The Dramatic Writer's Companion
Page 6
• Write a "because" statement to tell why each ally seems important now.
• Briefly describe what these relationships suggest about your character's values, beliefs, and situation here and now.
3. End of story. Ideally, your character's life has been profoundly changedor profoundly unchanged-by the time the dramatic journey ends. Take another leap forward. Think about what's happening or could be happening at the end of the story. Compare this with life at the start of the story. From your character's point of view-right or wrong-as the story nears an end:
• Who are the character's three most significant allies now in order of importance? For each, write the ally's name, relationship, and type.
• Write a "because" statement to tell why each ally seems important now.
• Briefly describe what these relationships suggest about your character's values, beliefs, and situation here and now. How has the character changed as a result of the dramatic journey?
WRAP-UP
This exercise builds on the saying: "Birds of a feather flock together." You can learn a lot about your character by looking carefully at his or her most important allies and how these alliances change-or don't change-over time. Out of these key relationships come much of your character's experience of the world and many of the forces that will govern what happens during the dramatic journey.
THE QUICK VERSION
Use adversarial relationships to explore a character and develop story ideas
BEST TIME FOR THIS
After you are well into the story
THOSE WHO OPPOSE
Your character's dramatic journey is affected not only by allies who try to provide help, but also by adversaries who try to stop the character from achieving vital objectives. Some foes may be fierce: they have made an intense, uncompromising commitment to stop, defeat, or destroy your character-perhaps a rival in love, political enemy, or home invader. Other foes may be more restrained in their approach: they stand opposed to the character but limit their efforts to block the character's progress-perhaps an ex-spouse, business rival, or angry neighbor. Like allies, adversaries may be strong or weak in resources and may pop up anywhere-in the character's family, work life, social world, or community.
ABOUT THE EXERCISE
Who are your character's most significant adversaries? This exercise complements the previous one by helping you learn more about your character's past and present foes and how they might influence the dramatic journey-even if they do so from the backstory. For best results:
Define "adversary" as anyone who tries to defeat or destroy your character. For the purposes of this exercise, therefore, adversaries are defined not by the results of their actions but by their intentions: they aim to thwart. Adversaries may be individuals acting alone or united in groups. Over time, an adversary may become an ally, and vice versa.
Interpret freely. As you explore the categories suggested below, translate terms such as "fierce," "restrained," "powerful," and "weak" any way that feels appropriate. In one world, a powerful adversary might be a prosecutor with evidence to convict. In another, it might be an overbearing mother with a psychological hold on her lonely daughter. Over time, one character may fit more than one category.
Remember that this exercise is designed to spark creativity, not test organizational skills. If you're not sure who fits what category, just make a choice that feels right and move on. Keep your focus on information that could carry into the story and help you understand why or how things happen.
YOUR CHARACTERS ADVERSARIES-THEN
Who are the most significant adversaries from your character's past? Use the following categories to trigger ideas as you explore the backstory.
Basic types of adversaries
Adversaries may be fierce or restrained, and either poor or rich in resources. These qualities may combine in different ways to create at least four basic types of adversaries:
I. Fierce, powerful adversary. This is the worse kind of enemy to have: one who is actively committed to your character's demise and has the ability to wreak this destruction. Suppose that the character is Jake and that one of his fierce, powerful allies was Guy Blanchard, a classmate at Byford High who also happened to be son of the principal. Guy hated Jake for reasons he never explained and managed to make everyone believe that Jake had stolen important records from the principal's office. The result: Jake got expelled from Byford and ended up in reform school.
Who in your character's past acted as a fierce, powerful adversary? Identify the name and relationship. Then give an example of what the foe did to your character and what important effect resulted from that action.
2. Powerful but restrained adversary. Though able to defeat or destroy your character totally, this foe may not care enough to do so or has another more pressing agenda. In either case, the adversary restrains from full attack. A powerful but restrained adversary in Jake's life, for example, was the Honorable Judge Anderson Black. The judge could have sent Jake to prison on fraud charges, but chose to award him parole in exchange for a Florida vacation secretly financed by Jake's boss Art. The result: Jake came to believe that society is corrupt from top to bottom and everyone in it has a price.
Who in your character's past acted as a powerful but restrained adversary? Identify the name and relationship. Then give an example of what the foe did and what important effect resulted from that action.
3. Fierce adversary with weak resources. This foe doesn't have the means to totally defeat or destroy your character, but won't stop trying and may score lucky hits. When Jake was still in beauty school, for example, an envious student named Bob became one of his worst rivals. During the school's annual hairstyling competition, Bob tried to eliminate Jake by putting a sleeping pill into his coffee. The result: Jake got extremely tired and, instead of winning the competition as everyone expected, placed second to Bob's third.
