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RESOURCE: Getting To Know Your Characters

July 22nd, 2011 | Posted by peopletales in Resources - (0 Comments)

Do you create your characters first and build a story around them or do you create a story and populate it with characters afterwards?

It all depends on the story and the individual writer.  We all have different methods and techniques when creating characters.  Personally, I like to free write.  I sit down and write as much detail as I possibly can about my new creations.  When I start a screenplay, I’ve usually got a main character in mind but 100% of the time my original idea changes as I get to know them.

Beyond free writing, there are many resources out there that provide quizzes, interviews and questionnaires to help you develop your characters.  These lists of questions are designed to help you truly understand who your characters are and what drives them.  Most of the time, I simply read questionnaires like these just to gain a basic understanding of my characters.

What’s in your character’s refrigerator?  It sounds like an odd question but answering it could give you a ton of helpful information.  Even if it gives you one tiny piece of insight it’s worth it.

At the same time, why not seek out questionnaires about getting to know yourself and answer them as one of your characters?  All of these techniques can help you write better in the long run.

The 100 Most Important Things To Know About Your Character

101 Character Development Questions For Writers

100 Character Development Questions For Writers

50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind

Top 10 Questions For Creating Believable Characters

12 Ways To Get To Know Your Characters

Character Questionnaire

30 Questions (Character Questionnaire)

Creating Fictional Characters

Character Development: Getting To Know Your Characters

Character Creation Questionnaire

Interview Your Character

Create-A-Character Exercises

Character Interviews

2 Character Questionnaires

These links alone offer hundreds of questions that will challenge your creativity and elevate the quality of your characters.  Try a few of them out.

You’ll never know the level of detail you’re capable of until you give it a shot.

The Athletic Nerd | 10 Things You NEED To Know About Your Characters

The Tale of the People Blind Spot

July 22nd, 2011 | Posted by peopletales in People Tales - (0 Comments)

This really applies to a number of social situations but I’ve always been fascinated by this phenomenon. How many times has this happened to you?

Picture a crowded escalator in a busy mall.  Your shopping bags are full of new and wonderful things and you’re on your way to one of your last stops of the day.  As you near the top of the escalator you realize the person in front of you looks lost.  This happens all the time but this person is different.  This person stops right at the top of the escalator to plan out where they are going next.  This can be a source of anxiety as you beg the person with your mind to get out of the way before you reach the summit.  It is an escalator after all and you could run right into them.

There they are, completely oblivious that other people have to get moving.

Normally, these people will then turn in one direction allowing you to pass.  9 times out of 10 it’s wrong and they quickly turn back cutting you off in the process.  Is there not a set of rules to describe the proper escalator etiquette?  The truth is, everybody writes their own and doesn’t tell a soul.  I’m no different.

Now…  Let me make one thing clear.  This is not a rant against these escalator people.  You can’t really blame someone for being lost or indecisive.  What interests me about them is the difference between them and those who move out of the way before they plan their next move.  It’s an interesting characteristic.

These same people are the ones who don’t check their blind spot when they are walking down the street or pushing a grocery cart around a store.  They just stop right in the middle of an aisle causing ‘people’ collisions or turn suddenly causing others to swerve.  Make no mistake, if someone suddenly stops in the middle of a grocery store and your cart hits theirs…  You would get charged with following too close.  I believe the blind spot check should apply to these situations just like driving a car.  Making a turn?  Check your blind spot.

I think I’m sensitive about this issue because I tend to rush when I’m in crowded places which isn’t the greatest trait either.  I can’t help it.  I just want to get the items I need and bolt.  So I’m the guy who tends to encounter the people who stroll about making left turns without signaling.

And how do these people react if you actually do run into them?  That’s another fascinating character study.  It’s really one of two options.

  • OPTION A: They are aware that stopping at the peak of the escalator wasn’t the smartest place to get their bearings.  They are quick to apologize and move out of the way.
  • OPTION B: They get angry and are vocal about people who don’t watch where they’re going.  Irony?

The people in group B would probably respond to someone like me in a similar way.  Perhaps I’m speeding too much and passing on the right?  Perhaps I should exercise patience a little more?  At the end of the day it’s a war that rages every day in crowded places.  Who is right and who is wrong?  It depends on the type of person you are and the ‘people’ rules you live by.

In that sense, thinking about the People Blind Spot could influence the type of character you’re trying to create.

