The Unknown Screenwriter

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The Transformational Character Arc series...

The Transformational Character Arc... Part 1

I keep trying to make my Protagonist's transformational character arc in my rewrite a little less obvious yet more APPARENT. I don’t want anyone to read and say, “Cool, there’s the arc.” I just want people to walk away after having absorbed the fact that the Protagonist completed it.In other words, I want to slide it in there under the radar so that you FEEL it… You know it but you don’t know it.

Got it?

Nope?

The transformational character arc is the emotional change your Protagonist goes through by the end of your story.

The transformational character arc is one of the most daunting story elements we have today… Many many screenwriters attempting to break into the business know that they need it but once again, those that are out there attempting to teach us this stuff haven’t done their homework…

What I mean by that is they (the screenwriting gurus) almost always tell YOU; the girl or guy that just plopped down $300, $350, $500, (and an equal amount or more on screenwriting books) that you need to make sure that your Protagonist has a character arc.Uh, thanks.

Let me also say that I don’t really mean this toward ANYONE in PARTICULAR but suffice to say, I’ve been to every guru’s workshop, pretty much buy every screenwriting book that comes out (even bad ones), read articles like they are going out of style and still…

No meat and potatoes when it comes to the character arc. *NOTE: I do however, have several new screenwriting books coming from Amazon.com that may change all that? At least that's what they PROFESS...

We shall see.

I wonder why that is? Could it be that nobody’s ever actually broken it down?

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No fuckin' way... Somebody’s done it somewhere… Hell, I know I have.

MaryAn, of Fencing With The Fog fame made an outstanding comment in a previous post… i.e., “My take: motivation is what propels characters towards goals.” A simple little sentence but OH SO MUCH POWER.

I bring this up because of the importance of motivation in your Protagonist’s transformational character arc… i.e., it is in fact this motivation that you’ve so deftly fleshed into your story that also drives your character to be BETTER than he or she was before they started out on their journey but REMEMBER…

However your Protagonist acts; whatever your Protagonist says or thinks that he or she WANTS (GOAL), could very well be DIFFERENT from what they TRULY WANT i.e., their MOTIVATION.

Often, the Protagonist simply goes after what they THINK they want and, through their own decision making, emotional action and reaction, they end up discovering what they really want and when they discover what they really want, BAM! They WAKE THE FUCK UP because until now, they’ve been fooling themselves just trying to get along… Now that they’ve SEEN the new end of the rainbow, they can’t do without it hence, the new GOAL and hence, MOTIVATION.

I guess that's why I go fucking crazy when it comes to my characters... Without characters... Scratch that. Without GREAT CHARACTERS, the audience is going to have a really hard time climbing on board the sympathy/empathy train.

I read a lot of screenplays where the screenwriter tries to develop all the main characters before the first act is complete... To me, that's exactly one of the problems in pulling off an outstanding transformational character arc... Give us the character as a lump of clay in the beginning. BE THE ARTIST and let us watch you mold that clay throughout the entire story...

In other words... Bring in your characters and quickly give them dimension... Go ahead and develop them JUST ENOUGH to hook us so we can get on board the sympathy/empathy train for the rest of the story. Get rid of all their clichés, kick them in the ass, and get them going on their journeys... Then, as time goes on, continue to develop them... Continue to give them more dimensionality through their actions and dialogue.

Another problem I see a lot are characters that are simply NOT FUCKING CAPABLE of undergoing a transformational arc. Remember, your main character i.e., your Protagonist needs to be a character CAPABLE of undergoing transformation. If you give us the PERFECT CHARACTER right up front, FUGHEDABOUDIT. We're gonna be bored and bored people FORGET to jump on the sympathy/empathy train.

Along this line of thought...

If we're bored by your characters, then it is very likely that your characters are also BORING. Nobody wants to read and watch boring characters... We already have way too much boredom in our lives... Please do not inundate us with even MORE! I can't tell you how many people NOT in the business make the comment (or something similar), "Well that's another two hours of my life that I'll never get back."

As a screenwriter, please be HYPER-AWARE that before you ever give your script to someone to read, you're asking that person or persons to GIVE YOU about two hours of THEIR LIFE to read your screenplay. To me, that's one of the most ULTIMATE GIFTS anyone could ever give to me and so many fucking screenwriters NEVER EVER stop to consider what a wonderful gift that is to begin

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with... Assuming that this is a wonderful gift, don't you at least OWE your reader two hours of excitement instead of boredom? And, if that is true, don't you also owe it to your prospective MILLIONS of AUDIENCE MEMBERS out there waiting to see your eventual movie, two hours of excitement?

Don't ever forget WHY we go to the fuckin' movies... To ESCAPE!

Boredom is not escape.

Give us main characters as big as life! Quintessential characters... Characters capable of being transformed by the end of your story. As audience members of your prospective movie, we want to see different sides of your characters... We want to see their EMOTIONAL make-up. We want to see their EMOTIONAL attitudes. We want to see how they EMOTIONALLY react to the other characters in your story. We want to see them make EMOTIONAL decisions. We want to see them make EMOTIONAL decisions based on the obstacles you throw at them. We want to see them fuck up. We want to see them climb up SHIT MOUNTAIN.

The EMOTIONAL responses of your characters (the ones YOU WRITE of course) serve to develop them, create dimensionality within them, and if done correctly, make them BELIEVABLE. Just remember that believable characters do not have to be boring.

Dimensionality serves to delineate your character(s) to your audience... The transformational character arc that your character achieves by the end of your story, DEFINES your character. In other words, we really don't know what to expect but hopefully, we'll enjoy the ride... Your character(s) however, will keep revealing bits and pieces of his or her emotional make-up and if done correctly i.e., with tension, conflict, rising action, etc., KEEP US ON THE TRAIN.

That brings us to DEFINING YOUR CHARACTER.

Which is why it's so important to KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS. I'm not going to say this is a RULE but knowing your characters WELL can certainly make giving him or her a believable and exciting transformational character arc a lot easier than NOT KNOWING YOUR CHARACTER WELL.

ATTITUDES and PHILOSOPHIESOne of the easiest ways to give your Protagonist a believable transformational character arc is to start them out with fairly DEFINED attitudes and philosophies and then, as you take them through your story, TEST those attitudes and philosophies, causing them to DISCOVER new attitudes and philosophies that are different from the ones they started out with.

As your character(s) tackle the obstacles you've placed before them, their attitudes and philosophies begin to SHIFT, DEVELOP, and CHANGE into new attitudes and philosophies. Going to the extreme OPPOSITE of the beginning attitudes and philosophies makes us feel or sense the transformational character arc of your Protagonist.

Another way to make this a little easier for you is in KNOWING YOUR CHARACTERS. Did I say that already? Fuck yeah, I did! If you know your characters well enough... i.e., their attitudes and philosophies about LIFE, PEOPLE, etc., then it can be easier to plot out an extreme opposite change in attitudes and philosophies ahead of time, add that to your structure so you know WHERE your Protagonist is headed. He or she doesn't necessarily have to follow your road map either... The better you know your characters, the easier it is for them to surprise you on the way.

The following is rather old information and very basic when it comes to MEN and WOMEN but very valuable to know before you begin to create your characters... Everyone knows that men and women

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are different and I'm not talking about being different physiologically... We COMMUNICATE differently from each other and KNOWING the basics of that communication before you even start to create a character will really help you with your Protagonist's ultimate transformational character arc.

Let's get into the BASIC difference between FEMALE and MALE communication ...

• Females like to discuss their problems because generally, doing so, provides them with a little relief about those problems.

• Males on the other hand, don't really like like to discuss their problems. Brooding about problems doesn't SOLVE the problem so we tend not to discuss our problems with others...

• Females generally like to complain. Complaining and sharing those complaints with others is a female's way of showing support and intimacy.

• Again, Males like to solve problems rather than complain about them. Complaining about their problems doesn't solve the problems.

• Females like to discuss their relationship with the person whom they share that relationship with. They feel that discussing the relationship, serves to bring the two of them closer and more intimate i.e., improving the relationship overall.

• Males on the other hand, generally feel that discussing a relationship with the person they share that relationship with is a waste of time unless either or both resolve to make changes that hopefully, will improve said relationship.

• Females tend to speak much faster than Males... • Females tend to apologize a lot more during discussions than Males. • Females tend to disclose more about themselves than Males. • Females tend to be more indirect during discussions... • Males tend to get to the point rather quickly. • Females tend to enjoy discussions about emotion. • Males tend to feel weak and or powerless when discussing emotions... • Females tend to ask a lot of questions to show the person they're speaking to that they are in

fact interested in both subject and the person. • Males tend to ask a lot of questions to obtain more information about the subject and person

they're talking to... • Females tend to provide lots of background information and even minute details because they

really want to be understood... • Males on the other hand, simply want to make their point.Just knowing these basic facts about

communication between Males and Females will serve to make your own characters more believable to us... Please note that I didn't make these up and I certainly know (personally) both males and females that DO NOT fall into these communication character traits but then again, overall, I'd have to say that generally speaking, I do agree with the above. In fact, keeping the above in mind while you're writing couldn't hurt but that doesn't mean it's okay to create cliché characters... LOL. Just use the above as a general guideline to keep you on the path of believability.In Part 2, we'll get into Personality Types. Research says that a person's personality develops at a very early age and continues to stay fairly consistent throughout the rest of their life.

Good to know.

Unk

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The Transformational Character Arc... Part 2

Let’s start out by making a list of the twenty-three (23) personality types… No, you don’t have to agree with any of this and I really don’t give a shit if you do or not so PLEASE don’t email me about semantics… I’m too fuckin’ busy. Sorry… I’ve been up almost 3 days STRAIGHT and I can’t work on my rewrite because I’m too fucking wired from all the coffee. I can’t sleep because I’m too fucking wired from all the coffee.

So what’s an Unknown Screenwriter to do? Post to his fucking blog I guess… LOL.

I still can’t believe so MANY people come here to read this stuff… Who’da thunkit?

Since the SCRIPT mag article came out this month, traffic has been kinda crazy and it was already crazy before… By the way… The article also mentions Andy Coughlan’s blog, Dave over at Man Bytes Hollywood, and Craig over at The Artful Writer.

If you’re not reading them, I only got one question for you… Why not?

The 23 Personality Types1. The Adventurer 2. The Boss 3. The Conformist 4. The Conventional 5. The Creator 6. The Dependent 7. The Eccentric 8. The Extrovert 9. The Fall Guy (or Girl) 10.The Fearful 11.The Flamboyant 12.The Hyper 13.The Loner 14.The Man’s Man 15.The Manipulator 16.The Passive-Aggressive 17.The Perfectionist 18.The Personable 19.The Problem Solver 20.The Show-Off 21.The Resilient 22.The Ultra-Feminine 23.The Victim

I know I know… You thought there were only 9 personality types… Or is it 16 personality types? LOL. Again, don’t email me about semantics… Whether you prescribe to the 9, 16, or to the above 23… The exercise serves a purpose when it comes to creating and writing your characters ON THE PAGE and it really doesn’t fucking matter whether you believe in it or not. I had quite a few academic TYPES (hey, that’s not on the list! WTF???) email me about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and tell me HOW FULL OF SHIT I AM.

