Character, Scene, and Story

by Will Dunne

  Scene 1 sets up this ending by introducing the secluded riverbank as the place where Lennie should hide if he gets into trouble and by establishing George as the one who will come to his rescue. This opening also introduces the dream of a rabbit farm that George will recite in the end to distract Lennie from the gun behind him. The tragedy of George’s final decision is heightened by its contrast to the warmth and camaraderie of the opening scene.

  Once you know how your story ends, you may wish to revisit your decisions about how it begins. These two points—in their contrast or similarity—help define the main character’s dramatic journey. How will your ending compare to your beginning? Will it be the right contrast for the story you want to tell?

  Related tools in The Dramatic Writer’s Companion. To explore other basic decisions in script development, go to the “Building Your Story” section and try “Whose Story Is It?” or “How Will the Tale Be Told?” To evaluate the first ten pages of your script, try “The Art of Grabbing” in the same section. For more about beats, go to the “Causing a Scene” section and try “Thinking in Beats.”

  CHARACTER ON A MISSION

  THE QUICK VERSION

  Explore your story as a character’s quest to achieve a certain goal

  BEST TIME FOR THIS

  During early story development

  A QUEST: SOMEBODY AFTER SOMETHING

  Most dramatic stories center on a character who wants something important and faces obstacles that will make it difficult to get. This quest is usually triggered by an experience that somehow upsets the balance of the character’s life. It may be a turn for the better—a soldier receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become a powerful leader (Macbeth by William Shakespeare)—or a turn for the worse: a scholar is diagnosed with ovarian cancer (Wit by Margaret Edson).

  Whether positive or negative, this inciting event stirs something new in the character: a desire to restore the balance that has been upset. In Macbeth, as a result of the prophecy he receives, a solider embarks on a quest for power. In Wit, after her diagnosis of a terminal illness, a scholar embarks on a quest for human companionship.

  Once this quest has been launched, it is usually what drives most of the dramatic action and makes the story happen. Such goals tend to work best dramatically when they have a specific measure of success: a certain outcome that would signal that the objective has been achieved. The soldier seeking power will know that he has achieved his goal if he can rule Scotland from the throne. The scholar seeking human companionship will know that she has achieved her goal if she can overcome her emotional repression enough to allow someone to call her “sweetheart.” The story ends when the character’s quest is finally achieved (happy ending) or when it reaches the point of utter failure (unhappy ending).

  ABOUT THE EXERCISE

  This exercise can help you explore your story as a quest driven by a character’s need to achieve an important but difficult goal. For best results, use your main character. If you don’t have a single protagonist, choose a principal character.

  Exercise questions are addressed to the character near the beginning of the story. Answer each from the character’s point of view and in the character’s voice, as if you were writing dialogue. Keep in mind that these responses reflect what the character believes to be true but may not always be accurate in the world of the story.

  ■ INCITING EVENT

  The event that incites a dramatic quest may be something that the character does or something that happens to the character. It may be a positive or negative experience. It may take the form of a decision, discovery, action, or external development.

  To the character

  1. What experience upsets the balance of your life and sets a quest into motion?

  2. Where and when does this inciting event take place?

  3. Why does this event occur?

  4. Do you see this event primarily as a good thing or a bad thing? Why?

  5. How does this experience affect you physically and emotionally?

  6. What is the most important new belief that this event arouses in you?

  7. How would you describe yourself before this event occurs? After it occurs?

  8. Who else, if anyone, is affected by this event, and how?

  9. Whether positive or negative, what part of this experience will you remember most, and why?

  ■ QUEST

  The quest that results from the inciting event is a new course of action in the character’s life. It thus reflects a need that might not have been aroused if the inciting event had not occurred. Because it will drive most of the story, this mission will not be easy to complete. The character will have to deal with many obstacles from many sources and will sometimes succeed and sometimes fail.

  For best results, focus on a positive goal (something the character wants to acquire or achieve) rather than a negative one (something the character wants to avoid or eliminate). For example, the scholar diagnosed with a terminal illness will be most active dramatically if she focuses on finding companionship more than on avoiding pain.

  To the character

  1. Think about what you want to accomplish as a result of the inciting event. State your mission. This is the desire or need that will drive your quest.

  2. Is your goal positive (toward something) or negative (away from something)? If the latter, how can you restate it as a positive goal that will keep you reaching out for what you want?

  3. How will you know whether you have achieved your goal? Identify the specific measure of success.

  4. You will need a compelling reason to deal with the obstacles standing in your way. Think about what will be gained if the quest succeeds or lost if it fails. What is at stake?