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The Tale of the Inconsiderate Bus Driver

July 21st, 2011 | Posted by peopletales in People Tales - (0 Comments)

My first apartment in Toronto was about a 2 minute walk from a 24 hour bus stop.  This was extremely convenient as I work in sports broadcasting and tend to get home late.  However, it was also extremely inconvenient if I happened to miss the bus.  I can’t tell you how many times I wandered out of my home with a giant smile on my face only to have it wiped clean as the bus raced past me.  Missing the bus in front of my home could mean a 5 minute wait or a 30 minute wait depending on the day.

Until the day I die, I’ll never understand why I spent so many days waiting 20+ minutes for a bus that’s supposed to arrive every 15 minutes…  Isn’t that mathematically impossible?  You can imagine my frustration as I was late for work a number of times because of that bus.  Some days, I would be forced to pay for a cab because I didn’t trust the next bus to arrive on time.

On this particular day, I was already late.  My only hope was to catch a bus within 2 minutes of leaving my house.  I ran outside and was elated to see a bus waiting at a red light down the road.  I knew if I sprinted I could make it but suddenly, the light changed to green.  It was going to be close.

I ran as fast as I could but it became clear that I wasn’t going to make it.  So I turned and waved at the bus driver hoping to alert him to my intentions of boarding his vehicle.  The driver waved at me with a smile on his face and then pointed at the bus stop which was still about 5-7 meters away from me.  He didn’t stop.

I was crushed.  By the time he stopped I could have made it to the bus stop and the horrible start to my day could have been erased.  At least I was running!

But something funny happened…  He stopped.  It wasn’t at the next stop.  It was in between.

Did he actually stop for me?

That’s when I saw an old woman hustling towards the bus.  He didn’t stop for me…  He stopped for her…  I was angry.  What was it about me that made him act like such a jerk?  What did I do? If he had stopped for me, the old woman wouldn’t have had to rush at all.  She would have been by the road.  I’m thankful he was courteous enough to stop for her but that didn’t change the fact that he was my enemy for life.

I seized the opportunity and made it to the front door just as the old lady did.  We entered and I showed the bus driver my pass along with one of the dirtiest looks I could manage.  I said nothing to him and found a seat.

Then…  He said something that still makes frustrates me to this day.

You’re welcome buddy!

I can’t even fully explain the amount of sarcasm he injected into that sentence…  You’re welcome buddy…  I’m not a confrontational person so I thought up the most politically correct thing to say while still defending myself.  I had to be careful as I didn’t want the idiot to kick me off the bus.  I had to go to work after all.

We both know you didn’t stop for me but thanks anyways.

The guy went out of his way to laugh at me as he sped past me yet here he was demanding a thank you.  That kind of petty behavior fascinates me.  This was a bus driver who enjoyed the ‘power’ he had over people.  The bus was his dominion and toying with me probably gave him a lot of satisfaction.

I thought it was an interesting characteristic as I imagined what could have pissed him off.  Maybe someone my age insulted him earlier in the day.  Perhaps he got some bad news that morning.  Maybe he just enjoyed messing with people who run for buses full of hope that they might catch it.

Creating a back story for that man was actually quite fun and by the time my ride ended, I had about 5 different options mapped out.  I tried to figure out his motivations, his history and what made him decide to not only pass me but insult me in the process.

Needless to say, my new apartment is close to 3 bus routes and I never have to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus.

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The Tale of the Circus & The Contact Lens

July 15th, 2011 | Posted by peopletales in People Tales - (0 Comments)

A few weeks ago, my fiance and I were on our way to the mall near our home and we were shocked to find a Circus in the parking lot.

We figured we would give it a shot so we went online and purchased tickets for that very night.  The Circus itself wasn’t the greatest with the exception of the death defying final act.  That high flying crazy man made the entire night worth it.  There was another event that stuck out as well.

During the intermission, the group behind us decided they were wasting their time and left.  I couldn’t understand why they were so disappointed.  I’m the first to admit it wasn’t the greatest show on Earth but it had it’s moments.  About 10 minutes after they left, a man returned and he was frantically searching for something.

My best guess is a contact lens was lost as he was looking for something incredibly small.  I laughed because he was the angriest among his group and had to come all the way back in to find his contact. (Or whatever it was he was looking for)  Already frustrated and getting worse, he started moving chairs around and throwing them into each other.  He hit the backs of our seats multiple times in the process.

Then another man started pestering him.  At first I thought he had found the man’s lost contact but that wasn’t it.  Apparently the man knew it as well because he just ignored him.  He dropped down to his hands and knees searching desperately for the lens.  (For the record we were helping at first but stopped after he started rudely moving chairs around.)

“Excuse me please!  Sir!?”

Still he ignored the man and kept searching.

There’s nothing more frustrating than someone annoying you while you are searching for something important.  The same can be said about stubbing your toe.  How annoying is it when you are trying to deal with the pain and someone keeps poking you while asking “what happened?”

