Weakness: Character Development Workshop
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- Опубліковано 3 лис 2016
- My novel Empty Vessels can be purchased here:
www.amazon.com/Empty-Vessels-...
This video is Part 3 of 5 foundations. From which, strong characters may be inherently developed. I was tired of only finding "quick tips" to develop good characters online, so I made this set of videos to dive deep into methods for crafting good characters.
The Weakness of your character cannot be a lazy addition to your character. There are several dynamics to character weaknesses that must be explored into your story. In this video, we will explore the two different types of weaknesses and the two different types of harm it can cause.
The music is from Kevin MacLeod. His website can be found here:
incompetech.com/music/royalty-... - Розваги
These videos here are a lost gold treasure on internet!
Thanks! Maybe some day they'll pick up
The best advice that I can give to a new writer is study film acting, because you have to put your self in the character shoes, in other words you have to become him or her completely. You have to think like him or her. Plot is character in action. Your character has an agenda, he has to know how to manipulate other people in how to get what he wants. Plot is character in action, you are what you do. Write a three or more Character Biographies for each of the major characters, from the Cradle to the Grave, leave nothing out, and let the Character surprise as well. Plot and Character interact and complement each other harmoniously.
This channel is exactly what I was looking for. There aren't enough content creators out there who are familiar with Trubyspeak. I think Truby is dead on, but there are some areas which could use more fleshing out. This is perfect.
Thanks! I learned quite a bit from his book, but I had my own opinions I wanted to share and use examples to understand the concepts.
Finally some good fucking food- I mean an actual good video about weakness on characters :3
This is very helpful man, taking notes as I watch this video.
Useful advice for fleshing out characters!
Amazing channel ! The only one that goes further 🔥 💥 💫 ⚡. Thanks !
I can see most of your videos draw inspiration from The anatomy of story, which by all means is a good thing and for anyone unfamiliar with the book they would be very informative. You've done a great job with the examples too!
I learned quite a bit from that book. The part I wanted to add is the good/bad applications because I think examples are helpful learning tools. I felt like the book could've benefited from more examples.
Great workshop, many thanks!
Brilliant video! Good use of film clip examples and diagrams to reinforce your points, and you covered the subject from a lot of angle I hadn't before. I learned a lot, thank you!
Thanks! I appreciate it!
Awesome lessons! Super helpful! Thank you very much for sharing them!
Thanks! I'm glad it's helpful.
Billy Wilder made satires that were funny with well realized characters. Please see “The Fortune Cookie” and “The Apartment.”
Great Video! Do you have a good practice for how to show the flaws in a good way (preferably early on) and (Most important Q:) How to make the character learn what it needs (the need)? I guess each plot point needs to teach the character something or make the MC confronts its weakness? I guess in essence my question is: How do one after developing a character with weakness, need, goal and a plot take the next steps for character development.
Consider the weakness as the result of a deep seeded belief in your character. What does your protag believe that causes this weakness? To show this weakness, consider opening scenes that simultaneously kick off the plot, and showcase an example of the weakness. During the plot, there should be moments that challenge that belief. Your opponent attacks the weakness, forcing the protag to question their beliefs, finding a new truth. The protag slowly realizes this is the real truth from the struggles they face. With a newfound belief, the protag should discard the weakness, growing into a new person.
It doesn't have to be dramatic, or a big revelation right at the end. It's a gradual change that occurs. Consider watching my "Suffering" video. By forcing your character to suffer from the antagonist, stresses and obstacles, they'll hopefully question their views, and change their perspective.
Thanks for the answer! I guess I'm going to use the side characters to make the protag see what he needs. I have been struggling to make a good main character since I'm concepting for a sci-fi adventure/space opera, where I'm going to have a midpoint defeat changing the goal of the main character.
My protag's lie: You can only be successful by yourself.
His ghost: His father was abusive and controlling which made him flee to his sick mother.
The lie has been successful so far in his life, especially from escaping his wound and letting other come close to him.
Want internal: Not end up like a failure like his father, be successful.
This makes him put others at risk, using others and not letting people come close.
My plan for opening the novel is by having the protag watch a planet in front of him as he is in space (which is like a trigger for his childhood since he dreamed of being in space and felt trapped), flashback to his childhood (to show the wound - and make empathy towards his upcoming reasoning) then back to current time where he screws over his partner and take the loot for himself as he used the partner only for a short time, showing his characteristic moment as you said by showing the weakness. The finding is an opportunity towards a better job, which he then fails to get anyway (kicking off the plot).
The hard part is to have a theme or a character need that fits a sci-fi space opera, without it becoming too unoriginal. The character needs to realize in the end that his dads being a failure was alone and to be important doesn't matter if there is no one to be important for. I'm struggling to have an antagonist that fits this theme, of opening up to others, but I think my antag. will be an example of losing people close to you meaning a different twist to what the protag needs, although I feel it's weak!
I'd be weary of flashbacks in the first chapter, they tend to kill pace, esp at the start because it's basically going: "let me begin this story, there's this guy, but hold on a second, let's go back to his childhood." Your character doesn't have to cause pain in the first chapter though. You could focus on the belief that drives the weakness, so the audience connects and relates to the character.
And don't feel as though you must create the empathy rigidly. Instead you can imply a character's backstory through interactions, thoughts etc. Maybe in the beginning, your character meets with his father and sees the "pain" the father is in from being a failure. Your character shows his fear for suffering the same fate.
Hi Nick! I'm still working on the story, really putting in through and effort. I'm doing some changes and trying to improve the story as much as I can! I'm coming back to your videos after reading Truby's work (and other resources). Yeah so my plan is to show the character doing immoral actions from the start (which also affects the main story by being a little inciting incident.) These actions show the character at his "characteristic moment" being selfish and overly goal-oriented, but also capable of solving the situation. Later the character meets a young girl that he gives a tour, and by him thinking and interacting we get an insight of his childhood by his and the girls' differences. As she has rich parents and him struggling from poverty.
I would really appreciate if you would like to read my initial chapters, I'm working on. Would mean a great deal to have some feedback from someone with your interest in the subject :) It would mean a lot to me!
Have a great day Nick! Would love some more content btw! ;) No pressure.
Hey! Sorry, I just saw this. You should join Scribophile, I have a profile there and it's a great community where people critique other people's work. If you post your work there, send me a message and I wouldn't mind reading your work. If you want more research, visit Ellen Brock's channel. She's my favorite writing channel and I've hired her a few times already to check my work.
What's up with that elevator music?
It's a metaphor for "lifting" your understanding of character development.
Nick's Lessons on Story
Ah, ok. 😁
This is good. I'm grateful that you've presented this. I'm thankful. But dude, do we really need dumb circus music behind this video? Why in heaven's name? It adds nothing. It's an annoying distraction to what is being said. This implies that you are not thinking things through thoroughly. You've proven that you do indeed have the capacity to think properly. So, now it is time to manifest that thinking. You're welcome.
Great info but soooo booooring!