Creating Unforgettable Characters [Paperback]

Linda Seger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1990

In this book, Linda Seger shows how to create strong, multidimensional characters in fiction, covering everything from research to character block. Interviews with today's top writers complete this essential volume.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Linda Seger is the author of Making a Good Script Great. She is married and lives in Venice, California.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Creating Unforgettable Characters

1

Researching the Character

Some time ago, one of my writing clients came to me with a terrific concept for a script. She had worked and reworked the script for over a year. Her agent was excited and eagerly awaiting this new story.

Although she had been told that some of her scripts weren't strong enough for the American commercial market, this one was exciting and tough. It was the kind of story that many producers called "high concept"--with a strong hook and unique approach to the story, a clear conflict and identifiable characters.

Her first film had just been completed, and she was counting on this script to break new ground. She had to finish quickly--but the characters weren't working. She was absolutely stuck.

When I analyzed the script, I realized that she didn't know enough about the context--about the world of the characters. A number of scenes took place in a center for the homeless. Although she had spent some time serving soup at the center, and talking to the homeless, she had never experienced sleeping there or being on the streets. As a result, details andemotions were missing. It was clear that there was only one way that she could break through the character problems--she had to return to research.

The first step in the creation of any character is research. Since most writing is a personal exploration into new territory, it demands some research to make sure that the character and context make sense and ring true.

Many writers love the research process. They describe it as an adventure, an exploration, an opportunity to learn about different worlds and different people. They love seeing characters come to life after spending several days learning more about their world. When their research proves something they intuitively knew, they're overjoyed. Every new insight gained through research makes them feel they have made giant strides in creating an exciting character.

Others find research intimidating, and the most difficult part of the job. Many writers resist it, and resent spending hours making phone calls or foraging for information in the library. Research can be frustrating and time-consuming. You can go down a great many blind alleys before you accomplish a thing. You may not know how to begin to research a specific character point. But research is the first step in the process of creating a character.

The depth of a character has been compared to an iceberg. The audience or reader only sees the tip of the writer's work--perhaps only 10 percent of everything the writer knows about the character. The writer needs to trust that all this work deepens the character, even if much of this information never appears directly in the script.

When do you need to research? Consider for a moment: You're writing a novel. Everyone who has read it agrees that your protagonist, a thirty-seven-year-old white male, has a fascinating personality, but there are certain motivations they don't understand. You decide you need to learn more about the inner workings of your character. A friend suggests you read Seasons of a Man's Life by Daniel Levinson, about the malemid-life crisis. You also arrange to sit in on a group of men in analysis. Through this research, you hope to learn what happens to men in the mid-life transition, and how it motivates their behavior.

Or, you've just finished your script, but the supporting character of the black lawyer doesn't seem as fleshed out as the others. You contact the NAACP to see if they know a black lawyer who might be willing to talk to you. You need to gain an insight into ways the ethnic background will affect this particular character in this particular occupation.

Or, you've been assigned to write a film about Lewis and Clark. You're smart--you ask the studio for research money, transportation expenses, and eight months' time. You know you will need to understand the experience of the journey, and how the period will affect the characters and the dialogue.

GENERAL VS. SPECIFIC RESEARCH

Where to start? First, understand that you're never starting from scratch. You have been doing research your whole life, so there is a great deal of material to draw upon.

You are doing what's called general research all the time. It's the observation--the noticing--that becomes the basis of character. You're probably a natural people-watcher. You observe how people walk, what they do, what they wear, the rhythms of their speech, even their thought patterns.

If you have another profession besides writing--perhaps medicine, or real estate, or teaching history--all the material you absorb within those jobs can be applied when you write a script for a doctor series, or a story about the real estate profession, or a novel or screenplay that takes place in medieval England.

You're doing general research when you take classes in psychology, art, or science. Later, what you learned may give you the details you need for your next story.

Many writing teachers say, "Write what you know about"--and for good reason. They recognize that this constant lifelong observation and general research yields many details that might take months or years to learn if you were writing about an area outside your experience.