“I stubbed my toe!  Shut up!”

Finally, the annoying man got his attention.  He returned to his feet.  At this point, I was sure the man just wanted to help.  I was wrong.  He held up a camera.

“Could you please take our picture?”

You could literally read the angry man’s thoughts.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  All that for a picture?  Why not ask someone else or wait?  The man was clearly preoccupied but apparently getting a picture was URGENT.  Had I known, I would have stepped in and taken the picture.  It was a pretty strange interaction.

The man never found his contact lens and was aiming dirty looks at every human being in sight as he left the circus again.

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The Tale of the Evil Stedman’s Employee

July 15th, 2011 | Posted by peopletales in People Tales - (0 Comments)

THE FIRST PEOPLE TALE…
THE PRESSURE IS ON…

The number of possibilities for the first people tale was infinite.  Funny?  Sad?  Frustrating?  In the end, I decided to think back as far as I could and dig up an old memory.  The first one that popped into my head is all about a lady who had no right to stick her nose in my business…  Or did she?

I can’t fully remember how old I was but my best guess is eleven or twelve.  My mom and sister had chiropractor appointments in our local mall and I was allowed to leave the doctor’s office to check out the toys at Stedman’s.  For those who are unaware, Stedman’s is a department store that’s about one notch above a dollar store and far from the Walmarts we’ve grown accustomed to.

Kids around that age are normally obsessed with the latest ‘something’.  Ninja Turtles dominated most of my childhood but there were other fads.  At that moment, it was marbles.  During recess at school we used to play two games with our alley collections.  The first was called Potsies.  Essentially, the goal was to try and roll your marble into a hole in the dirt before your opponent did.  Whoever won kept both marbles.  The second, and infinitely more competitive, was Kissies.  In this game, the goal is to kiss your marble off a wall and hit your opponents.  This took a lot of skill but the pressure was always high especially if you risked one of your favorite alleys.

Where did we purchase these alleys?  Stedman’s.  It was there we purchased our jumbos, mumbo-jumbos, pandas and more.

I left my family in the doctor’s office and went straight for the new alleys.  I had no money but the idea was to carefully research the best bag of marbles in the store and then beg my mom to buy them for me.  There weren’t many to choose from a lot of the time so I was forced to hide the bag I wanted somewhere else.  Once it was hidden, I went back to start wearing my mother down.

You can imagine the panic in my eyes when I arrived at the doctors only to find my mom and sister were both called in.  What if someone found my marbles!?

I went back and checked two or three times trying hard not to appear suspicious.  Unfortunately I wasn’t very good at it.  I started noticing an older lady pacing around me.  She was following every move I made.  Naturally, I got freaked out and abandoned my plan.  I carefully made my way towards the front of the store and just when I thought I was free, there she was.

What a humiliating moment.  To be accused of shoplifting right in front of the cash.

“I know what you’re up to young man!”

This lady could have taken it easy on me but she didn’t.  She took it upon herself to scare the hell out of me by screaming.  I was filled with two completely separate feelings.  The first was overwhelming embarrassment and the second was anger.  I hadn’t stolen a thing.  What was she trying to prove?  She wasn’t my mom!  She even made me take my hat off.  How in the world can you hide a sack of marbles under a baseball cap?

Satisfied that I didn’t steal anything, she let me go with one final threat.

“Don’t let me catch you in here again.”

I lowered my head and made my way back to the doctors office just as my mom and sister emerged from their adjustments.  What’s the first thing my mom said to me?

“I have to go to Stedman’s before we leave.”

You know the horrible pain in your stomach you feel when you are dreading something unavoidable.  I was terrified.  I tried everything I could to hide as we entered the store but the evil lady found me.  She immediately cornered us and told my mom the whole story of my shoplifting scheme.  Let me make something clear, I’ve never stolen a thing in my life and never had any intentions of stealing anything but this lady was angry.  She told my mom I wasn’t welcome in the store anymore.

What happened next is the reason why I’ve always been honest with my parents.  They’ve always had my back.

My mom had that motherly “we’ll see about that” look on her face as she demanded to speak with the manager.  I was so embarrassed and it didn’t help that my sister kept laughing at me.  With everything straightened out we left the store with my ban lifted.

I never did get those new marbles.  I never went back to Stedman’s alone again.

Years later, I based a cashier in a screenplay on that horrible woman.  It was a small role but I nailed it.  Now that I’m an adult, I really can’t blame her for being suspicious.  What fascinated me was how angry she was.  She could have reacted any number of ways but she went with intimidation.  I’ve always wondered why…

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