.
• Allegories: Personified values (Knowledge, Beauty, Tyranny).
• Types: Animated adjectives, embodying a single trait (Sleepy, Grumpy, Fanatic, Hipster).
• Stocks: Defined primarily by their job role (Shepherd, Lawyer, Waiter).

Realism vs. Symbolism. Realism grapples with factual reality, creating complex psychologies through inner conflict and dimensional characters. Symbolism often deals with wish fulfillment or abstract ideas, creating imposing personalities through outer conflict and dimensionless characters. The key is to veil symbolism behind unique characterization in realistic works.

9. Radical Characters Challenge Conventional Reality and Meaning

The more a writer loses faith in meaning, the more she feels a pull toward Radicalism.

Beyond convention. Radicalism occupies a third corner of the character triangle, distinct from Realism and Nonrealism. It arises from a worldview that finds both outer and inner life meaningless, reversing conventional storytelling elements like continuity, clarity, and progression.

Absence of core traits. Radical characters are unconventional by design, often lacking traits standard in Realism and Nonrealism:

• Self-awareness (become comic obsessives).
• Depth (emptied out).
• Change (remain flat).
• Identity (fragmented or lost).
• Purpose (aimless).
• Conscience (embrace radical evil).
• Belief (despair in absurdity).

Reflecting absurdity. Radical characters inhabit unconventional worlds with inconsistent causality, reflecting a sense of chaos and lack of meaning. They are often isolated, static, or frantic, their dialogue sometimes degenerating into babble. While challenging for readers/audiences, they push the boundaries of character representation.

10. Cast Design Illuminates Characters Through Relationships

Every cast member draws traits and truths out of every other cast member.

Network of selves. Characters do not exist in isolation; they are part of a cast, a network of relationships. No single character reveals their complete self to any one person. A well-designed cast ensures that through interactions with various members, a character's traits and dimensions are revealed to the reader/audience.

Mutual definition. Characters illuminate and define one another through contrast and contradiction. Similarities and differences among cast members create patterns that enhance psychological involvement. Each role must serve a purpose in the creative strategy, drawing out specific aspects of other characters.

Mapping the cast. Designing a cast involves strategically arranging roles and relationships:

• Protagonist: At the center, with the most dimensions.
• First Circle: Major supporting/servicing roles, often with 1-2 dimensions, counterpointing the protagonist.
• Second Circle: Middle-ground roles, usually defined by distinctive traits only.
• Third Circle: Minor characters, often dimensionless stocks, filling the periphery.

Thoughtful cast design ensures that the tensions and connections between characters reveal their complexities better than they know themselves.

11. Empathy Connects Readers to Characters' Inner Lives

Empathy with a complex character is like looking into a mirror.

Discovery and recognition. Readers and audiences seek both discovery (venturing into new worlds and characters) and recognition (finding reflections of themselves). Empathy, the sense of "someone like me," allows identification and vicarious experience, making fictional beings spur real emotions.

The power of 'as if'. The mind's ability to enter an 'as if' mode allows us to connect emotionally with characters. This is an evolutionary adaptation, rehearsing reality and equipping us for life by experiencing trial emotions like love, fear, and grief in a safe fictional space.

Guiding empathy. Authors guide empathy by placing the 'Center of Good' within a character, usually the protagonist. This positive charge, even in flawed characters, attracts identification. Balancing power (making the protagonist an underdog) and managing intensity also shape the reader's/audience's emotional connection.

Beyond sympathy. Empathy is deeper than sympathy (likability). It allows readers/audiences to perceive subtext—the character's unspoken thoughts and subconscious desires—even in characters they dislike. This ability to read minds beneath the surface is key to understanding complex roles.

Last updated: May 9, 2025