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I read and I read and I read these emails that KEEP FUCKING TRICKLING in and tell me Maslow is outdated. Guess what?

I DON’T GIVE A SHIT.

I apply it to screenwriting and characters ON THE PAGE and it works for ME. Are we CLEAR? LOL. So please let’s not get into another slurry of emails about the above list… Make YOUR OWN FUCKING LIST if that makes you happy! Go get a Ph.D. in the shit…

Whatever.

Okay… Sorry, I’m wired. Of course we’re talking adult character types here… How can knowing about these 23 different personality types help you with your characters?

Glad you asked. Oh you didn’t? Too bad… Vote with your mouse.

Knowing the personality type of your characters will go a long way toward knowing how they react to the obstacles you throw at them throughout the story. That doesn’t mean it’s time to make a cliched character and then like a puppeteer, make him do what we all expect him to do.

Uh… No.

Knowing this information simply helps make your characters more believable to your audience. Knowing what traits these personality types possess will certainly help you figure out how they will react, develop, grow, and change by the end of your story.

Have you ever seen a character in a movie do something SO OUT OF CHARACTER that you’re just pissed off for the rest of the film? Sure you have. We all have. Don’t get me wrong… It’s perfectly OKAY (hear me, Josh?) to have your characters do something out of the ordinary… That’s what good films are all about but you have to balance that line carefully because it is EXACTLY that fucking line that you can lose your audience.

Many if not all of the above personality types share lots of traits so it’s really not that difficult to get it right and it’s really not that difficult to GET IT WRONG. LOL. You just have to be careful… Many times I have come to a point in my screenplay where I just have to make my character do SOMETHING so different and out of character that I end up taking a step back and CONSIDER whether or not I really knew his or her personality type from the get-go.

That’s right… It can change.

As your characters come alive to you… As they react, develop, grow, and change right on the page in front of you, you SOMETIMES have to wonder if you got it right UP FRONT. It’s okay if you didn’t because let’s face it… Do we really know people? Do we know what THEY want us to know or do we really know them?

As your character(s) develop within YOU, you might very well find out that they are NOT who you thought they were — so knowing what personality type they are can be a big help even if that personality type changes at some point in your story.

Are we clear? Cool… Or as my Actor niece always types… KEWEL.

So yeah… YOU GUESSED IT. Now we must DELVE into these personality types and all the traits they share with each other… Don’t worry… I don’t have the STRENGTH to post any of that information right now… For now, just absorb the fact that we’re trying to make realistic or as I prefer to say, HYPER-REALISTIC CHARACTERS in our stories…

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Before I make yet ANOTHER pot of coffee, yes I am working on SCREENWRITING RULES and yes, it will be available for download right here and then you can make it available for download at your site… If you have no way of uploading a file to your blog or site — NO PROBLEM… Just link to the file once it’s sitting on my server and people will still think they’re downloading it from your site. Together we can probably get THOUSANDS of these files circulating all over the net and since there will be hyperlinks inside the document leading to all the contributor’s sites, this means that there’s a lot of future traffic that’s gonna happen. It’s not too late to contribute!

Trust me. I know what I’m doing.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc Part 3... Personality Types

The Adventurer is a GO-GETTER! Full of energy with a dominant personality who always wants to LEAD and always expects to LEAD. The Adventurer always lives on the edge and is always willing to take risks. He or she pushes everything to the edge. The Adventurer certainly doesn’t mind attention or being in the spotlight. Lots of confidence but sometimes the arrogance of confidence results in piss poor judgement. The Adventurer is fiercely independent and impulsive. Courageous and rebellious. Can be ruthless if events dictate. Rules never get in the way. You’ve heard of people who act NOW and ask forgiveness later? The Adventurer doesn’t ask for forgiveness and rarely feels guilty. You’d expect to see the Adventurer working in a job that carries a lot of excitement with it… Everything from being a cop to pulling confidence scams.

My kind of character… LOL.

The Boss always wants to be the leader. Very aggressive and used to getting their way… Forceful and willing to humiliate others if need be. The people that work under the Boss are simply tools for getting the job done and easily thrown away if they don’t work anymore. The Boss goes out of their way to avoid socializing with the troops and extends that attitude so that others have a hard time getting to know them as well. The Boss loves being the center of attention no matter where they are and often takes their BOSS attitude home with them and releases it on their family and friends. Confident and stubborn, the Boss has his or her own way and will tell you flat out. They often take advantage of other’s weaknesses to get them to do their bidding. You’d expect to see the Boss working in a job

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where he or she can have quite a few others working under them. They love the military, medical fields, corporations… Anywhere they can act like the King or Queen they really want to be.

The Conformist doesn’t love the rules as much as he or she simply loves to FOLLOW the rules… LOL. The Conformist is normally conservative in their thinking, attitude, and morals. They miss the GOOD OLD DAYS that they were NEVER a part of. They don’t like a lot of change to occur around them and often go out of their way NOT to make a fucking decision. They even have a hard time deciding where to eat but once they do decide, they have an even harder time deciding what to order. The Conformist is devoutly loyal so that’s pretty cool. They don’t deal too well with problems that pop up and often try to fly under the radar when there are problems. You can pretty much count on the Conformist within the workplace as they are dependable and always give you a consistent day’s work, whatever that may be. In other words, they are predictable and you always know what to expect of them. Don’t try to show them new ways of doing the things they’ve been doing for so long because their way is the best way FOR THEM. You’d expect to see the Conformist working in a job like a factory, government technician, teacher… Anything where they can simply punch the clock — do their same old eight hours — and go home.

The Conventional personality type is a close brother or sister to the Conformist… The Conventional lives and dies by the rules and really hates change. While not quite as compliant as the Conformist, you’d be hard pressed to tell the two apart. You’d find the Conventional personality type wearing the full Levi’s Dockers outfit every day… Even when they go out since it’s always easier to let someone else color coordinate their wardrobe… For God’s sakes, don’t ask the Conventional to make a decision on anything or you might perpetrate a heart attack on them. The Conformist doesn’t possess a lot of initiative… Not very creative… Again, they are loyal and make good worker bees and don’t enjoy a rocking boat. They prefer to have the Queen Bee tell them what to do or have their entire YEAR laid out in front of them. It’s almost as if they go into a trance at work… i.e., they get to the job — DO THE JOB — the work gets done — you barely even know they exist. The Conventional busts his or her ass for their family and they often have at least one or two close friends back at the job. God forbid a grown child of the Conventional surprise him or her of some dream they want to pursue… HEART ATTACK! Same kind of career fields as the Conformist.

That’s it for today… Think about the above personality types… Chances are that you know THESE types right now. Again, this information isn’t really anything new but it’s sometimes nice to revisit especially BEFORE creating new characters… It’s also good to keep in mind if you’re using one of these personality types in your story… Just knowing the overall type, his or her attitudes and behavior

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will help you create a more believable character and will especially help out with the ultimate character arc they make…

Knowing the personality type of your characters and then giving them the traits of that personality type will go a long way toward building a believable character for us as well as building that character arc at the end. You might take one or more of the personality type’s flaws and resolve them thus, creating an arc. You might take some of the traits of a personality type and STRENGTHEN or WEAKEN these traits thus, resulting in a kind of change…

Knowing these personality types can also help keep your characters from sounding the same or doing the same things as other characters in your story… A big no-no when writing a screenplay and OFTEN one of the most consistent problems that plague specs from “the field.”

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc... Part 4 Personality Types

The Creator has imagination and is enthusiastic. No problems working alone but can sometimes be both forgetful and impractical yet always manages to see the BIG PICTURE.

It is very likely that the majority of writers call into the The Creator personality type… Creators see the world in uniquely different ways than others and can often be oblivious to others when they are IN THE ZONE.

Generally speaking, The Creator gets along well with others but can be insensitive them as well. They hate conformity and often work toward being unconventional. The Creator is one hell of a brainstormer. Again, you’ll probably meet The Creator in career fields like art, writing, composing, and research. They prefer to work alone most of the time.

The Dependent is one of those NEEDY people… Needy TO THE EXTREME. They are often shy and lack self-confidence. The Dependent normally has issues with anger and is super-aggressive but at the same time, one hell of a procrastinator and requires continuous support. They lack initiative but are willing to take on projects nobody else wants just to get a little attention… However, they rarely finish anything because they fear it simply won’t be good enough.

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They consume themselves with the fear of being abandoned as well as being disappointed. They constantly manipulate people and situations so as to receive any kind of care from them… i.e., physical, emotional, financial, etc. They are in fact so reliant on others that they rarely gain any kind of real independence.

The Dependent is easily embarrassed and humiliated as well as always seeking guidance and advice from others… They need constant reassurance that they are valuable, beautiful, and effective yet they absolutely fear any kind of evaluation in the work place. They love to fly under the radar and are never around when you need them i.e., they wait for others to take action.

The Dependent fears losing any kind of approval at home, work, and social environments… A very clingy person, The Dependent is prone to making lots of sacrifices in order to LOOK GOOD. They are very quick to attach themselves to what they would consider a significant other i.e., a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife yet because of their character traits, these relationships rarely last even though The Dependent always gives in to the significant other.

You’d expect to find The Dependent working in career fields where having any kind of initiative is not a requirement. Any kind of a clerk position… Repetitive white collar work over manual labor. They often seek employment where they are consistently told what to do.

Often thought of as THE WEIRDO, The Eccentric really is different from everyone else. Very self-absorbed and absent-minded. Forget giving The Eccentric a THINGS TO DO LIST… He or she will just get pissed off at you for burdening them. They often like to work alone and when they do work with others, they often frustrate the hell out of them.

They are extremely inept when it comes to interpreting other people’s behavior and often take those interpretations very personal. The Eccentric often talks to themselves both internally and externally… Most Eccentrics possess some unique skill or talent that totally absorbs their life in detriment to those around them. They quite often demonstrate what would be classified as strange behavior to the average person… Expect The Eccentric to be totally out of touch with current trends, news, media, etc.

A lot of Eccentrics come off as rude but in reality, they would never actually know or realize that they’ve been rude to you as their behavior is never meant to insult or abuse.

You’ll find The Eccentric working in mostly solitary environments… Artists, researchers, writers… Probably a screenwriter or two in there… LOL.

Kay… Time for a NAP.

