This is the second post in a three-post series to give you a feel for how the 27 Essential Principles of Story as a whole. The series includes 1) Ten Essential Principles of Plot; 2) Nine Essential Principles of Character and 3) Eight Essential Principles of Setting, Dialogue and Theme.
In the first post of this series we laid down a simple track for you to follow from start to finish. No more getting lost and quitting in frustration. No more wondering what to do. Now let’s turn our attention to crafting characters that are authentic, compelling, dynamic and have the gravitas necessary to carry your story.
Building Characters that Work
The first essential principle of character is Make your hero active and decisive. It’s this simple: the more your hero does the more you reveal about their true nature. This doesn’t just mean physical actions. Thinking, talking and influencing others count as actions. They must also be decisive. A character who can’t make decisions is repetitive and uninteresting.
The second essential principle of character is Provoke dilemma. It’s not interesting or meaningful to watch characters make simple decisions. You want to bombard your hero with impossible choices between the lesser of two evils or between two great things (lovers for example) of which they can only have one.
The third essential principle of character is Layer conflict. We face conflicts on four levels — with ourselves, our loved ones and personal connections, society (government, corporations, etc.) and the environment. How we struggle with these conflicts reveals our true nature.
The fourth essential principle of character is Peel the onion. We meet a character and take in their physical appearance, mannerisms and vibe. Then we discover how they think. And get a feel for their character — are they good, bad or kind of both? But unlike in life where we may never know who’s really who, in Story we find out. Characters take a final action that reveals who they are at the core. Characters are peeled, like an onion from the physical to the mental to the spiritual to the core.
The fifth essential principle of character is Write characters to the top of their intelligence. Stories focus on heightened states of being when the pressure is on. Therefore, characters must tax the limits of their intelligence to fulfill their need. Of course, a character can be an imbecile. But they still must try their hardest or they become dismissible.
The sixth essential principle of character is Mask everyone. We all hide something — things we fear, that cause us guilt and shame. We put on airs, talk around things, overcompensate. It’s fun to meet a character, then watch their mask slip. And there’s meaning in what we hide and why.
The seventh essential principle of character is Earn transformations. In Story, people change. And these changes must be earned. It’s hard to change. If a strict mom relents and lets a kid eat candy before dinner we must believe each little step that causes her to relent. If a cold-blooded killer finally takes responsibility for his actions we must believe every step of this process. The hallmark of weak writing is change that comes too easy.
Explore the Dark Side
The eighth essential principle of character is Motivate fierce antagonists. Your hero, or protagonist, is desperate to fulfill a need — to win a heart, a championship, job, respect, admiration, etc. The antagonist is fiercely opposed to your hero acquiring their Object of Desire. They may have legit reasons or evil reasons. But they are as determined to thwart your hero as your hero is to win.
The ninth essential principle of character is Confront evil. Not every story has a villain, an evil being who delights making the innocent suffer. But the exploration of Evil is arguably the most essential ingredient of Story. If all was right in the world, it’s hard to imagine our even needing to tell stories. Therefore when you explore murder, rape, torture, child abuse, and the breaking of human spirits it requires an extra degree of courage and respect. As Stephen King says, “You must not come lightly to the blank page.”
Everybody in the Dream is You
Executing the nine essential principles of character will make your characters more dynamic, interesting and enjoyable to write. The key is to free yourself from the burden of capturing some vague notion of “reality.” Every character you write, on some level is a reflection of who you are or what you might be. Even if you’re writing a true story, you can’t write someone else. You can only write your version of that person.
So, what we’re after here is the pure and total expression of our entire personality — our full humanity. Shakespeare was not Romeo, Portia, Henry V, Richard II, Shylock, Othello or Lady Macbeth. He was all of them and more. Just like you can’t dream about anyone else, you can’t write anyone else either. The character is not them. It’s your take on them, which means this character is you.
In the third and final post of this three-post of this series we’ll explore the Eight Essential Principles of Setting, Dialogue and Theme.
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