  5. Are there any higher stakes at risk that you have overlooked?

  6. As you set out on your mission, who is your greatest ally? Identify the individual, group, or organization most likely to help you succeed.

  7. What do you like best about this ally?

  8. What do you like least about this ally?

  9. Who is your greatest adversary as the quest begins? Identify the individual, group, or organization most likely to oppose your efforts.

  10. What do you fear most about this adversary?

  11. What do you admire most about this adversary?

  12. In days of yore, knights on a quest had to pass difficult tests—for example, to slay a dragon. What is a dragon that you will have to slay in order to succeed?

  13. A truly difficult quest will require you to use all resources at your disposal. Some will be personal assets, such as intelligence, imagination, or charm. Others will be external, such as the key to a locked room, a rich uncle, or an in at city hall. What key resources do you expect to have available as you pursue your goal?

  14. A difficult quest will expose your weaknesses. Without repeating a previous response, what shortcomings will add to the challenge of achieving your goal?

  15. What will this quest require you to do that you have never done before?

  16. What is the worst thing that could happen if your quest fails?

  17. Think about your decision to pursue this goal. What does it reveal about your values and beliefs?

  18. As you face the quest ahead, what is your biggest fear?

  19. Large or small, what is the first step you will take to pursue your goal?

  WRAP-UP

  You’ve been exploring your story as a character’s mission to achieve an important but difficult goal. By looking at the start of the mission from your character’s perspective, you have taken an important step toward setting the story in motion and understanding the character at a deeper level. It is through this character’s desire to succeed that the dramatic journey will take shape and ultimately reach its final destination.

  Related tools in The Dramatic Writer’s Companion. To explore more about your character’s quest and what sets it into motion, go to the “Building Your Story” section and try “Inc
iting Event.”

  DECISION POINTS

  THE QUICK VERSION

  Flesh out two related character decisions

  BEST TIME FOR THIS

  After you are well into the story

  MOMENTS OF TRUTH

  A dramatic story is a series of decision points: forks in the road where characters have to choose which direction to head next. These decision points vary in significance. Some are routine matters, such as deciding what to have for lunch. Others are critical choices that affect lives—for example, deciding whom to marry. Most decisions fall somewhere between the routine and the critical.

  When a character has to make a difficult decision under pressure and has high stakes hanging in the balance, superficialities tend to get stripped away and glimpses of the character’s true nature come into view. Whether such choices are thoughtful or impulsive, wise or unwise, each is thus an opportunity to reveal something important about the decision maker. Each is a moment of truth.

  ABOUT THE EXERCISE

  This exercise can help you find new ideas for your script by exploring two important decision points in the story. You can focus on the same character for both decisions or a different character for each. Either way, look for decisions that are in some way related. Examples are from Edward Albee’s play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (Notes toward a Definition of Tragedy). Winner of the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play and a nominee for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, The Goat presents the story of a successful married architect whose life crumbles when he falls in love with a goat.

  ■ BIG DECISION

  Characters have to make a number of big decisions in the course of a dramatic journey. If these decisions truly matter, they have an impact not only on the decision maker but also on others and the rest of the story. The main character of The Goat is Martin, a man in love with a goat. One of his most difficult decisions occurs in scene 1 when he must decide whether to trust his best friend, Ross, with his unusual secret.

  Identify an important decision that one of your principal characters must make at any time during the story. For best results, choose a difficult decision that you wish to understand better and that could significantly affect your story’s chain of events.

  1. Paths A and B. When viewed as a fork in the road, a decision point presents the character with at least two possible courses of action. For Martin, Path A is to confess to Ross that he is in love with a goat. Path B is to continue hiding this fact. Restate your character’s decision point as a fork in the road. What is Path A? What is Path B? There may be more than two forks ahead, but for now, focus on the two that matter most.

  2. Why Path A. From Martin’s perspective, Path A—to confess his love for a goat—could be a viable alternative. It might help him escape the isolation and confusion he has felt from keeping this secret for half a year. Regardless of what actually happens in your story, imagine that your character has a compelling reason to choose Path A. Why might he or she see this as a viable option?

  3. Why Path B. From Martin’s perspective, Path B—to keep his love of Sylvia secret—also could be viable. He has a wife and son whom he still loves. Revealing his secret love life could hurt them both and ruin the family. Imagine that your character also has a compelling reason to choose Path B. Why might he or she see this as viable?

  4. What’s at stake. As he struggles with his decision, Martin feels forgetful and confused. Ross describes him this way: “You act like you don’t know whether you’re coming or going, like you don’t know where you are.” What’s most at stake for Martin is his sanity. What is at stake for your character at the decision point you are exploring?