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 5 Personality Types

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Believe it or not, The Extrovert is probably the most NORMAL of the entire slew of personality types. The Extrovert is normally a very likable (or is it likeable?) person who gets along extremely well with others.

The Extrovert is very adept at working the crowd and working the room. They tend to do very well when involved in kinetic, vigorous, and energetic activities.

The Extrovert is that girl or guy that’s extremely talkative. They do not intimidate easily because they have convictions that they truly believe in. These are very expressive individuals with optimistic outlooks on life.

Outgoing and enthusiastic, The Extrovert is often very popular… They are almost always involved in one or more groups in which they are immensely active. Please try not to be or get too depressed around The Extrovert because they just plain don’t get it and they certainly do not want to share in your depression.

In fact, The Extrovert goes out of their way to put themselves in situations where depression is not an option; often seeking refuge within small to large groups of people along with just about any kind of social situation where they can flap their wings. While The Extrovert is often friendly, a lot of that friendliness is probably superficial because they lack intimacy skills.

You know The Extrovert… You see them everywhere they can be in front of a large group of people and they tend to migrate toward those types of careers i.e., teachers, clergy, motivational speakers, and the like.

Geez… The poor Fall Girl or Fall Guy… We’ve all been there i.e., in the wrong place at the wrong time and usually with the wrong fuckin’ people. The Fall Guy or Fall Girl is very trustful of people. You know… The kind of person that you can tell ANYTHING to and they’ll believe it. The Fall Girl and The Fall Guy were born yesterday… They're naive, patsies, and suckers. Remember the kid in grammar school who everyone always played the joke on?

You get the picture.

Normally an underachiever, The Fall Guy or Fall Girl has a very narrow sphere of interests. They tend to be followers and possess extreme lack of judgment. Most of the time, The Fall Girl or Fall Guy doesn’t even realize when they’ve been HAD i.e., somebody, usually a trusted friend who doesn’t take advantage of them has to sit them down and explain it to them.

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Why?

Because The Fall Guy and Fall Girl possess absolutely zero analytical skills. A huge problem for Fall Guys and Fall Girls are the unscrupulous personality types that receive their signals.

When a Fall Guy or Girl does actually bolster up some ambition, it’s often misdirected and can get them into trouble. Think GET-RICH schemes… To good to be true opportunities… The kinds of people telephone marketers go dialing for dollars for.

The good news?

The Fall Guy or Fall Girl can pretty much find themselves in any kind of career…

The bad news?

You already know.

By the same token, all of us probably know a personality type that falls under The Fearful. Afraid of just about ANYTHING; change, relationships, situations, rejection, etc. Their fear is at the utmost center of their thinking although having said that, they don’t realize that they are in fact afraid.

The Fearful always assumes the worst… Often withdrawn from society, they hate to even think about taking risks or chances because they always assume failure. I guess you could say that The Fearful is almost the opposite of The Extrovert above; so putting these two personality types will very likely result in an interesting story.

The Fearful goes out of their way to avoid any kind of activity that MIGHT put them in a position of discomfort. They usually consider themselves unattractive yet they are concerned with their appearance.

Very rarely will The Fearful involve themselves with any kind of group or organization yet they are extremely sensitive to others. That sensitivity almost never transitions into any kind of intimacy because of The Fearful's fear of rejection even though on the inside, they truly long for said intimacy.

A generally unhappy person, The Fearful once again fails to realize that they are unhappy and simply chooses to have the opinion that EVERYTHING SUCKS. The Fearful embarrasses easily so of course, if there’s even a smidge of a chance of that happening, they will totally avoid that situation.

You’ll find The Fearful working in career fields where taking initiative is not a requirement. A simple THINGS TO DO list is preferable over any type of job where a decision might have to be made. They prefer to take orders rather than give them. The Fearful makes a great housekeeper or personal assistant.

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At first glance, you MIGHT think The Flamboyant is closely related to The Extrovert… Nope. The Flamboyant personality type does share the superficial friendliness character trait but that’s about as far as it goes…

Often very dramatic as though their life depends on every utterance, The Flamboyant is naive yet devious at the same time. Their flamboyance is often used to cloak their poor self-esteem and depression.

The Flamboyant individual is easily angered and emotionally temperamental — often teetering on irrational explosion. They don’t see themselves in a healthy light and often consider themselves to be abominations, evil, and just plain foul in every way.

The Flamboyant is more apt to see others as sexual playthings and when they’re done playing — they’re DONE. Very manipulative and always that touch of drama to every story or event. The Flamboyant personality type often becomes the extramarital affair as they are very promiscuous. On the other hand, they’re extremely jealous when involved in relationships.

They don’t perform well under stress; the more stressful the situation, the more physiological ailments surface as these help serve The Flamboyant to gain lots of attention. To say The Flamboyant is VAIN is an understatement… Flamboyants are the kind of person that tries to make you think they’re going to commit suicide but their attempts are just that… Attempts at getting your attention and focusing only on them.

While their emotional state is in fact INTENSE, they are usually dysfunctional people that can barely pursue regular careers. You'll probably find them becoming actors, artists, or designers of some kind.

Sorry but it's true.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 6 Personality Types

Lots of activity going on with The Hyper but almost NO PROGRESS. I know of a lot of these types. Talk about OVERKILL… The Hypers of the world are always over-thinking and beating those dead horses into the ground.

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A very self-centered individual, The Hyper is a careless, unstable thrill-seeker prone to bouts of explosive anger and excitement. They’re outgoing but moody. Energetic but unfocused (or is it unfocussed?).

Don’t try to get too intimate with The Hyper… They simply do not have the DNA to deal with your emotions. You’ll find The Hyper working in a job where things change on a daily basis. They normally like working in the outdoors in manual labor positions rather than inside using their head.

The Loner has absolutely no problem being engulfed in solitude… In fact, they prefer it... In fact, The Loner enjoys and prefers interests that allow him or her to be alone most of the time. They rarely look to other people for any kind of comfort so watch out if you’re trying to get close to The Loner.

The Loner definitely is NOT into social activities and rarely will you find them to be a JOINER of such. You’ll find The Loner disinterested in the approval of others. They simply don’t need or require it. The Loner doesn’t reveal himself or herself too easily with others because he or she simply lacks the interpersonal skills to do so. It just ain’t a big deal to them.

You won’t find The Loner hangin’ out with his or her friends… They rarely possess the actual skill to get too close to others but they often share at least one close relationship with a sibling.

The Loner is a reserved individual… Doesn’t outwardly express a lot of emotion and rarely gets angry… Rather, they just don’t give a shit. The Loner never really sweats the small stuff and always has the big picture in mind.

While The Loner may appear not to be an ambitious person on the surface, they often excel in generic activities i.e., sports, athletics, etc. and do quite well academically… You’ll just never know it unless you pay close attention because again, they don't make a big deal out of it. They know they're good and that's pretty much the only acceptance they do need or require.

The Loner tends not to be satisfied as a member of a family and might appear to be self-absorbed and lacking in interest of family members but that’s not necessarily true because in reality, they are pretty damn harsh on themselves. This harshness helps The Loner excel.

Don’t be surprised if you don’t find your Loner brother or sister showing up to family events either… These events just aren’t as significant to them as they are to the rest of the family.

People don’t easily walk up to The Loner… Those around him or her can sense their requirement of solitude so they simply leave The Loner alone and that’s okay… The Loner likes it.

You’ll find The Loner working in a job that guess what? He or she is able to work ALONE.

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The Man’s Man is exactly what the label entails… He’s extremely masculine to the point of overkill. In fact, their masculinity is damn near compulsive! A very demanding and hard individual, The Man’s Man is aggressive, ambitious, and adventurous. He has to win… No, HE MUST WIN NO MATTER WHAT! Just like a vampire winces at the cross, The Man’s Man winces at any kind of weakness.

Need a one-dimensional character for your screenplay? Consider using The Man’s Man. He’s the epitome of one-dimensionalism. The Man’s Man is so one-dimensional, that he’s inflexible when it comes to just about everything; ESPECIALLY masculinity. He lacks originality and steers more toward his own ideas of traditional male interests and pursuits.

Don’t expect to be able to work anything out with The Man’s Man because he only knows one kind of response… AGGRESSION. Because the Man’s Man is the epitome of masculinity or at least his idea of what masculinity is, he often seeks out the Ultra-Feminine female. Why? Because together, he looks even more like a Man’s Man! The only problem here is that just about every relationship The Man’s Man gets into with a woman becomes unstable unless she completely acquiesces to his every whim… And that’s what he’s really after anyway.

The Man’s Man can be found working in just about any career field as long as that career field gives them enough time off to pursue their Man’s Man activities.

Know anyone that always wants to dominate everyone and everything? That’s The Manipulator. You might not actually know this person to be a manipulator though… Why? Because he or she is extremely good at manipulating others i.e., it’s in their DNA (okay, not really but they manipulate so well that you’d almost think it was hereditary). The Manipulator is so charismatic at manipulating, you may never realize that they are in fact, manipulating YOU.

The Manipulator never reveals their true personality to you — that’s part of the manipulation. They strive to look good under any circumstances because this reinforces their charisma. To say that The Manipulator is cunning is an understatement… They are MASTERS at what they do. We could learn a lot from simply watching them work.

The Manipulator is so terrified of failure that they go to extremes not to take any kind of responsibility for their actions and can easily thwart blame on others and you’ll fucking believe it.

While The Manipulator will succeed at gaining small things out of you and others; that’s not actually their goal. Rather, they just want to be on top… In control. Total domination. Their antennae is always receiving the vulnerability signal of others and once they receive it, BAM! You’re caught in the web

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and you’ll never know what hit you until it’s all over.

The Manipulator is unbelievably skilled at getting others to doubt themselves even when circumstances surrounding that individual are obvious. The Manipulator isn’t afraid to resort to physical abuse to gain domination if all else fails; so watch out!

You’ll find The Manipulator working as an attorney, academia, sales, or just about any career field where negotiation takes place.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 7 Personality Types

Geez… Am I ever gonna finish this shit up? LOL. I’m tryin’… I’m tryin’… At least I finally got my taxes done. First time I’ve ever finished BEFORE the deadline so I definitely owe myself a beer. POP! Ahhh…

How many Passive-Aggressive people do you know? Probably quite a few. The Passive-Aggressive personality type is definitely high on the list of psycho-babble bullshit personality types because apparently… There’s a hell of a lot US that fall into this personality type.

The Passive-Aggressive is actually a pretty hard worker… Always striving to do well but at the same time, feels absolutely misunderstood i.e., he or she really wants someone to NOTICE! Yeah, they got quite the fuckin’ temper… Probably display jealous behavior more often than not and yeah, you guessed it… They fuckin’ resent just about EVERYBODY. Especially those they feel that earn awards when it was THEM who should have been awarded. The unfortunate part about The Passive-Aggressive is that in reality, what he or she’s feeling (reward-wise) is probably justified… LOL.