Carl Sautter, writer, former story editor of "Moonlighting," and author of How to Sell Your Screenplay, recounts the story of a writer who pitched a Fort Lauderdale story to him. "He wanted to do a film about four girls who go to Fort Lauderdale for spring break. It's an all-right idea, but I discovered that he had never been to Fort Lauderdale during spring break. We continued to talk and I discovered he came from a little farm in Kansas. And then he said, 'It's a shame I'm not there this week because this is pancake week.'This little town was having their annual pancake festival. And he starting describing all the things they do with pancakes, and all the details about the festival. And I said, 'Now there's a story. There's a wonderful setting for a movie.' And I said, 'Why take a story that two thousand people could write better than you can, about a situation you've never experienced? Write about something you know'"

The creation of character begins with what you already know. But general research may not yield enough information. You'll also need to do specific research to fill in character details that may not be part of your own observation and experience.

Novelist Robin Cook (Coma, Mutation, Outbreak, etc.) is an M.D., but he still has to do specific research for his medical fiction books. "Most of the research is reading," he says, "but I do talk to doctors who specialize in the subject of my novel. In fact, I normally will work in that particular field for a few weeks. When I wrote the book Brain, which deals with a neuroradiologist, I spent two or three weeks with a neuroradiologist. For Outbreak, which was about a modern-day plague, I talked to the people at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, and researched viruses. For Mutation, I researched the science of genetic engineering. The pace of change in thatfield is so rapid that most of what I had learned in medical school was no longer valid. I put out a book a year. I usually spend six months of research, two months of generating the outline, two months writing the book, and a couple of months doing other things such as publicity and working at the hospital."

THE CONTEXT

Characters don't exist in a vacuum. They're a product of their environment. A character from seventeenth-century France is different from one from Texas in 1980. A character who practices medicine in a small town in Illinois is different from someone who's the pathologist at Boston General Hospital. Someone who grows up poor on an Iowa farm will be different from one who grows up rich in Charleston, South Carolina. A black, or Hispanic, or Irish-American will be different from a Swede from St. Paul. Understanding a character begins with understanding the context that surrounds the character.

What is context? Syd Field, in his book Screenplay, gives an excellent definition. He compares context to an empty coffee cup. The cup is the context. It's the space surrounding the character, which is then filled with the specifics of the story and characters.1 The contexts that most influence character include the culture, historical period, location, and occupation.

CULTURAL INFLUENCES

All characters have ethnic backgrounds. If you're a third-generation American of Swedish-German background (as I am), the influence of this background may be minimal. If you're a first-generation black Jamaican, the ethnic background could determine behavior, attitudes, emotional expressiveness, and philosophy.

All characters have a social background. It makes a differencewhether someone comes from a middle-class farming family in Iowa or an upper-class family in San Francisco.

All characters have a religious background. Are they nominal Catholic, Orthodox Jew, followers of New Age philosophies, or agnostic?

All characters have educational backgrounds. The number of years of schooling, as well as the specific field of study, will change a character's makeup.

All of these cultural aspects will have wide-ranging influence upon the makeup of the characters, determining the way they think and talk, their values, concerns, and emotional life.

John Patrick Shanley (Moonstruck) came from an Irish-American home, but observed his Italian neighbors across the street. He says, "I saw that they had better food. They were more connected to their bodies. When they spoke, they spoke with their whole selves. There were things about the Irish that I liked, too. They could, for example, outtalk the Italians. And they had a different bra...

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1st edition (July 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805011714
• ISBN-13: 978-0805011715
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > Playwriting

More About the Author

I have an unusual background - since my degrees are in both drama and theology. I've combined the two through my work in the film industry since 1981, writing books on screenwriting, but have also been giving speeches about theology for the last ten years. My most recent book is called JESUS RODE A DONKEY, and is about Christian values from the perspective of the Democratic Party. That will be published in August, 2006.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Help for the Aspiring Writer July 12, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Linda Seger provides a wonderful gift to aspiring writers in her book CREATING UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTERS. The book is a hodge-podge of Linda's own observations--plus, it is interlaced with interviews with world-class writers. Linda also throws in examples of characters and dialogue from movies, books, TV and stage that we've all heard of (Rain Man, Moonlighting--TV, Broadcast News, Casablanca, Ordinary People, Cheers, etc.). The book is a quick read--I read one chapter a day for a week and a half, but it is chock full of tidbits and insights that make it invaluable.

Dr. Seger encourages the aspiring writer to 'research, research, research' that character (Chapter 1). She then encourages us to consider the dimensionality of a character by introducing motivations 'and' paradoxes (Chapter 2). She explores creating a backstory, a pre-history to a character, and how this can open the writer up to new insights and plot exploration (Chapter 3). The chapter on psychological types (Chapter 4) was helpful in exploring human psychology and abnormal behaviors. Ron Bass's comments on how RAIN MAN's characters (Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman) evolved in the writing phase are terrific. Chapter 5 explores creating character relationships, which includes a section on 'the triangle' and the section on replacing characters in the TV sitcom 'Cheers' was a fun read.

