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I'm a story consultant that's my job and
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it is wild how often I see this problem
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I'll have a new client come in oh yeah
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this video is sponsored by Squarespace
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I'll have a new client come in and
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they've been working on a story for like
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5 years they'll have a cast of
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characters who they just love to death
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they feel like they know and understand
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these characters intimately but when I
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start asking basic questions like what
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does this character believe about the
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world what does this character fear what
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drives this character deep down they're
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stumped and for the longest time this
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was so confusing to me but then I
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realized that like as bad as it sounds I
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don't know a lot of my own friends and
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family in that way like I still love
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them and I still care for them but gun
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to my head I probably couldn't tell you
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what their deepest insecurities are so
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clearly it is possible to create
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characters that people find engrossing
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that they sympathize with that they
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relate to without knowing the answers to
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those deeper questions the issue I think
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arises when these writers want to have
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their cake and eat it too to they want
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their character to be a Vibe but they
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also want to send their character on a
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massive emotional Arc we're very easy to
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trick I mean trick is the wrong word
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it's just empathy we see a human with a
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human face and a human personality and
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we assume oh you must have a rich inner
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life and a storied history just like I
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do I don't know what it is but I
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understand that you are a human just
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like me except when it comes time to
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write your big emotional epic you have
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to actually figure those things out you
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have to actually figure out what's going
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on inside of the character's head the
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implied Soul doesn't cut it because
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you're writing about change and with
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change you have to ask what was the
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thing like before the change versus what
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is the thing going to be like after the
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change the illusion of this character
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being a person no longer holds up it's
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why Indiana Jones is just like Indiana
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Jones for four movies and that's just
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his personality and nobody really thinks
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anything of it but then in the fifth
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movie they try to go to that deeper
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level with him and you realize oh this
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is like unexplored territory all these
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beliefs like it's an illusion it didn't
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exist before so so that can make or
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break a character and when you create
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that deeper framework it not only has to
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be consistent with itself but it also
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has to retroactively explain all of the
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traits and attitudes that make up the
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existing conception of the character
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it's hard it's an unenviable task and
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that's what we're up against here so
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they show me their character and they're
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like Okay meet cresca she do anything
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for her friends she doesn't like being
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alone and she's also super chaotic they
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love that word and I'm like okay on one
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hand I get exactly what you're going for
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I can imagine exactly what it would be
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like to hang out with cresca the vibe is
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there but I also have nothing to latch
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on to in terms of what her Arc would
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look like and then to prove my point
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I'll start listing off equally plausible
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versions of what her core disposition
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could be this chaotic trait is it a
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thrill seeking Behavior or is it a
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Defiance of authority and would that be
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Authority as a concept or a certain
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Authority that she opposes as part of a
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black and white thought pattern this
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connection with friends this fear of
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being alone is it like she's a
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fundamentally anxious person and having
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the support system makes her feel safe
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and puts her at ease knowing she can
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trust these people or does it come from
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a self-esteem thing does she want to be
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wanted and they'll be like can't it be
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all of them and I'll be like good
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question no because if I came up with a
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hypothetical dilemma that made them
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choose one would have to take precedence
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so let's imagine cresca in a situation
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where her friends go by behind her back
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and shatter her trust how would she
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react to this well if this is the cresca
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who is fundamentally concerned with
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Safety and Security then her connection
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to her friends is contingent on how safe
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and secure they make her feel so she's
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probably going to distance herself and
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stop relying on them because now she
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knows without a shadow of a doubt that
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they can't be trusted the only way that
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they might potentially be able to win
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her back might be through some gesture
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of loyalty versus the cresca who is
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fundamentally concerned with being loved
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and wanted that cresca would very likely
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view the the trail as a withholding of
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affection she might wonder what did I do
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to deserve this what's wrong with me she
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might even come up with a plan to get
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them back because for cresca 2 it's not
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about trust and security and unity it's
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about self-esteem and being wanted do
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both of these instincts exist within
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cresa yeah to some degree but only one
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is going to take precedence and inform
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her actions only one can that's the
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whole point of a choice the path you
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choose in a dilemma in a conflict shows
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what you believe deep down if in her
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prear State she had to choose between
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flaky snaky unpredictable friends who
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still showed her a lot of affection and
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friends who would undoubtedly help her
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bury a body in a pinch but would never
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engage with her emotionally what would
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her choice be so what does she believe
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deep down you need to answer that
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question hypothetical dilemmas are a
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great way to smoke out unfinished