The sad part is that The Passive-Aggressive personality type is that she or he will most likely never truly understand how they need to change to start accumulating those rewards… They simply just keep working their asses off and of course management likes it that way!

They do try to hide their resentment but this often leads to an eruption of anger because they simply cannot keep their PASSIVE side consistent hence, passive-aggressive behavior. The longer they try to hide the resentment and anger, the harder it becomes to keep it all bottled in there so it’s like a friggin’ fuse burning closer and closer to the dynamite!

In their brilliant effort to keep their true feelings all bottled up, The Passive-Aggressive actually swings back and forth — back and forth between being passive and aggressive so there’s not a lot of leeway there. The switch just keeps on FLIPPIN’…

If you’re in a relationship with The Passive-Aggressive, you probably don’t have to worry about being on the receiving end of any physical abuse but of course in this day and age, it’s politically correct that abuse come in all shapes and sizes so you could find yourself on the receiving end of one of these

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shapes and sizes.

The Passive-Aggressive personality type is really outstanding at implementing new changes… Just not for very long. LOL. They are very good at pissing off those around them and when they are in relationships of just about any kind, they’re pretty fucking intense… So intense that the intensity just might push the other person away.

The Passive-Aggressive will downright fucking surprise the shit out of you when they take a particular stand that you never in a million years thought they would take… Let THIS be a sign of more to come.

And yeah, because there are so many Passive-Aggressive personality types walking the earth, you’ll pretty much find them everywhere… Doing just about anything.

Yow! Know anyone that’s hard on themselves? No… REALLY HARD ON THEMSELVES? Even though their OUTPUT is already at a high level? Maybe it’s YOU! Maybe you’re a Perfectionist. The Perfectionist is ultra-demanding and sets their own and everyone else’s standards enormously high. They avoid failure by being absolutely DRIVEN to success.

The Perfectionist possesses a lot of self-doubt and hell… Hit the Perfectionist with some criticism and you might as well have sucker-punched him or her up the side of the head. In fact, The Perfectionist will steer as far away as they can from any situation where potential failure could occur. This is often the exact way you can pick out The Perfectionist… LOL.

They’re so perfect because they plan it that way.

On the other hand, they have absolutely no problems pointing out YOUR faults… Your problems… Your imperfection. And by doing this, they feel that the contrast of YOUR imperfections makes them look even MORE PERFECT.

Don’t expect The Perfectionist to come to you or go to anyone for help… In extreme times, they will go out of their way to find help IF THEY NEED IT but only if they can’t figure the shit out for themselves… But YOU’LL never know they went to anyone for help. They’ll make sure of that by going so far outside the loop that once again, they come out on top… PERFECT.

A very hard worker, The Perfectionist personality type is so afraid of being found NOT to be perfect that they will often lie to make themselves keep on being PERFECT. They’re not so in love with THE WORK that the work itself has to be perfect… Nope. It’s more important to LOOK PERFECT… To be considered PERFECT.

They want to be synonymous with PERFECTION.

The Perfectionist will often start projects off and then hand them off to more imperfect personality types… Watch out for this. It’s a ploy to guess what?

Make them look PERFECT.

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You’ll find The Perfectionist working in just about any job or career field… Just like Mr. and Mrs. or Miss Passive-Aggressive.

Know anyone with a lot of friends? Know someone that works hard, doesn’t take risks, but by God, you can always COUNT on them? That’s The Personable. They strive to see the good in people and that of course allows them to get along well with just about anyone. They love social situations and will often join groups just so they can interact with people.

They are that girl or guy others call a “people-person.”

Unfortunately, a side-effect of The Personable getting along so well with others is that you’ll often find them visiting when they should be working but shit… The Personable is so cool that you just can’t be that hard on him or her until the visiting gets out of hand… By that time, The Personable has probably had a few more chances than his or her coworkers to get their shit together.

People LIKE talking to The Personable because they are wise… Unfortunately, they often make snappy decisions so watch out for the advice… LOL. You’ll probably find yourself telling your problems to The Personable because it feels so good. They seem to know exactly what you’re going through and best of all, THEY WANT TO HELP! Unfortunately, sometimes… They’re really just looking for some kind of approval from YOU so it can get confusing. Again, just watch the advice. It might just be WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR. LOL. In fact, totally expect The Personable to sellout their own beliefs just so they can get your approval.

The Personable will even go out of their way to get your attention and approval… If they have to, they will manifest physical problems just to get near you so once again… Watch out.

You’ll find The Personable gravitating toward any job or career field where they can be near people… Sales, counselors, human resources…

Scary, ain’t it?

The Problem Solver is that GO-TO guy or girl that everyone relies on to get the job done. Why? The Problem Solver is very resourceful… The MacGyver of the personality types if you will.

Super reliable… Wise. Maybe lacking in some imagination because they are realists, The Problem Solver is always on an even keel, EMOTIONALLY. It's very hard to knock them off that even keel and they always make the best of even the worst of situations. Kinda like dropping a cat upside down... They always land on their feet. Even others around them in panic situations won’t knock The Problem

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Solver off balance.

The Problem Solver is very good at explaining their side of things… Sometimes even to the point of boring the hell out of you. LOL. But you want The Problem Solver to have your back… That’s what they’re good at. The Problem Solver is the guy or gal who, after the plane crashes, leads everyone out of the wreckage.

Goal oriented, you always wonder where they get their motivation from because they’ve got it coming out of their ears. Very good at starting projects and seeing them all the way through to the end.

Totally self-sufficient… Almost to a fault. At least that’s what others close to them might be thinking… LOL. The Problem Solver is also good at being a ONE MAN (or WOMAN) SHOW.

Any job or career field where lots of problem solving exists will be home sweet home to The Problem Solver… Just ask them.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 8 Personality Types

Yow! You gotta love The Resilient… The Resilient is like the old Timex commercials… “They take a licking and keep on ticking.” FOR REAL. These personality types are those people you know that look like they take a happy pill every morning… The Resilient is a very productive person and able to REALLY solve problems like The Problem Solver but without the emotional fallout if they fail.

The Resilient has a damn good sense of humor… It’s this humor that helps them KEEP ON TICKING. They are very interested in others and in fact really love hearing about you talk about yourself. When The Resilient does feel stressed out, look for them at the gym, the football field, or running i.e., they love to thwart the stress with physical activity.

People are drawn to The Resilient and because of their RESILIENCE, expect them to have a fairly large support network. Everybody just LOVES The Resilient! A goal oriented personality type, The Resilient is ethical and moral… At least they sure as hell try to be. They never try to shirk their responsibility onto someone else if they fuck up.

Having said that, they do have a hard time depending on anyone… It just ain’t in their DNA.

You’ll find The Resilient in just about every walk of life…

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Geez… We all know at least one of these personality types, don’t we? You know… The kind of person that always requires an audience? The kind of person that you feel TRAPPED by? The kind of person you keep fucking walking away from but they just keep on following you and telling you how fucking great they are? LOL.

Quite the immature personality type, The Show-Off could really give a shit about your problems even when they put on their little “I REALLY CARE” act… LOL. You can sit there and tell them how your significant other just cheated on you, stole all the money from the bank account, changed the locks on the house, and cancelled all the credit cards and you know what The Show-Off’s gonna do?

He or she is going to look at you with glazed over eyes and as soon as you finish talking (or quite likely before), they are going to tell you their own story for the day. They are exceptionally expressive people but that expressiveness can easily turn into aggression. Don’t take The Show-Off to your favorite restaurant unless you’re looking to get embarrassed… LOL. Their expressiveness will make YOUR TABLE the LOUDEST table in the restaurant. All eyes will be upon you! The Show-Off will then attempt to shock their audience with even more shocking expression!

Don’t even bother asking The Show-Off for any kind of real help… They might show up alright but you’ll still end up doing all the work… You and all the rest of your helpers that is… But don’t be surprised if your friend The Show-Off, tries to captivate the rest of your crew with his or her current state of affairs.

Sure, The Show-Off can be fun… But the fun simply doesn’t last very long and before you know it, you’ll be wishing the fun was over. LOL. Being a Show-Off does have it’s rewards because The Show-Off is too stupid to realize that their friends, family, and associates are sick and fucking tired of being around them… Hence, they’re always around because why?

They need to SHOW OFF!

Even though The Show-Off is an outgoing and an effective speaker, it’s the one on one that can be most annoying. They simply want to monopolize your time so YOU can LISTEN to them and of course, ADMIRE THEM. LOL. Don’t EVEN bother asking The Show-Off if you can borrow anything from them… They’ll just make up yet another fucking story that explains why you can’t borrow whatever it is that you want to borrow so that by the end of their story, the focus is BACK ON THEM!

Don’t you just love it? And you know one of them too… Don’t you? LOL.

Here’s a shocker…

You’ll find The Show-Offs in the acting profession — both film and theater. Since they love to have an audience, look for them in roles where they can be in front of an audience…

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Remember The Man’s Man? The Ultra-Feminine is pretty much the same kind of personality type on the Women’s side of things yet The Ultra-Feminine doesn’t always have to be a woman. If they are women however, they tend to be as extreme a stereotypical woman as possible. Think THE STEPFORD WIVES and you’ve pretty much nailed this personality type for all it’s worth.

The Man’s Man and The Ultra-Feminine often end up together… Why? Because they make each other look even MORE like the personality types that they are!

Again, The Ultra-Feminine is a very stereotypical personality type… Helpless. Dependent. Submissive. Modest. Coy. Nurturing. Passive. Naive. Innocent. You name the stereotypical traits — The Ultra-Feminine possesses them.

The good news is that since most women that fall into this personality type end up with The Man’s Man personality type; it’s a WIN-WIN situation! The Ultra-Feminine personality type loves to clean house, take care of errands, rub The Man’s Man’s feet, and pretty much accept just about ANY task The Man’s Man personality type requires… If The Man’s Man were to say, “Get me a beer!” —The Ultra-Feminine would of course, JUMP to it but in reality, The Man’s Man would never have to make such a statement because The Ultra-Feminine knows what The Man’s Man wants and is always several steps ahead when it comes to attending to their needs.

The bad news is that The Ultra-Feminine tends to doubt themselves i.e, their self-worth, potential, adequacy, and capabilities which is exactly why they tend to fulfill the “barefoot and pregnant” stereotype. Most people see The Ultra-Feminine as an insubstantial person so really, nobody ever goes to The Ultra-Feminine for help… Not REAL help anyway.

At the same time however, they can be quite seductive when they want to be… Flirtation is definitely in their DNA as well as their ability to feed the ego of others.

You’ll often find The Ultra-Feminine in positions where they can nurture and come to the aid of others… Medical and dental assistants. Grammar school teachers… Childcare… And what else?

