Lecture 09: Characters Part One

Intro

1. Establish Empathy
   • likability scale |————-|
   • like us
   • nice
   • show people liking them
2. Establish Rooting Interest
   • motivation
   • Why can’t they have it?
   • personal connection to plot
3. Progress
   • flaw that they have
   • character journey
   • mystery

Character Scales

characters can be modelled by assigning a value on each of these three scales

• likability
• proactivity
• competence

movement on one of these scales shows progress in the plot

concept of an ICONIC HERO - someone who does not move on any of the scales, fixed

start of story - characters wants and needs may not be aligned

eg. spiderman lets the thief get away, kills his uncle, realises with great power comes great responsibility

where mistakes happen

• when a character is acting contrary to their motivations to further the plot
• fix this by rewriting to align their motivations, or go back and establish more motivations

Sandersons 1st Law

Establish Motivations

Sanderson’s 2nd Law

Flaws, limitations, handicaps

• flaws - issues with a character that they have power over and should have fixed by now
  • the character will either fix their flaw or it will be there downfall like in greek tragedy fatal flaw
• handicaps - something the character does not have power over - being born blind
• limitations - things that do not change that are set