Screenwriting : Characters That Don't Suck! by Blair W. Milbourne

How are things, Blair W. Milbourne?

I like to make bios for my characters. I outline a character's history, personality, strengths, flaws, fears, story goals, life goals, hobbies, habits, daily routine, relationships, etc. This helps me know the characters.

You can also write scenes (that won't be in the script) to help develop your characters (by writing the scenes, you will flesh out your characters/learn things about them/develop them).

Hello. I suggest you try reading John Truby Anatomy Of A Story. It has intensive teachings on Character. See chapter 4 of the book.

I made short bios for the characters in my first script. However, if you want to look further, one resource is the enneagram. It describes 9 different kinds of personalities: https://www.truity.com/enneagram/9-types-enneagram

This is going to sound overly basic, but it isn’t. Think of characters as people not characters. Great characters feel like they existed before the movie. All the two dimensional characters feel like they exist only in that scene then they magically disappear.

I use an Empathy Matrix to get an understanding of the character. This also gives them history. Those 100 question type sheets are fun. But who cares what a serial killers favourite colour is.

Once I have a matrix (after a while you will just do this in your head), I do a bit of force field analysis to see what they may want.

Using these two tools you can create real people and give them wants that drive a story.

Craig D Griffiths Label me intrigued, thank you. I found your breakdown of the EM on youtube. Great insight. Due diligence is now under way. Cheers!

Maurice Vaughan I appreciate you sharing your approach. The practice of writing mock scenes for the characters is a solid idea. Good lookin out.

You're welcome, Blair W. Milbourne. Glad to help. I like that quote by Common on your page. He's a talented actor/writer/hip hop artist.