Domesticated servant. LOL. I laugh but in reality, it’s kinda sad.

The Victim-Type is just one huge ball of confusion. Mistrust. Depression. Anger. Pessimistic. Weak. Demanding. Dependent. Just about every time you see or hear from The Victim-Type, you’ll be hearing mostly COMPLAINTS. They complain about EVERYTHING yet they never see fit to make any kind of internal or external change within their sphere of influence… Why?

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Because they like being The Victim-Type. They WANT to be viewed as the “the person NOBODY can ever help.” Which can be quite frustrating to their family, friends, and associates who do want to help them.

You can’t.

They like being the VICTIM. They thrive on it because by doing so, they become the center of attention. The center of attention that nobody can do anything about.

They want your pity.

Why?

So they can manipulate you with it. Make you feel guilty about THEIR situation. If The Victim-Type YOU know is really good, they can manipulate you into giving them money, goods, etc. without ever even asking you. You’ll just feel so fucking sorry for them AND their current (which never ends) situation, that you’ll just OFFER whatever they are manipulating you for.

And… If you do offer and give them that in which you’ve just been manipulated to give, don’t ever expect to get it back… LOL. You offered. An offer isn’t BORROWING. LOL. They might even slip and mention that they COULD pay you back if such and such happens but come on… Such and such ain’t ever gonna fucking happen so FUGHEDABOUDIT.

It’s gone. Live with it. Chalk it up to screenwriting research. LOL. Shit… Maybe you can even get a deduction at tax time!

The Victim-Type always feels as though EVERYONE is mistreating them. They feel that the world owes them a living and often, you’ll see The Victim-Type attempting to bring law suits to those they think can afford to give them that living they think they’re owed. Watch out… It could even be YOU that they decide to SUE!

Expect your Victim-Type family member, friend, or associate to be in an abusive relationship. They think they deserve it PLUS, it actually gives them more material to keep on manipulating you with. They need and require lots of affection although they rarely ever get it. They also demand LOYALTY and if they think you’ve not been loyal to them, don’t be surprised if they drop your ass like a HOT POTATO!

The Victim-Type tends to take on all kinds of favors and YOU think that’s awfully fucking cool of them, don’t you? When, in reality, they are throwing your ass under the bus to everyone else they know because you’ve burdened them with your favor. LOL.

On top of all that mess, they want to feel safe but they’re not able to make themselves feel safe on their own because of their inner turmoil of self-blame. But even though they obsess with self-blame, they still want us to admire them because of how strong they are to be able to continue to DEAL with their situation.

Didn’t I say a huge ball of confusion?

They will alway try to make YOU and everyone around them feel guilty… You didn’t help them enough… The world hasn’t helped them enough… You get the picture. And, even though their current situations totally sucks, they would rather bathe in it than have their significant other, family, friends, and associates abandon them… They cannot live alone. Besides, all that abuse they take, somehow converts itself into a feeling of love and affection and of course The Victim-Type wants all the love and affection they can get. Even if they somehow convert abuse into love and affection.

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Remember… No matter what you do, you simply cannot help this person.

You’ll find them everywhere working just about any kind of job. You won’t know right way that they are The Victim-Type. They’ll get you to think you know them and like them before they spring their real world on you.

Whew… I’m glad that was the last one. Just writing it makes me queasy because I happen to know several of these personality types.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 9

Aha! You probably thought I was all done with The Transformational Character Arc huh? Well, we’re definitely getting there and no, I haven’t pre-written any of this stuff… I keep having to refer to my notes of which I have literally THOUSANDS of.

So we went through all the personality types… I received a lot of email about them… Again, some from academics in the field no less! I keep finding out that I cannot just fucking write this stuff without causing some kind of minor controversy it seems. LOL.

I’m almost positive I’ve said this before but let me say it aFUCKINGgain… I’m certainly not telling anyone to subscribe to the personality types I’ve listed here… THEY ALL WORK for the purposes of screenwriting so for those of you who subscribe to some other personality type list, OUTSTANDING!

What are you doing with it?

The reason I went ahead and kept on with all those types wasn’t simply to add content to this site… I did have several reasons but I am hoping that you can come up with some of your own reasons as well… In fact, if you can add to my reasons, please feel free to add them in the comments section to share with others.

My overall reason for listing all the personality types was to simply give you a starting point for designing and creating a character. There are NO RULES that say your character(s) MUST fall into any particular one of these personality types but at least if you know the traits of a particular personality type, you’ll have a strong foundation to begin the design of your characters.

I would assume most of us create a character seemingly out of thin air… Meaning that there may be no rhyme or reason to how you came up with that character… YOU JUST DID. Cool. I think most of us do that and I happen to think that’s a good thing.

I also happen to be of the opinion that characters are the MOST IMPORTANT PART of your story. Without them, you have nothing but a plot.

A plot without characters… Without REAL CHARACTERS… WITHOUT HYPER-REAL CHARACTERS… Is just a plot and rarely will “just a plot” make a great movie. Audience members simply do not want to jump on the PLOT TRAIN… LOL. No, they bought their tickets to jump on the

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CHARACTER TRAIN.

And you’re the conductor…

Another reason you want to design a HYPER-REAL character or characters for your story is because let’s face facts… Your script not only has to sell a studio or prodco… The characters within your screenplay have to sell the actor(s) that read it. I’ve seen quite a few scripts languish in development hell NOT because of the plot but because of the characters i.e., nobody wanted to play them.

On the other hand, I’ve seen a few scripts that had great fucking characters where A-List actors were sitting on the sidelines waiting for rewrites i.e., the plot wasn’t nearly as good as the characters…

Of course at the very minimum, you want to at least strike a nice balance between character and plot but you can’t go wrong leaning more toward character…

Back to THIN AIR…

So you’ve got this IDEA about a character… You’ve probably even thought about him or her for awhile now… They are starting to take shape. They have form… Purpose. Now what?

Character Bio. Answer the questions. Yeah, it’s hard work. Nobody ever said it wasn’t hard work and just in case you’ve never seen or heard anyone say it, let me take care of that RIGHT NOW:

CHARACTER BIOS ARE HARD WORK!Can you hear me now? Good! You certainly do not have to live and die by the character bio… And, as I’ve said before… You really only have to go so far on the bio so that the character you’re designing starts talking to you. For some, that might be almost immediately… For others, it might take pages of bio along with pages of history. There are no rules and most likely, there is no one way that will work for everyone.

Remember… Your bio doesn’t or SHOULDN’T have to be SET IN STONE.

Rather, as you get to know your character, you can go back to his or her bio and tweak it… This is where the personality types come in. It’s actually nice to know what kind of character type you’re working with… You might not know that right off but as you get to know your character(s), this should start becoming clear to you.

Then, knowing the personality type of your character is going to make the majority of their actions within the context of your plot that much easier.

STOP!Does that mean your character has to be cliché? Does that mean your character has to be predictable?

Do I really have to answer that? LOL. Shit… I better go ahead and answer that at least for the academics in the group…

Not only NO but FUCK NO!However, knowing the character traits of your character and his or her ultimate personality type should help you make that character HYPER-REAL.

Dimensionality is one of the keys to designing a hyper-real character. Characters with dimensionality is hyperreality at its best.

Knowing your character’s overall personality type should help you extend his or her dimensionality… In fact, you can combine character traits within the personality types INTO YOUR CHARACTER(S)

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because some are so closely related…

Just don’t overdo it.

Knowing your character’s character traits and then BUILDING those traits into your character(s) through action, reaction, and dialogue should help you create a multi-dimensional character.

And no… We’re still not done…

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 10

Begin with an individual, and before you know it you have created a type; begin with a type, and you find you have created - nothing. —F. Scott Fitzgerald

I’m posting this quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald simply to clarify that the Personality Types are something you figure out after you’ve been creating your characters…

Come up with your character… Begin by breathing LIFE into that character. Everyone does this differently in fact, some of do it differently for each character… Some start by giving their character a name right off the bat. Others start by placing that character inside your idea for a story. Do whatever works for you but DO IT.

Having said that, I’ve been getting a few emails from readers asking the proverbial question which reminds me of the obvious proverbial question…

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“Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Does it matter? How will knowing the answer to this question impact your life TODAY?

So here’s the question…

“What do I come up with first, character or plot?”

Again, does it matter? Just come up with one and then the other. There, question answered. LOL.

To be fair, these questions came from people attempting to write screenplays but seem to be CONFUSED by all this talk about character and the transformational character arc.

Don’t be confused. PLEASE. Do whatever works for YOU… Hell, YOU’RE THE FUCKING SCREENWRITER! Am I being too hard on you?

Good.

Somebody’s gotta be.

Whatever you come up with first means that you’ve eventually got to come up with the other or you won’t have anything anyway…

Character is plot — Plot is character.

Does that make sense? Within the context of writing and having a screenplay, one without the other means, “YOU AIN’T GOT SHIT.”

But AFTER you got both…

Your plot should be planned, designed, and created around not only what your Protagonist wants but also around whatever obstacle you drop in front of him or her. Drop that obstacle smack dab in the middle of your Protagonist’s want and the result is CONFLICT. Conflict should bring about some kind of emotional turmoil within your Protagonist. This emotional turmoil should in turn bring about some kind of ACTION from your Protagonist. Action can be solid action, reaction, or dialogue.

ACTION DRIVES YOUR PLOT i.e., your character(s) want or desire SOMETHING. Your character(s) ACT toward that want or desire. You throw an obstacle at them and the result is conflict.

STOP!Now before you go ahead and simply plot some basic action by your Protagonist to thwart that obstacle, STOP and give your Protagonist’s response some real thought…

Why?

Because you want your audience to jump on the Protagonist train and ride all the way to the end of the line, right? If you’re not saying RIGHT, then I’ll say it for you…

RIGHT!

This is perhaps one of the places where so many screenwriters get it wrong… This is perhaps where so many MOVIES get it wrong… This is perhaps one of the key elements that will start the TRANSFORMATIONAL CHARACTER ARC BALL rolling…

How your Protagonist RESPONDS to each and every obstacle (conflict) that you throw at them reveals something about their character and if you keep revealing something new or at least something a little different than what you revealed with each obstacle/conflict PRIOR, your audience will not only board the Protagonist train but they’ll quickly find a seat and start looking out the windows all the way to the

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end.

In other words, it’s your character(s) response to conflict that creates empathy within your audience or audience identification.

The MORE your audience identifies with your characters AND ESPECIALLY WITH YOUR PROTAGONIST, the better chance you have of writing a screenplay that succeeds.

It’s your Protagonist’s emotional reaction to action that is the seed of the transformational character arc… Each emotional reaction to action causes this seed to germinate, sink in roots, and grow… Grow into a new BEING.