Other chapters follow (Supporting Characters, Writing Dialogue, Beyond Stereotyping, and Character Problems), but my favorite section was the one on Creating Nonrealistic Characters. This chapter on fictional, 'unreal' characters, with Linda Seger's contrast between the symbolic (for example, The Joker=evil), nonhuman (Lassie/animal......), fantasy (Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, Jolly Green Giant--advertisement), mythic (Batman), was worth a full-day seminar of screenwriting.

The book also shares from Linda's interviews with other writers some of the frustrations that they have had in writing. It was nice to read how other writers, proven and successful, struggled to improve their craft.

A quick read, insightful, and full of great stories. Read more ›

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great "How To" for new and experienced Writers July 4, 2004

By J.A.R.

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Creating Unforgettable Characters" succeeds in giving practical steps in the development of character. The book covers several disciplines like psychology, acting, backstory and relationships in an effort to refine and inform the way you approach your characters. For more experienced writers looking to drill down rewrites, the digestible 'get to the freakin' point' style of the book helps you get to what you need, instead of wasting your time lording over topics you don't give shlip about (if I could only take a minute of life away from every author who's wasted my time patting themselves on the back for their puddling observations... there'd be a lot of dead folks in LA).

Particularly useful are the summarizations and categorical exercises at the end of each chapter, helping you immediately implement the lesson into your writing. There are also frequent exercises throughout the book to help jog your mind in relation to your characters.

Seger gives special attention to minor, supporting and nonrealistic characters which populate every script, but are often neglected. Seger's not asking for every character to be the central figure of your narrative... but they better be the central figure of their own story in some way. The book helps in creating characters, small and large, that have a reason for being. It's easy to neglect lesser characters, when they should be poignant and relevant.

Thankfully, Seger has the 'How' mentality that is missing from so many other books on writing. If you are new to writing, this is an excellent resource for illuminating all the elements that go into making a fully fleshed out character.... If you're an experienced writer and are looking for a way to make your characters 'pop' off the page a bit more, "Creating Unforgettable Characters" could help you find that edge. Read more ›

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Tool for Authors May 24, 2001

By Zane

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Creating Unforgettable Characters is a wonderful tool for writers because it goes into details about the amount of backstory that is appropriate and how to set it up and the traits and characteristics that should breathe life into the characters. This book has been extremely helpful to me and I have read it three times.

50 of 55 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Versatile How-To May 13, 2000

By Deborah A. Woehr VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is geared mainly for screenwriting, but it can be useful for novelists and short story writers as well. Linda Seger discusses character backstory, relationships with supporting characters, dialogue, and so on. Plus, there are interviews with today's leading writers across the spectrum. Her narrative is clear and easy to understand, with plenty of examples of both good and bad writing. Even though I'm not a screenwriter, I found this book very useful and entertaining.

73 of 84 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars there are better books on characterization February 6, 2005

By bookloversfriend

Format:Paperback

Unlike her book, Making a Good Script Great, this book is disappointing. Creating characters involves: "getting the first idea..., creating the first broad strokes, finding the core of the character...finding the paradoxes within the character..., adding emotions, attitudes, and values, adding details to make the character specific and unique" (p.23). These steps are then elaborated in separate chapters (although the elaboration consists mostly of extended examples of films most people--those who actually saw the films--would consider to be mixed bags at best, long series of autobiographical paragraphs, and extended quotes from screenwriters ruminating about their experiences in writing this or that character). Seldom is information actually added to that already given on page 23.

There are also chapters on backstory--use backstory only when you have to (p.56), minor characters, dialogue--"bad dialogue is difficult to speak...all characters sound alike...spells out every thought...simplifies people instead of revealing their complexity" (p.151), and nonrealistic characters. Also a chapter on avoiding stereotypes and other character problems such as unlikable characters and vague characters.

There is only enough actual information in the book to fill an article; but if you are a beginning screenwriter, this book (and many others) can be a help to you. The thing to be careful of is (a) emulating writing from movies that most viewers were lukewarm about. You want to learn the best techniques, not the mediocre ones. And (b) thinking that if you've read this book, you know all you need to know about characterization. You don't. Far from it.