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Every story has a mind of its own - its own psychology, its own personality. In fact, we might think of a story as if it actually were a person. As with real people, a story's personality is made up of it's mannerisms, attitudes, like and dislikes, quirks, and even physical traits. These elements can be seen in your storytelling style, subject matter, setting, and mood.
A story's psychology, on the other hand, is reflected in its dramatic structure. This structure is created by the underlying forces that determine the direction and intensity of how the story unfolds. In other words, the psychology of story is the mechanical foundation of how the Story Mind works, and the personality of a story is the manner in which it presents itself.
Characters in a story must also reflect both of these attributes. To have a dramatic reason for being there, characters must contribute to the story's structure. To enable the audience/reader to identify with the characters, they must have personalities.
When it comes to personalities, each character must be a completely developed human being. Only if they exhibit the breadth and depth that we see in the eyes of real people will the audience/reader be able to fully identify with them. Now, this doesn't mean that every character in a story should be drawn in complete detail, but rather that characters should not be stick figures, or one-dimensional sketches.
Even if a member of your story is just a Player and has no dramatic function as a character, the audience must feel he or she is a real person. Otherwise the personality of your story as a whole will suffer and become less believable. So, in a nutshell, every character must come off as a real human being with a full compliment of emotions, attitudes, preferences, and mannerisms, even if they aren't directly explored or employed in the plot.
As for a character's psychology, here is where things are a bit different. Structurally, each character is just a facet of the psychology of the overall Story Mind, rather than being a complete person. Like real people, the Story Mind will employ reason as one of the tools it uses to deal with the story's issues. Therefore, there must be a character who, structurally, represents the force of Reason in the Story Mind's psychology.
In a like manner, there must be an Emotion character who reflects the force of feelings in the Story Mind's psychological structure. And, as with any person, when the Story Mind struggles with what makes sense vs. what feels right, the Reason and Emotion characters will come into conflict. Sometimes Reason and Emotion will see things eye to eye. Other times they will come to different conclusions. But all the richness and interplay of these forces in our own minds will be externalized and explored in the interplay of the character representing these forces.
Building Characters with Psychologies and Personalities
Let's take stock and draw some conclusions of our own... When it comes to their personal issues, characters react as well-rounded complete people. But when it comes to the central message issues of a story, characters become single-minded avatars of a particular human quality. This is where many authors run aground on the sharp rocks of structure
1. They make their character into stick figures to fulfill structure with no hint of being real people
2. They make their characters into real people with no structural single-mindedness
3. They try to have their characters perform both functions at the same time throughout the story.
The key to character success in the Story Mind is to know when to have characters be single-minded and when to have them be complete human beings.
Simply put - when dealing the overall plot, theme, or genre of the story at large, character must be single-minded. Each should represent a single facet of the overall Story Mind, and no two characters should have the same function. These are known as "100%" characters because when dealing with the big picture they are nothing more or less than the complete embodiment of a single human trait.
Examples of 100% characters are Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, who is 100% stingy. He has the corner on the market on this trait, and presents the fullness of it to the audience/reader - Hamlet, who is 100% indecisive, always over-thinking the plumbing, and unable to act because of sea of considerations - Samwise in Lord of the Rings, who won't abandon his charge to stay with Frodo no matter the personal consequences -Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, who relies on knowledge, research, and intellect in dealing with the story's problems.
In each case, the character is consistent in regard to their role in the overall story. Yet, each has inconsistencies the reveal a fully developed personality when it comes to issues not related to the big picture.
Hermione, for example, cries because she believes the other students don't like, and Samwise is always thinking about (and obtaining) food. In Hunt for Red October, the Russian Captain's second in command acts much like Samwise in the overall story, but takes time to muse about having a pick-up truck and living in Wyoming when they defect to America.
Structural items, including 100% character traits, are usually very focused and well-defined. They have to be as parts of the mechanics of the story. But personality attributes are more gently peppered throughout the story, providing a fuzzy sense of depth and a context or background against which the 100% traits are played.
To be structurally sound, then, a character must have a clearly defined role in the overall story that is single-mindedly played. To be empathetic, a character must have other concerns beyond the central thrust of the story and must exhibit a full range of human attributes in those regards.
Exercises: Character Psychologies and Personalities
1. List three of your favorite characters from books, movies, plays, or television.
2. Describe the 100% attribute each character exhibits in the overall story.
3. Describe the other traits each character possesses that make up its personality.
4. List three characters you have created.
5. Describe the 100% attribute each of your characters exhibits in the overall story
6. Describe the other traits each character possesses that make up its personality.
Structural Characters in the Storymind
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Copyright 2003 Melanie Anne Phillips
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