The emotional reaction to action within the transformational character arc is a never-ending cycle in its own right...

There are five stages to the cycle or the 5 As:

1) Awareness: Your character’s consciousness that change or reinvention of oneself is necessary to respond to the conflict.

2) Acceptance: Your character’s emotional ability to let go of the old and move on to the new.

3) Approach: Your character’s creative exploration of strategic decisions; leading to and ending with their ultimate decision to act one way or another.

4) Assemble: Planning and implementation of plan required to carry out their ultimate decision to act one way or another.

5) Action: Acting one way or another in response to conflict.

As your characters move through the cycle, they create some kind of change within themselves… Some aspect of their personality and or character traits have to literally die… Kind of like a snake shedding its skin and leaving it behind… The result is something new needs to be "born."

Please do NOT get all caught up in this theory… It’s simply a theory of mine and one that I use to write my screenplays. It’s simply the breaking down of a character’s emotional reaction to action — the decision to act in response to conflict. Each time your character goes through this cycle, we should be learning something new about them — good or bad.

Sometimes breaking down story elements like this can cause one to WORRY about every emotional reaction to action that their characters already have… i.e., what you’ve already written… Don’t worry. Chances are that you’re already doing it. Chances are that your characters are going through this cycle as they respond to conflict… Yeah, the cycle above can take up as little as a couple of lines of dialogue all the way out to several pages of a scene so DON’T WORRY.

With each successive decision to ACT, your Protagonist needs to go DEEPER... Revealing just a little more about themselves with each new emotional reaction to action. These are the “peeling back of the layers” that we so often hear about.

And while the above cycle can result in any kind of emotional reaction to action on the part of your characters, it can and often should be challenging and painful for your Protagonist…

The deeper the change… The more layers peeled back… The more that your Protagonist lets go… The more profound and deeply embedded is your Protagonist’s resistance.

Unk

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P.S. Have I totally lost you now?

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 11: The Protagonist's Fatal Flaw

That's right... Part 11 -- we still have a ways to go so let's go...

The Protagonist's Fatal Flaw... First let's talk about the fatal flaw. If you do some research on it, you'll find that it comes up a lot in "tragic hero" discussions i.e., the fatal flaw of the Protagonist ultimately leads to his or her demise... So while this is obviously true, let's take the fatal flaw a little further... If the fatal flaw can be used to lead your Protagonist to his or her ultimate demise then maybe... Just maybe, your Protagonist's fatal flaw can lead your Protagonist (as well as other supporting characters) through the cycle of his or her character arc.

Sound plausible?

Remember, a tragic hero story is one where the Protagonist usually dies or at least has pretty much of a downer ending but not all of us are writing screenplays with downer endings are we? And, if we're not writing downer endings, we must be writing endings where the Protagonist wins SOMETHING at least on some level, correct?

So if that's true, do you want a Protagonist that learns something about themselves and GROWS or do you just want a Protagonist that reacts to shit and wins because he or she was always just a really fucking cool character all the way through the story and never changed at all?

If you're in the "really cool character that never changes" group, you may want to STOP reading now and get back to your really cool character. The rest of us will discuss the Protagonist's fatal flaw.

If we take the premise of the Protagonist's fatal flaw in a tragic hero story and know that his or her fatal flaw eventually leads to his or her ruination, then at some point, we want to flip the table on that premise and use the Protagonist's fatal flaw to create his or her transformational character arc.

Your Protagonist's fatal flaw is simply his or her way of doing things... i.e., their way of tackling the obstacles that you keep throwing in front of them throughout your story. Where we will now part ways with the tragic hero story is that at some point in YOUR story, YOUR Protagonist learns from his or her mistakes... Those mistakes are the residual effect of your Protagonist's usual way of doing things i.e., tackling the obstacles that you keep throwing at them.

At some point, your Protagonist should begin to realize that his or her USUAL way of doing things just flat-ass doesn't work anymore and because the usual way of doing things doesn't work anymore, he or she needs to adopt a new way of doing things or they will surely perish in some way, shape, or form.

This is WHY I've added this discussion of the Protagonist's fatal flaw AFTER the Protagonist's Emotional Reaction to Action. In discussions of the Protagonist's transformational character arc, I think it's better to know that the Protagonist will at some point have to start considering the idea that their usual way of making decisions has been basically SUCKING for quite a while now and hence, begin to REALIZE that maybe a different strategy (emotional reaction to action) is NOW in order.

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It's this consideration that is the basis of growth for your Protagonist. It's that seed that germinates and sinks its roots into the ground.

Going back to the tragic hero story...

It's just the opposite. The Protagonist's usual way of doing things never changes... They continuously fail to understand that their way of tackling the obstacles just sinks them DEEPER into shit mountain.

Which is why, in the tragic hero story, that the Protagonist ultimately encounters a tragic demise... i.e., they experience NEGATIVE GROWTH.

That brings up another good point... GROWTH. Let's check out the definition...

--from Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)growth: [grohth] --noun1. the act or process, or a manner of growing; development; gradual increase.2. size or stage of development: It hasn't yet reached its full growth.3. completed development.4. development from a simpler to a more complex stage: the growth of ritual forms.5. development from another but related form or stage: the growth of the nation state.6. something that has grown or developed by or as if by a natural process: a growth of stubborn weeds.7. Pathology. an abnormal increase in a mass of tissue, as a tumor.8. origin; source; production: onions of English growth.-adjective9. of or denoting a business, industry, or equity security that grows or is expected to grow in value over a long period of time: a growth industry; a growth stock.

--from The American Heritage Science Dictionarygrowth: (grōth)

An increase in the size of an organism or part of an organism, usually as a result of an increase in the number of cells. Growth of an organism may stop at maturity, as in the case of humans and other mammals, or it may continue throughout life, as in many plants. In humans, certain body parts, like hair and nails, continue to grow throughout life.

--from American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionarygrowth: (grōth) --n.1. The process of growing.2. Full development; maturity.3. An increase, as in size, number, value, or strength.4. Something that grows or has grown.5. An abnormal mass of tissue, such as a tumor, growing in or on an organism.

Need we go on? The Transformational Character Arc is CHARACTER GROWTH. In a tragic hero story, there is no character growth as defined above; although you could say that there is "negative character growth."

I guess we could also surmise from the above that:

CHARACTER GROWTH = LIFE and NEGATIVE CHARACTER GROWTH = DEATH.

Whereas LIFE or DEATH can be literal or symbolic.

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Does that make sense?

So WHY would a character HOLD ON to a philosophy of doing things in a way where they cease to experience growth?

WHY DO YOU?

Why do people stay in abusive relationships? Why do people stay at a job until retirement? Why do people drink, gamble, and cheat on each other?

Because it's SAFE. Because it's what they know. Because it's EASY. Because they think, feel, and or know that it's the way to be thus, one ceases to GROW.

That's not to say that one cannot grow in other ways but I point that out just to give you something to think about when it comes to WHY a character might hold on to their philosophy.

Basically speaking, people the world over are RESISTANT TO CHANGE.

So the Protagonist's aversion to do things differently i.e., grow and change, is their fatal flaw but when writing a screenplay, you gotta go deeper... At some point during your multiple drafts, you've got to pinpoint that fatal flaw because by doing so, you also figure out your Protagonist's transformational character arc.

The final stage of a character's transformational character arc is usually diametrically opposite from that same character's fatal flaw. Once you know your Protagonist's fatal flaw and the final stage of his or her transformational character arc, you are now hopefully ARMED with enough knowledge to start tweaking the story so that it resonates the peeling back of your Protagonist's layers of character traits.

By now you should have an idea of your Protagonist's personality type. Take that personality type and figure out those character traits that make that personality type tick and be the quintessential type of character they are in your screenplay. It could very well be that one of those character traits ends up being your Protagonist's fatal flaw but there's no rule so you may come up with something new and different but consider making your Protagonist's fatal flaw commensurate with the kind of personality type he or she is.

Once you know your Protagonists's fatal flaw and assuming you are going to have your Protagonist TRANSFORM i.e., develop and grow, you are now armed with an END RESULT of CHARACTER.

When you know the end result of your Protagonist's character (for your current screenplay) i.e., his or her transformational character arc, you can now go back to each and every obstacle that you've thrown in front of your Protagonist and tweak his or her emotional reaction to action so that as he or she tackles each obstacle, it peels back yet another layer of their growth.

By tweaking, we are of course talking about your Protagonist's action and dialogue so that it results in the following:

1. Shows us your Protagonist's ORIGINAL philosophy or how he or she handles the obstacles you throw at him or her i.e., his or her emotional reaction to action which is their decision making process in the beginning of your story.

2. Shows us how your Protagonist learns about himself or herself and how the above decision making process isn't working for them in this particular story.

3. Shows us how your Protagonist takes what he or she has learned and BEGINS to reveal a slightly new philosophy i.e., his or her emotional reaction to action changes. The things your Protagonist

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valued BEFORE are becoming less valuable to him or her in your current story. He or she is beginning to shed that old skin and grow new skin.

4. Shows us how your Protagonist continues to develop and grow and in effect, the obstacles that you placed in front of him or her AND his or her emotional reaction to action are now tweaked so that when combined, they now BUILD and develop on his or her new philosophy.

5. Shows us how your Protagonist LEARNS from applying these new decisions (emotional reaction to action) even when he or she FAILS with these new decisions.

6. Shows us your Protagonist's END RESULT of CHARACTER. A new person of some sort. Growth. Life. Transformation.

No... We're STILL not done.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc Part 12 Theme me up Scotty...

Theme... What a concept.

If I ask YOU what the theme of your screenplay is; CAN YOU TELL ME? Believe it or not, most newbie screenwriters cannot.

That must mean theme isn't important, right?

And, if you were to read "certain" screenwriting books out there, they too might SEEM to tread in this direction but in reality, I think most just want YOU to discover or find the theme of your story without FORCING IT. Ah... There's another concept... Don't FORCE your theme on us. Why? Because if you do that and you yourself do not believe in your own theme, we can sense it from a mile away.

Character bios are outstanding.

Backstory is outstanding.

These elements can certainly add to the reality and believability of your characters and especially, YOUR PROTAGONIST but these elements in and of themselves do not create a theme for your story; they are simply part of your character's launching pad...

Sure, you can start out with a theme that you want to arrive at by the end of your story but what if your characters -- especially your Protagonist doesn't agree with you?

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Ah... When they don't agree with you, they seem flat, unbelievable, and simply reactionary instead of having an emotional reaction to action that essentially reveals bits and pieces of their character/inner/fatal flaw and then eventually OVERCOMING their character/inner/fatal flaw. This is another reason why first drafts are so important... First and successive drafts allow you to get to KNOW your Protagonist even better than you knew him or her after you created them on paper or in your head depending on how YOU work.