  5. Path C. Difficult decisions often present more than two options. Martin, for example, could consider Path C: to confess the affair but stop short of revealing that the “other woman” is a goat. The upside of Path C is that it would let him vent his guilt about his infidelity without looking like a freak. The downside is that he would not be dealing with the problem fully. If there were a Path C for your character’s decision, what would it be? What would be its upside? Its downside?

  6. Which path. After much beating around the bush, Martin chooses Path A: to confess his love for a goat. Which path will your character actually choose?

  7. Why now. Since Martin has been hiding his love of Sylvia for six months, the question arises: why now is he suddenly wrestling with the decision to tell or not tell? The answer lies in Ross’s introduction of him for a TV interview: “Three things happened to you this week, Martin. You became the youngest person ever to win the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s version of the Nobel. Also this week, you were chosen to design the World City, the two hundred billion dollar dream city of the future. . . . Also, this week, you celebrated your fiftieth birthday.”

  It has thus been a high-pressure week for Martin, with the eyes of the world upon him and the milestone of his fiftieth birthday prompting him to reevaluate his life. Yet he finds himself in an isolated state, unable to discuss his true feelings. He is now at a breaking point. Being alone with his best friend is an opportunity to relieve the pressure that has left him dazed. Think about your character’s decision point. Why now? Why can’t this decision be avoided or put off until later?

  8. Action. Big decisions in a dramatic story usually lead to action. Martin’s decision to reveal Sylvia’s identity leads him to show Ross her photo. What important action results, now or later, from your character’s decision?

  9. Expected response. Characters make decisions based on how they expect the world to respond. In choosing to air the truth about Sylvia, Martin hopes that Ross will understand his plight and lend needed support. What does your character expect, or hope for, as a result of the path chosen?

  10. Actual response. The world doesn’t always respond in expected ways. Ross reacts to Martin’s news not with understanding and support but with bewilderment and concern. What actually happens as a result of your character’s decision?

  11. Who’s affected. The importance of a decision can be measured in part by whom it affects. Over time, Martin’s decision will negatively affect not only himself but also his wife, son, and best friend as well as Sylvia herself. Who is affected by your character’s decision, and how?

  12. Truth shown. Martin’s choice of Path A—to confess his love for a goat—is a moment of truth. It shows how desperate he has become in his isolation from other humans. It also shows how much he trusts Ross and sees him as a friend. What does your character’s decision reveal about him or her?

  13. Discovery. When Martin reveals his love for Sylvia, he does not realize how devastating the consequences will be. By the story’s end, he will have lost everything—all because he told the truth. This leads him to conclude that what matters in life is not what we do but what others find out about what we do. Think about the impact of your character’s decision. What will the character learn or conclude from this?

  ■ RELATED DECISION

  In a dramatic story, one big decision often leads to another that must be made either by the same character or by someone else. This new decision produces consequences that, in turn, lead to another big decision, and so on, so that the key decision points in the story are linked through cause and effect and a throughline is formed. Because Martin decides to tell Ross about Sylvia, for example, Ross must now decide whether to share this news with Martin’s wife, Stevie. Think again about the consequences of your character’s decision. What is another difficult decision that it will trigger for your character or for another character later in the story?

  1. Paths A and B. Thanks to Martin’s honesty, Ross finds himself facing a critical fork in the road. Path A is to honor Martin’s request for secrecy and say nothing about the strange affair. Path B is to tell Stevie the truth if Martin won’t. Restate your new decision as a fork in the road. What is Path A? What is Path B?

  2. Why Path A. From Ross’s perspective, Path A—to honor Martin’s request for secrecy—could be a viable choice. It
would further cement his relationship with Martin, who is not only a longtime friend but also an important man in the news. Regardless of what actually happens in your story, imagine that your character has a compelling reason to choose Path A. Why might he or she see this as viable?

  3. Why Path B. From Ross’s point of view, Path B—to tell Stevie what’s going on—could also be a viable choice. Stevie is a close friend, too, and it would be a betrayal not to tell her. In addition, she might be the only one who can stop Martin from ruining his life. Imagine that your character has a compelling reason to choose Path B. Why might he or she see this as viable?

  4. What’s at stake. Ross has been a close friend of both Martin and Stevie for years. The issue of Sylvia is a threat to their marriage and the well-being of their teenage son. What is at stake for your character at this particular decision point?

  5. Path C. Ross could consider more than two possible courses of action. Path C might be to keep Martin’s secret if he agrees to end the affair now and see a psychiatrist. The upside is that it would force Martin to get professional help. The downside is that Ross would still be betraying Stevie. If there were a Path C for your character’s decision, what would it be? What would be its upside? Its downside?