Who in your character's past acted as a fierce adversary with weak resources? Identify the name and relationship. Then give an example of what the foe did and what important effect resulted from that action.
4. Restrained adversary with weak resources. This is a back-burner foe who doesn't have the motivation or means to cause significant harm, but still manages to make life unpleasant for your character. Jake's sister Jill was such an adversary. She disapproved of his lifestyle and used his mother's birthday-the only time they still gathered each year-to expose Jake as a crook in front of the family. The result: Jake rarely goes home to Milwaukee.
Who in your character's past acted as a restrained adversary with weak resources? Identify the name and relationship. Then give an example of what the foe did and what important effect resulted from that action.
More complex types of adversaries
Whether fierce or restrained, rich or poor in resources, some foes may have certain characteristics that set them apart from the others in their category. For example:
I. Beneficial adversary. Though acting with malice and seeking to inflict harm, this foe takes actions that lead unexpectedly to benefits for your character. One of Jake's most helpful enemies was his older brother Johnny, who used to make him pay weekly protection money to avoid getting beaten up. The result: Jake joined the work force at an early age, starting as a paper boy, and developed a sense of self-reliance and pride of accomplishment unmatched in his family.
Who in your character's past acted as a beneficial adversary? Identify the name and relationship. Then give an example of what the foe did and what important effect resulted from that action.
2. Friendly foe. An adversary is, by the exercise definition, one who wants to defeat or destroy your character. Some adversaries may do this by posing as friends who help the character in the short term in order to defeat the character in the long term. These false friends often cloak lies and deceptions in wit, charm, and friendship to encourage self-destructive traits, such as jealousy; self-destructive behavior, such as binge eating or drinking; and misguided c
ourses of action, such as plotting to rob a bank to get out of debt.
In any case, the friendly foe's real intention is malicious, like that of a wolf in sheep's clothing. In Jake's life, one friendly foe was Buck Burke, a high school associate with eyes for Jake's fiancee Susan Mae Bender. Buck led Jake to believe incorrectly that Susan Mae had been unfaithful to him. The result: Jake broke off the engagement and moved from Milwaukee to Chicago.
Who in your character's past acted as a friendly foe? Identify the name and relationship. Then give an example of what this foe did and what important effect resulted from that action.
YOUR CHARACTERS ADVERSARIES-NOW
Continue to think about your character's key adversaries as you look ahead to the story. For quick reference to types of adversaries, see the table.
I. Start of story. Think about the adversaries you identified from the backstory and how your character might see these relationships as the story begins. When Jake's story begins, for example, he might see his top foes as: (I) Stomper, his partner in crime and fierce, powerful adversary; (2) the Chicago Police Department, a frequent pursuer and powerful but restrained adversary; and, (3) Edie Shaw, a client and friendly foe. From your character's point of view-right or wrong-as the story begins:
• Who are the character's three most significant adversaries now in order of importance? For each, identify the foe's name, relationship, and type.
• For each adversary, write a "because" statement to explain why he or she seems important-for example, "Because Stomper is jealous of Jake's relationship with their boss Art and is out to get Jake."
• Briefly describe what these relationships suggest about your character's values, beliefs, and situation here and now-for example, "Jake values his advantageous position in the business, believes that Stomper is not to be trusted, and is plotting to get Stomper before Stomper gets him."
2. Midpoint. As the dramatic journey unfolds, some things will change and some won't. Take a leap forward and think about what's happening or could be happening halfway through the story. From your character's point of view-right or wrong-at this midpoint:
• Who are the character's three most significant adversaries now in order of importance? For each, write the foe's name, relationship, and type. These may be the same adversaries in the same order as before, the same adversaries in a new order, or a new set of adversaries. Or, one type of adversary may have become another for example, a powerful but restrained adversary may now be a fierce enemy.
• Write a "because" statement to tell why each foe seems important now.
• Briefly describe what these relationships suggest about your character's values, beliefs, and situation here and now.
3. End of story. Take another leap forward. Think about what's happening or could be happening at the end of the story and how this compares with what was happening when the story began. From your character's point of view-right or wrong-as the story ends:
• Who are the character's three most significant adversaries now in order of importance? For each, write the foe's name, relationship, and type.
• Write a "because" statement to tell why each foe seems important now.
• Briefly describe what these relationships suggest about your character's values, beliefs, and situation here and now. How has the character changed as a result of the dramatic journey?
WRAP-UP
As you develop your story, keep thinking about who stands in your character's way, what motivates such opposition, and how this resistance affects the character's dramatic journey in a positive or negative way. If a character starts to feel flat or passive, it may be a sign that you have not created adversaries who are fierce enough and powerful enough to force the character to a more intense and meaningful level of action.