Pulling a theme out of a hat and then sticking it at the end of your screenplay so your Protagonist can smell his or her way toward it is fine as long as YOU'RE on board with that theme i.e., YOU believe in the truth of that theme yourself. If you don't, we'll know it because your characters and especially your Protagonist won't believe in it either.

Ah... So TRUTH is THEME. Theme is the INNER LIGHT at the end of Your Protagonist's tunnel. Theme is the pot of gold at the end of the INNER RAINBOW of character.

YOUR TRUTH -- not MY truth. Not your mother's truth.

Just don't force it. Sure... Go ahead and PICK a theme if that's what YOU NEED to get you started... Everybody's different. Some will know without a doubt what their theme is before even typing FADE IN while others will have their theme change over and over and over again as their Protagonist smells their way to the end of their story.

There is no right way.

Okay, there IS A RIGHT WAY. The right way is whatever works for YOU.

Sometimes a writer doesn't even know what he or she really truly believes in until they are finished with their screenplay... Not a problem. Writing a screenplay can be just as much a road to your own self-discovery as it is for your Protagonist.

Let it happen.

Just don't force it.

We can tell.

When you pull a rabbit theme out of a hat and force your story through to the end, you may just find yourself writing by the numbers but don't we really already have enough of that SHIT in the theaters? Rather, consider starting out with the "rabbit theme out of the hat" just to get you moving. Just to get you writing and then, as you and your characters move through your story, you should all experience emotional reactions to action together. You should all experience new revelations and epiphanies as a TEAM.

Your characters ARE PART OF YOUR TEAM, aren't they? If not, why not?

As you and your team move through your story, thematic elements will certainly pop up along the way. This is a good thing because as they pop up, you can weigh the pros and cons of these thematic elements as they relate to your Protagonist and supporting characters. Thematic elements will help tweak your Protagonist's tunnel so that by the time he or she gets to the end of it, your story not only entertains us but reveals a reason and a purpose for your Protagonist's tunnel in the first place i.e., we walk away giving a shit about your movie instead of telling our family, friends, and associates NOT TO BOTHER.

If you're perceptive about your characters and story, you'll see these thematic elements pop up and maybe even explore them. Some may lead nowhere, others may carve your way through to your overall

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theme...

Overall theme?

Yup. What your story and screenplay is REALLY about. YOUR TRUTH. It really helps to KNOW what the theme of your story is. Once you know your theme, you and your team can huddle up, regroup, and reconnoiter the plot of your story.

The plot and the plot points of your story should simply be a guideline... A road map if you will. A road map that guides your Protagonist and the rest of your team through your story...

Act 1, 2, 3. Plot points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. It's not that these elements can't be written in stone... They can. It's certainly okay to plan all these out ahead of time -- in fact, it's recommended but these acts and plot points are simply the OUTER MARKERS of your story. Part of your structure. A way for your team to get from POINT A to POINT B and then on to POINT C, etc.

Thematic elements are the INNER MARKERS of your story. As your team follows your road map via the outer markers, they go up against the obstacles you've laid in front of them but remember, your team is made up of HYPER-REAL characters. They don't simply bump into an obstacle and get pushed into another direction... They go through the process of EMOTIONAL REACTION TO ACTION each time they bump into one of these obstacles.

However, in the beginning of your story, your team's (and especially your Protagonist's) emotional reaction to action(s) is/are based on his or her character/inner/fatal flaw and the decisions made by your Protagonist, based on their character/inner/fatal flaw serves to peel back those layers of your Protagonist's personality.

So once you KNOW YOUR THEME, you can now begin to tweak those series of decisions so that by the end of your story, your Protagonist's transformational character arc is complete.

Let's visit the old take on the 3 Act Structure where they say:

Act 1: Get your Protagonist up a tree.Act 2: Throw rocks at your Protagonist.Act 3: Get your Protagonist down out of the tree.If you use the 3 Act Structure (I don't actually use it but apparently most do), your Protagonist's transformational character arc could be something along the lines of...

Act 1: Your Protagonist's emotional reaction to action is what's been keeping him or her from growing as a human being. They are stuck in their own muck. They always do things the hard way which is THEIR way. Their way never really works and often causes a lot more trouble than it's worth. When the inciting incident comes along, their emotional reaction to action is to do things the same old way they've always done them before but it doesn't work out the way they want and actually causes them even more grief... More conflict. More tension and hence, they are now UP A TREE.

Act 2: Now that your Protagonist is up the tree, he or she has to figure out a way to get the fuck down. If he or she keeps doing things the same old fucked-up way they've been doing things for so long, they AIN'T gettin' down outta that tree, are they? Hell no! Yet, he or she keeps making the SAME KIND of decisions to get outta that tree and eventually... About halfway through Act 2, he or she finally fucking realizes IT AIN'T WORKIN'! Of course, each decision or emotional reaction to action PRIOR to this epiphany has slowly but surely led the Protagonist to learn that he or she is missing something... He or she is now beginning to realize that maybe the way they've been doing things (living life) really isn't

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working after all i.e., their character/inner/fatal flaw keeps them from getting down outta the tree. This is where YOUR TRUTH begins to light up the end of your Protagonist's tunnel and they start to see the glimmer of that light and just like we all tend to do, your Protagonist decides to struggle TOWARD the LIGHT. He or she now has a PURPOSE that should reveal itself by the end of the movie.

Act 3: Your Protagonist has finally figured out that he or she needs to adopt a new strategy for LIFE. He or she has more or less figured out that in order to get outta that tree, they have to do something that they've never done before. Something new... Something different. Let's say they used to JUMP outta the tree before and every time he or she did that, they broke some bones (metaphorically speaking). So now, your Protagonist has finally figured out that JUMPING just makes matters worse... i.e., there's gotta be a better way and now's the time to figure out what that better way is. They make a new plan and try to work the plan as they struggle toward the light and if the plan works, they will make it to the end of the tunnel. Of course, this is where you throw in the worst of the obstacles but NOW, because your Protagonist is becoming a new person, has gained newfound strength, he or she is able to thwart the obstacles (barely) to eventually climb down outta that tree... TRANSFORMED.

In other words, the obstacles that you throw in your Protagonist's way should play on his or her character/inner/fatal flaw(s). Your Protagonist should eventually achieve not only their OUTER, PHYSICAL, TANGIBLE GOAL but overcome his or her INNER OBSTACLES to complete their transformation AND achieve their outer goal.

These are the kinds of stories that resonate with an audience... Meaning that your Protagonist achieves more and more internal strength as he or she overcomes the external obstacles that you throw in their way. One should not exist without the other and it's this parallel struggle and eventual achievement of BOTH that the audience ABSORBS and walks away happy and ready to recommend the movie to others.

Coming up with your THEME, either before, during, or after your first draft, allows you to go back to your characters, action, and dialogue and flesh in more SUBSTANCE that supports your theme every step of the way throughout your story.

Theme can be complex or simple... Again, there are no rules but keep in mind the audience you're writing your screenplay for. Will they understand a complex theme? Will they absorb it? Will they GET IT? The simpler the theme, the wider the audience, the better the absorption and understanding. The theme is the meaning of your Protagonist's journey and generally speaking, to make things just a little easier -- NOT FORMULAIC -- NOT BY THE NUMBERS -- consider beginning your Protagonist's journey 180 degrees or as opposite as you can make it from their ultimate ending and transformation.

For instance, if the theme of your story is that PEOPLE SHOULD FACE THEIR FEARS, why not start off with your Protagonist always running away from his fears and problems. You know that the transformational character arc you want for your Protagonist is for him or her to be able to face their worst fears by the end of the story so start them off by running away from from just about everything because that's what they've always done. Make them run away in their emotional reaction to action and dialogue and slowly but surely steer them toward your overall theme.

You may find a new theme by the time you get to the end or you might just wind up with a great story that needs nothing added but use THEME as your guiding light. If you do come up with a new theme, that's what rewrites are for... i.e., fleshing in substance that supports your theme.

Whew... Sleep time. Lucky 13 next... Putting it all together.

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Unk

The Transformational Character Arc Part 13 Exposure Therapy for your Protagonist!

Exposing your Protagonist's fear has so much to do with THEME that I thought I'd go into it a bit with this post... Your Protagonist's FEAR runs DEEP. We're not talkin' Indiana Jones' fear of snakes here... What we're talking about is an emotionally deep rooted secret fear that your Protagonist continuously REFUSES to face. A burden that your Protagonist carries with them everywhere... i.e., your Protagonist's GREATEST FEAR and it's completely internal even though you'll need to manifest it visually.

Having said that, your story should ultimately force your Protagonist to face this very fear by the end of the story... Your Protagonist can and will of course face off with your Antagonist but it's NOT THE ANTAGONIST that your Protagonist fears. No... It's what your Antagonist symbolically represents to your Protagonist... That emotionally deep rooted fear that he or she's been carrying around inside of them since it became their greatest fear.

What's interesting here is that your screenplay works not unlike a treatment known as EXPOSURE THERAPY:

"Exposure therapy is a type of behavior therapy in which the patient confronts a feared situation, object, thought, or memory. Sometimes,

exposure therapy involves reliving a traumatic experience in a controlled, therapeutic environment."

The controlled therapeutic environment being your screenplay of course... LOL. And just like exposure therapy in the real world with real world patients, YOU are now the psychiatrist. You keep exposing

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your Protagonist to his or her fear a little bit at a time until they finally reach, face, and conquer their GREATEST FEAR!

By this time, you should of course KNOW your Protagonist pretty well, so sitting down and making a list of ALL his or her fears shouldn't be too difficult. List as many fears as you can and once you've listed as many fears as you can, it's time to analyze them... i.e., see how they are connected to your Protagonist's GREATEST FEAR.

Figure out how to connect as many of these smaller fears to your Protagonist's greatest fear and get rid of the fears that you can't somehow connect to his or her greatest fear. Your list of smaller fears that you've managed to connect to your Protagonist's greatest fear can now be used to develop obstacles to toss in front of your Protagonist as he or she moves through your story. In fact, it's often useful to keep this list of fears handy as you write the screenplay... You might end up adding more fears, deleting existing fears, or develop and define existing fears even more.

Remember, your Protagonist is a SLAVE to this fear and until now... i.e., the end of your screenplay, he or she has not been able to deal with this fear, LET ALONE CONQUER IT.

Conquering their greatest fear is the transformational character arc, COMPLETED.

Just like exposure therapy, you can now take your list of fears and begin to develop them. Consider putting them in an order of RISING ACTION with your story events... i.e., start out with the smaller fears -- leading into successively larger fears -- ending with your Protagonist's GREATEST FEAR. In other words, KEEP RAISING THE STAKES!

