Character-Work, A Prompt for Everyone
for a character-based world
Character is everyone’s issue (even mine). I've learned the hard way, putting a character named Emma based on me onstage. Even if - and maybe especially if - your characters are based on you or people you know, character work is still super-important. Why?
Most of what gets published or produced in the United States (stories, novels, films or plays) begins with character. Character is the subject of all the synopses we're asked to write. Character is expected to be the cornerstone, the entryway and the exit ramp. Character is the basis for humor and humanity. It's all about character.
Even if you’re not writing character-driven work, character is the way most humans get involved in whatever you're writing. We want to care. And even if you write conceptual, theme-based, enigmatic tales or plot-based thrillers, everyone will still demand you have three-dimensional characters.
All this pressure, yet the most common problem I see is a lack of character work. It's as if we all think that our characters are clear already without having to do all that discovery. Most of the time the characters who are the least clear (and least active) on the page are based on the author or someone the author knows well.
(If we recently worked together, and you think this is about you, there's a song about that -- this is literally about hundreds of writers, and no, I will not name names.)
Why aren't characters based on real people clear? We are now entering the battle between The Actual v. The True (cue the scary music). There is a difference between what happened and what "plays" or what works. And I can promise you, it ain't The Actual.
Yes, there are docudramas and reality tv shows that create a great sense of The Actual, but these things are literally being sculpted to do that.
Truth: Reality is vast, and we, as people, contain multitudes. On the page, we must craft specific character to serve the work we're doing.
Characters based on real people tend to be too passive for fiction or drama unless they are antagonists, and even then, those based-on-real villains can also be one-dimensional.
Why are characters based on real people too passive? Life happens slowly. Generally without much urgency. Even if we're trying to write mimetically (like life), we don't want to put people to sleep. Mimesis (that life-like quality many writers go for) is not real. So real people won't work or play. Even if you're writing a biopic, you still have to carve a character out of all that real life material.
Aristotle, in the fragments we have left of his theory of tragedy, said, "character is action." We are what we do. This means characters - to be known and understood, and hopefully empathized with - should do stuff. Be active. But a character based on a real person tends toward their next Netflix binge just like the rest of us. (Unless you're Audhd like me which means you never have time for Netflix because you're too busy doing.)
Many of us want to tell the story, the actual story, of what happened, but the problem is that the actual story happened to us; story plays best for audiences when characters make things happen. This is also how we heal our relationship to what happened to us - we become protagonists with agency. To do this is a healing act. We are remaking our past into choices and actions. This empowers us in big ways. Yes, at first it might feel as if the story is morphing. Let it - it’s only a page. See what happens. Transformation needs your permission before it can happen. Try it!
So what is the cure for a passive character on the page? Character work!
What is the cure for the 1-dimensional villain/antagonist? Character work!
What is the cure for getting stuck part-way in? Character work!
What is the cure for knowing what needs to happen but not being able to make it happen? Character work!
Really? Am I just being difficult? Offering the same solution to so many different problems can't be real. But it is. (Try it and see.)
If you are writing anything that has characters (whether it’s inspired by characters or not), if you are struggling, chances are you need to do more character work.
Chances are there is something your characters haven't told you yet, something unrevealed, and until they trust you enough to let you know, the secret to your story will remain locked up in some area you can't reach.
Solution: Spend some time listening to your characters, and they will show you the path. Appreciate them, and they will give you the combination to the lock in the door. You will enter the Realm of Wisdom. Once you gain this access, you will not necessarily know more, but you will have the confidence to let your characters do the work. You will be able to get out of your own way.
Having given your characters their own agency, they will surprise you. They will do your work for you, better than you could have done it. And you will get all the credit.
There are hundreds of sites online when you search for "questions for character." My favorite questions are the ones Marcel Proust used. But there are no bad questions. Who are you might be too non-specific, but it’s a start. Where do you come from? Or what do you come from? How much education? What are your dreams? How were you raised? On what? By whom? Let them go on.
Who doesn’t want someone to pay some attention to them? Who turns away from a good listener? Even if you are writing a character who doesn’t like to talk, they might talk to you privately.
What do you do with these questions? You answer them as your characters on the page. Listening and allowing them to answer you however they answer you, in their own words. And you do this for each and every one of your characters. One at a time. You will never have to face the blank page again!
If you don't want to answer them alone, come to Brave Space! (See the schedule below, let me know when you're coming, and I'll send you a link. It’s $5-20/session but you know that I won’t turn you away if you can’t pay.)
all artwork by Scott Sherman available at ScottShermanStudio on instagram
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One of my favorite playwriting teachers, Paula Vogel (maybe you've heard of her) has a show running in NYC called The Mother Play. Go see it if you can. I loved it!
The multi-talented Olivia De Salvo is making a film you can support HERE (it’s about mental health. It’s female-focused and will be fabulous!)
This weekend in NYC: The wonderful Leslie Nemet onstage in Girls Who Walked on Glass Go!
I'm organizing a party - All You Can Eat! - for after the presentation of WINNERS at The Tank as part of PrideFest on Tuesday, June 25th, 7pm. GET YOUR TICKETS! What is WINNERS? It's my new character-based comedy about a clueless family. Two funerals, two coming-outs, and a lot of forgiveness. It's about life and death, all-you-can-eat buffets, and Jews and shiva, and being who we are. It's about sharks and eels, a bird, a cat and what things look like v. what things might be. It's about late diagnosis autism and being nonbinary. It's about having parents and potential cures for that. It's about time you got your tickets!
Deadline May 31st! Submit a Jewish 10 minute play to Jewish Plays Project
Deadline June 14th! Submit a Jewish full length play to Jewish Plays Project
Deadline June 30th! Submit an application for IRONS IN THE FIRE, a year-round reading series of new plays in development at Fault Line Theatre
Deadline July 3rd! Experiments in Opera is looking for writers! More Here
If you’re in Asheville, NC, my short piece, “Different.” will be performed in the Different Strokes Performing Arts Festival, June 20-23rd.
Brave Space Schedule:
For the week of 5/27-31/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshop Wednesday 2pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans Thursday 11am ET Brave Space Friday 12pm ET Brave Space Friday 3pm ET Brave Sharing Salon For the week of 6/3 - 6/7/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space w/wkshop Tuesday 7pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 11am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans Thursday cancelled - production meeting Friday 12pm ET Brave Space For the week of 6/10 - 6/14/24 Monday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 12pm ET Brave Space Tuesday 7pm ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 11am ET Advanced Brave Group Coaching Wednesday 7pm ET Brave Space for All Humans w/Sharing Salon Thursday 12pm ET Brave Space w/workshop! Friday 12pm ET Brave Space Please note: the second Wednesday of each month will include a Sharing Salon at the end of the Brave Space for All Humans. Everyone is welcome to bring up to 10 minutes worth of work for feedback. Female-identified and nonbinary folx can also share up to 1 page every week or up to 10 minutes of work on the last Friday of every month. Email me for the links!
" Even if you're writing a biopic, you still have to carve a character out of all that real life material." Yes. You remind me of Dorothy Allison's approach to fiction: fiction is the lie that tells the truth.
All of this is so true. Playwrights I know so often say, 'That's the way it really happened.' I find that frustrating because there is so much potential in every story. But as you say, 'Life happens slowly. Generally without much urgency.' If that's the way it really happened, the story may fall flat.