THE QUICK VERSION
Learn more about two important characters by comparing them
BEST TIME FOR THIS
After you have a working sense of the main character
THE DRAMATIC VALUE OF SIMILARITY AND CONTRAST
Whether friends or foes, characters in a relationship tend to be in some ways alike and in some ways different. Their similarities help explain what draws them together and motivates them to interact. Their differences make them each distinct and offer sources of conflict for the story.
Think about the traits, qualities, and beliefs of your characters. How well have you balanced the similarities and differences among them? If two characters are allies, for example, we need to see enough overlap between them to believe their relationship. If the characters are too alike, however, they may seem only like slightly different versions of each other and their dramatic functions may feel redundant.
If two characters are adversaries, we need to see enough contrast between them to understand why they fail to fit together. If the characters are too different, however, we may have trouble believing that they could ever end up in the same story.
Contrast also helps define characters by showing what they are not. For example, plays like Buried Child and films like Rocky Horror Picture Show introduce us to unusual families. In each case, their oddity is measured by the contrast that results when ordinary people enter their worlds, such as the son's girlfriend in Buried Child or the stranded newlyweds in Rocky Horror. In the play Lakeboat, we meet a crew of men who have lost their dreams. We understand this loss by seeing it in contrast to the bright future awaiting the college student who has come aboard for a summer job.
ABOUT THE EXERCISE
Use this exercise to compare your main character to another principle character in your story. You may wish to repeat the exercise with the main character and other principles, one at a time, so you can better understand how the main character fits into-and is defined by-the population of the story. For best results:
Focus on both similarities and differences. You are about to compare two characters in twenty-one categories. In each, decide first whether the char acters are more alike or different in this area. Then look for appropriate examples that help explain why the characters connect or don't connect during the story.
Focus on character traits, qualities, or beliefs that could possibly affect the story. Try to avoid choices that will have no influence on story events and are only for their own sake.
List your responses in columns. Create one list for each character so that you can easily see how they compare. You will be asked first to respond objectively as the writer and later subjectively as each character.
Exercise examples are from Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks. The characters in contrast are Lincoln and Booth.
HOW THE WORLD SEES YOUR CHARACTERS
For each character, respond objectively as the all-seeing, all-knowing writer:
I. Inherited physical trait. The physical traits of your characters can have a significant effect on how they behave in your story. Some of these traitssuch as gender, age, race, ethnicity, body type, and identifying facial features-have been determined by birth. In Topdog/Underdog, Lincoln and Booth have inherited certain physical similarities: they are both African American males in their thirties and they are biologically brothers. Birth also has determined that Lincoln is the "older brother" to Booth. These ties are part of what keeps them together and pushes them apart as they vie to be "topdog" in each other's eyes. Think about how your characters compare and contrast physically. For each character, identify an important inherited physical trait that could affect story events.
2. Acquired physical trait. Some of the physical traits, qualities, states, or conditions of your characters have been not inherited, but acquired as a result of environment, lifestyle, and experience. Such traits may be as temporary as a sunburn or as permanent as a scar. Lincoln and Booth both exhibit a manner of dress that physically reflects their professions and approaches to life. Lincoln enters the play in whiteface and an Abraham Lincoln costume, an outfit that he wears at the arcade shooting booth where he works as a target for customers pretending to be assas
sins. Later, Booth arrives home in a big coat that conceals two new suits-he wears one inside the other-sleeves full of shoes and belts, pockets full of neckties and whiskey, and pants hiding folded shirts and a pornographic magazine-all goods from a day's shoplifting. Think again about how your characters compare and contrast physically. For each character, identify an acquired physical trait, quality, state, or condition that might matter in the story.
3. Psychological trait. Lincoln and Booth are psychologically opposites in many ways. The pessimist Lincoln sees himself as a victim of bad luck. He has lost his parents, his business partner, and his wife. He has no money and no home of his own. When the play begins, he sees little in his future, except a hearse. The optimist Booth, on the other hand, has reached a point in life where he wants more than he has now. He is hungry for success and determined at all costs to achieve it. Are your two characters psychologically similar or different? For each character, identify an important psychological trait.
4. Social trait. Lincoln and Booth are alike in their inability to maintain meaningful relationships with women. Lincoln has lost his wife Cookie, and Booth has been unsuccessful in wooing his ex-girlfriend Grace. "She's in love with me again," he tells his brother, "but she don't know it yet." The loneliness of the brothers keeps them dependent on each other for daily companionship. Are your characters socially similar or different? For each character, identify a key social trait.
5. Economics. Lincoln and Booth are also alike in their lack of spending power. Lincoln cannot afford a place of his own and has to stay at his brother's, where he must sleep at night in a recliner. Booth has managed to establish a home. However, it's only a seedily furnished room with no running water, and he needs his brother's income to pay the weekly rent. Are your characters economically similar or different? Identify the economics of each character.