researching character building

Hello and welcome back!

Since my chosen genre is drama, today I've decided to research how to build a great character. I've seen three videos on it so far: How to Create a Great Character, Writing Strong Characters, and How to Create Dramatic Characters, but the third one manages to incorporate information explained in the first two.

Want and Need

The first thing I learned was how every character has a "want" and a "need" and how they work together to develop a character and the plot. A "want" is what the character desires and their ultimate goal. It's specific to the character and it is what drives their actions. One example given was Woody from Toy Story. At the beginning of the film Woody wants to be the best toy and it's reflected through his actions, especially when he's challenged by Buzz's arrival. That brings me to my next point: the character needs to have obstacles to get to what they want. This really has to do more with the plot than the character itself but I thought it was worth bringing up because sometimes these obstacles are what trigger the character into confronting their need.

The "need" is the thing that the character must realize about the world they live in or themselves in order to be complete. If a character is going to change they have to discover their need. Woody needs to learn how to share in order to become a better friend. The emotional themes of movies often lie in the "need" of a character and they tend to be more universal. Everyone should learn how to share, not just Woody. Often times the character's "want" can change once they realize their need. As the film progresses Woody learns how to share and as a result, his "want" changes. Instead of wanting to be Andy's favorite toy, Woody starts wanting to be a good friend to the rest of the toys. The "want" isn't inherently bad nor does it always change, but in this case it does.

So where does the "need" and "want" come from? I'll touch on this briefly since it spills into character arcs and that's a different topic. Basically, at the beginning of stories, characters often have some sort of flaw or belief that prevents them from achieving growth. This belief is what they have to overcome in order to realize their need. They also have to overcome it in order to achieve what they want or realize that they want something better. Don't get me wrong, "wants" are external whereas "needs" are internal so the main obstacles that get in the way of a character's "wants" are also external. But at a certain point a character's "wants" and "needs" come together to build who they are. Quick example: In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Joel overcomes the false belief that erasing memories of a failed relationship is better than dealing with pain in order to realize his "need." After that, he ends up wanting to keep his memories.

I feel like that was a lot but I'm not even done. Stick with me though.

How to make your character engaging

When it comes to this there's three main components: resonance, competence, and activity. In the first video I noticed that the video maker used the word "likability" instead of "resonance" but after watching the third video I realized why "resonance" was a better word. A character doesn't need to be likable, they just need personality traits that resonate with the audience. For example, a character could be highly intelligent instead of super friendly and an audience could still engage with them because intelligence is considered to be a valuable thing. It's more important to give your character traits that make them understandable and easy to empathize with rather than just likable, although there's nothing wrong with building a friendly character. 

The next component is competence, which refers to how well a character does their job or passion. There's something admirable about a character who  is able to accomplish what they set out to do that keeps people watching. This also applies to the third component, activity, which refers to how much a character perseveres. A character that manages to do well in both of these components, for example, is Batman. This way, he connects with the audience despite not having many major traits that resonates with them. It's important to balance out these three components. If you give a character too many positive traits for the audience to resonate with, make them too competent, and too active, then they turn into a perfect character the audience will never be able to see themselves in. On the other hand, if you do the opposite by giving a character no resonance, no competence, and making them inactive, then the audience will have nothing to engage with.

My Character

I haven't completely decided on what I want my character to be like but after completing all this research I've decided on the following:

-My character will be female

-My character needs to develop self-validation

-My character wants to be the best at what she does out of her peers

-My character will be witty in order to resonate with the audience. She will also be competent but struggle with being active. However, as the plot progresses, she'll learn to do things for herself and persevere

These are subject to change but I'm glad to have established a basis :) Thanks for reading, 'till next time!