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elements of a character I use them all
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the time the rebel and also pleasure
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Seeker character is one that I see super
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often too and the Matrix already created
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the perfect hypothetical for clarifying
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that then we have a deal I don't want to
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remember nothing I don't want to be rich
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at the core of every character there is
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a basic simple fear you might have
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layers and layers of sub fears and
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desires and beliefs and complexity piled
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on top of that but it all stems from the
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core fear the subconscious fear creates
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a subconscious belief and the
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subconscious belief creates a
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subconscious want which the character
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usually rationalizes by making up a
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false belief when in reality they're
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being driven by this and then they have
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to realize that and then potentially
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work to change it that's an arc but if
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you try to have cresca 1 and cresca 2
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exist in the same body what Arc do you
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go with cresca 1 needs to learn to face
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the world on her own and stop relying on
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others for support and guidance cresca 2
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needs to realize that she has inherent
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worth whether people want her or not
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these Journeys would have different
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inciting incidents different second act
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low points different final
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confrontations different everything you
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can't do both so a lot of the work these
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writers need to do involves shaving
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things off off their characters and
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deciding which route they're going to
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take which unfortunately might mean
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letting go of certain traits and
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attitudes that no longer suit The
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Narrative this can be hard for writers
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since those things may have formed the
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basis of the character in their mind for
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years but it's a necessary and very
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rewarding sacrifice I have a whole video
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about this complexity is fine so long as
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you can trace it back to a single point
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if you think you've reached the
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singularity of a character there's a
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good chance that you haven't for
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instance if cresca motivation actually
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you know what let me just use an actual
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example Creed the rocky spin-off from
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2015 super super tight script if you ask
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what's this kid's motivation the obvious
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answer is oh he wants to be a great
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boxer he wants to make a name for
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himself and if you leave it at that you
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can maybe still have a functional story
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but if you ask why if you go a layer
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deeper you actually get to the soul of
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the character turns out it's not about
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boxing it's about this I got to prove it
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prove what I'm not a mistake boxing is
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the Manifest of this belief but this
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begs the question how do you know if
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you've gone deep enough how do you know
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if you've hit Bedrock on a character
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well let's say my character is a farmer
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and their goal is to grow the biggest
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zucchini in order to win the zucchini
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contest awesome great motivation time to
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start creating app plot and setting up
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obstacles no have you learned nothing
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zucchini contest is not a real thing
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that drives people you must ask why why
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does this farmer want to win the
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zucchini contest okay I guess it's to
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impress the rest of the town and why
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does this farmer want to impress the
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rest of the town because they feel
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worthless without external validation
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and why do they feel worthless without
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external validation well it's because
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when they were a kid okay pause you see
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how we just crossed over into backstory
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that means we passed through the deepest
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point of the character this everything
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after that core belief is just a
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manifestation of it everything before is
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trauma but this is the core when it
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comes to what's in this circle you
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shouldn't have to bring up any other
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characters or any nouns this is the soul
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this is all the inner stuff the core
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belief so it's not I need to be with her
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because the hypothetical her is outside
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of the circle inside the circle is I'm
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not worth anything on my own and this is
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the manifestation of that does this
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apply to all motivations no this really
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just applies to what I'm calling Soul
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motivations like something having to do
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with a fundamental false belief or fear
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the other kind would be body motivations
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like survival or taking care of one's
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family basic human drives I don't write
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those kinds of stories because I think
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they're boring like oh wow your
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character's motivation is they want to
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not get eaten by a monster great I
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wouldn't want to get eaten by a monster
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either and then if you have a whole cast
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and they all have the exact same
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motivation which is to not get eaten by
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the monster that would bore me but if I
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turned it into this kind of story and I
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made the monster representative of Soul
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motivations that's more my type of thing
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I don't know I'm just not attracted to
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projects that everyone can relate to
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because then it's like why would you
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write it but hey writers have different
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motivations too my point is that depth
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and specificity are your friends
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remember this and then you want to
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understand all of your characters on
00:09:08
this deep level speaking of doing all of
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domain hey guys that's the end of the
00:10:21
video um A peculiar fog has rolled in
00:10:25
and I'm not quite sure where I am
00:10:28
there's this 3 jack rabbit that I think
00:10:30
is trying to communicate with me but
00:10:33
yeah I'm going to keep doing this short
00:10:34
form content because I have a lot of
00:10:37
these great nuggets but they're just
00:10:38
embedded in other longer videos and I
00:10:40
want people to be able to go to my
00:10:41
channel and scroll down and find the
00:10:43
topic they're looking for if there are
00:10:45
any particular topics you'd like me to
00:10:46
address just leave a comment uh as
00:10:49
always thank you for your continued
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support of this
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channel something something patreon
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something something Consulting like And
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subscribe if you feel so inclined and
00:11:01
I'll see you next
00:11:06
[Music]
00:11:14
time
00:11:16
yeah yeah
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