As you kick your Protagonist's ass up shit mountain and expose him or her to "the trail of fears," always keep in mind that each fear you ultimately decide YOU WANT in your story needs to be revealed through ACTION and DIALOGUE. Each fear needs to be CONVERTED into rising action and conflict and it's your Protagonist's emotional reaction to action that will reveal the fear(s) and begin his or her transformational character arc. Your Protagonist's action is motivated by their emotional reaction to action i.e., the decisions they make along the trail of fears. Up shit mountain and along the trail of fears, your Protagonist must STRUGGLE between what he or she wants and what he or she NEEDS.

Also keep in mind that your character has very likely been HIDING these fears and especially his or her greatest fear.

Think about yourself for just a minute... What is YOUR GREATEST FEAR? How many people know what your greatest fear is besides YOU? Chances are not many IF ANY. We don't normally share our greatest fear with others. It's too painful. We don't want to let our guard down. We don't want to be hurt. We don't want that greatest fear to be turned against us. We don't want to be exploited.

IT'S A SECRET.

And as a secret, you'll want to make sure that you don't make it too easy for your Protagonist to reveal it to us... Your Protagonist is an expert at hiding his or greatest fear. Hiding that fear has become his or her current state of being. Your Protagonist has that outer wall -- that gruff exterior because that's served him or her so well UP UNTIL NOW.

By exposing your Protagonist to his or her trail of fears, he or she should be just strong enough by the end of the story to finally conquer their greatest fear. When your Protagonist conquers their greatest fear they also fulfill their internal need. The internal need that will make them an entirely new person. This concept goes back to YOUR TRUTH -- what you personally believe in about LIFE and what

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YOU personally believe in about LIFE will be the theme of your story. Once you know the theme of your story, it's fairly easy to reverse-engineer the theme and come up with fears leading to your Protagonist's greatest fear. That's what the first draft is for... To explore all this theme shit. LOL. Sure, you'll probably have some great obstacles but how much greater will they be if you flesh in your Protagonist's fears? How much greater will they be if you keep revealing a little more of your Protagonist's character along the way?

Sure, you can write a screenplay where you simply throw in all kinds of cool obstacles in front of your Protagonist... We see this all the time so why not simply go this route INSTEAD of dealing with all this theme shit?

Good question and one you're gonna have to answer for yourself...

If you want to simply write PRODUCT that has no real chance to RESONATE with an audience, please be my guest and write product however, if you want the ticket-buying demographic out there to remember your film and tell others about how great it was for the REST OF THEIR LIFE -- consider developing theme from by having your Protagonist conquer their greatest fear.

Remember... There is no ONE UNIVERSAL THEME. There is no ONE SIZE FITS ALL.

The theme of your story should ultimately be what you believe in about life an or some aspect of life -- GOOD OR BAD. Sure, if it's something like "LIFE SUCKS" -- you're probably in for a hard sell but again, if that's what YOU TRULY believe and you write it from that point of view, you might just get lucky. My point being that you can't simply adopt someone else's outlook on life and expect to write from a believable point of view. Well, you CAN but you probably won't be able to pull it off unless at some point, you've made that point of view your own.

Unk

The Transformational Character Arc Part 14 Stick a fork in it!

Whew... I was starting to think that I'd never finish this series but I think I've pretty much covered everything you need to get you started on creating a transformational character arc for your Protagonist. If you don't believe this is important to your story and your screenplay, no problem... I tend to think this happens to be what's wrong with most screenplays today.

So last but definitely not least, let's go over the series and see if we can make just a little more sense out of all this garbage...

The Transformational Character Arc… Part 1

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In part one, we kinda talked about the importance of your Protagonist undergoing a transformational character arc. Most screenwriters like to use the phrase, "character arc" but I like "transformational character arc instead because the MORE I think of my Protagonist's journey this way, the MORE I am hyper aware that I want him or her to be transformed by the end of the story. Saying it and THINKING IT somehow keeps me writing TOWARD it.

Make sense?

Something else that's been discussed in the comments and that I've hit on within the series a bit is how I personally like to slide the transformational character arc in under the radar instead of hitting the reader (and hopefully and audience) over the head with the transformation. Again, my thinking here after watching THOUSANDS of movies and taking them apart piece by piece is that the movies where the Protagonist's transformational character arc is not nearly as obvious by the end of the story are the movies that resonate with ME the most. Again, simply my perspective and many will probably have a different take on it. Ultimately, YOU gots to do what YOU gots to do.

I would also say that if you walk away from this series and this blog with absolutely NOTHING ELSE... Walk away with this... Give your Protagonist a transformational character arc... We, the audience WANT to get on board the character train. We want to enjoy the ride... We want to ponder out the windows... We want to walk around the train... Feel it moving. We want the experience. We want to eventually get off the train and remember the train ride so please give it to us! Transforming your Protagonist by the end of the story gives us, the audience, hope that we too can overcome adversity. That we too can conquer the obstacles that keep getting in front of us in our daily lives... That we too can eventually transform into a new and improved human being.

Consider your Protagonist's motivation as you weave your story... This motivation is perhaps, the main key to your Protagonist wanting to somehow become a better person by the end of the story... And remember, somehow becoming a better person depends on YOUR truth which should also be your Protagonist's truth. What YOU BELIEVE about LIFE.

Your Protagonist may start out going after what they want but consider making them discover what they truly NEED as part of your story's structure. Two goals... OUTER and INNER. Outer is what they want... The tangible goal that we can SEE them attain and by so doing, they simultaneously achieve the inner goal of what they NEED to become a better person.

Don't worry about trying to develop your characters in the first act... If you do this, you can often end up writing predictable stuff. Let us keep discovering new things about your Protagonist as he or she travels through your story. Using your Protagonist's emotional reaction to action i.e., their decision making and resulting action and dialogue are your tools to help us discover more and more about your Protagonist as they climb up shit mountain.

Try to define your Protagonist as much as you can before you start writing... Character bios. Backstory. Personality types and character traits. Do whatever works for you to really know your characters... The better you know your characters, the more apt they are to whisper in your ear as you write... Make your characters REAL to YOU and you'll go far in making them real to us. You should know your characters at least as well as you know a member of your family or a close friend.

In Part 2 of The Transformational Character Arc series, we went into the 23 Personality Types. This can give you a starting point with your Protagonist. Most likely, you already know enough about your Protagonist to find out which personality type they fit into... Cool. Give us MORE! Knowing your Protagonist's personality type can help you create a quintessential character out of him or her and keep

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their emotional reactions to actions consistent with their character and no... That doesn't mean make them predictable. LOL.

Parts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of the transformational character arc series delved a little into the character traits of the 23 personality types... Just enough information to get you started so you kinda have an idea where to take your characters when it comes to behavior.

Part 9 of the transformational character arc series discussed HYPER-REAL CHARACTERS, giving them dimension and making them multi-dimensional by knowing their personality type and character traits... Again, just enough to get you started on your own journey of discovery. Seek out more information. Invest in a book or two that go into the subject with even more depth. How many times can I say it? The better you know your characters, the better your story is going to be.

In Part 10, we talked about your Protagonist's decision-making process i.e., his or her emotional reaction to action and how it works... Your Protagonist's ACTION and DIALOGUE should drive your plot instead of your plot driving your Protagonist. Because your Protagonist's motivation i.e., they want, need, and desire something both OUTER and INNER; they move or ACT through your story via ACTION and DIALOGUE. Your Protagonist's emotional reaction to action is the beginning, middle, and end of the transformational character arc. He or she comes across an obstacle that you've thrown at them which causes them to make a decision which causes them to act and that act should reveal a little more about them as a person. Their action as a result of their decisions throughout your story are those layers you often hear about that you should be continuously PEELING back for us.

Part 11 of the Transformational Character Arc series got into your Protagonist's FATAL FLAW and how to use this flaw to lead your Protagonist through to his or her transformational character arc. Part 12 discussed using THEME to also guide your Protagonist to emotional growth as a new being using your TRUTH about LIFE as the "inner light" at the end of the Protagonist's tunnel. It's what your screenplay is ULTIMATELY ABOUT.

And finally, Part 13 talks about using EXPOSURE THERAPY on your Protagonist to eventually get him or her over their greatest fear and become TRANSFORMED.

I've had requests from more readers than I can mention to stick this series up in the download section so expect to see it there in a day or two. I hope it helps you out... I hope it's made you realize how important this element is to your story and ultimate screenplay. I hope you understand that OFTEN, it is this element and the way you ultimately handle it that can make or break your spec when it finally comes to the marketing.

Like everything here on the site, this is just the way I do things... I don't claim to be an expert... Hell, I learn something new every day and I often change my way of thinking as I learn new things. Sometimes I'll read an article and change my opinion -- sometimes I simply watch a movie that changes my opinion but it's always just MY OPINION so take that for what it's worth and more importantly, come up with YOUR OWN OPINION! Read articles. Scour the web... Go back to your screenwriting books and re-read the parts about giving your Protagonist a character arc. The more familiar you are with this story element, the better your screenwriting is going to be.

And as if you didn't already have enough to read, I recently found several articles about the Kubler-Ross Model. It talks about the 5 Stages of Grief or what is known as the Grief Cycle:

Change, Grief and the Transformation Cycle

Kubler-Ross Model on Wikipedia

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Recognizing Grief Over the Loss of Income

Coping with Loss: Guide to Grieving and Bereavement

The above articles don't have anything to do with screenwriting per se but I think they definitely apply to the Transformational Character Arc series so definitely check them out and tell us what YOU think. It's interesting to note that your Protagonist goes through a similar if not identical transformation cycle... Or SHOULD. LOL. In my opinion, the most important aspect of these articles are the actual 5 Stages of Grief:

Prior to the cycle, you have a normal-functioning person... Then, something happens that throws their world out of whack... They now begin the cycle:

Stage 1: Shock and Denial• Avoidance

• Confusion

• Fear

• Numbness

• Blame

Stage 2: Anger• Frustration • Anxiety • Irritation • Embarrassment • Shame

Stage 3: Depression and Detachment• Overwhelmed • Blahs • Lack of energy • Helplessness

Stage 4: Dialogue and Bargaining

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• Reaching out to others • Desire to tell one's story • Struggle to find meaning for what has happened

Stage 5: Acceptance• Exploring options • A new plan in place

With the cycle now complete, this person returns to a meaningful life having been TRANSFORMED and experiences the following:

• Empowerment • Security • Self-esteem • Meaning

If you'll notice, you could ALMOST structure an entire screenplay based on these 5 stages and while I'm not advocating exactly that, I'm almost positive that by learning just a little more about this model, you'll go a long way toward creating believable characters and have your Protagonist TRANSFORMED by the end of your story...

Food for thought.

Unk

*NOTE: Please feel free to share this document with fellow screenwriters if you feel they can benefit from it in some way via download or emailed as an attachment or dare I say it... A printed hard copy!

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