Continuing our creation of realistic characters in scripts, we dive a little deeper than finding a simple protagonist and antagonist. Once you find the purpose your characters will serve to your story plot, then it’s time to develop some back story. This makes your character become a real person with q past. These elements make for a more believable character that someone can relate to. Let’s start by defining a Back Story
:
Back story – This is the past life that the character experienced before the present story is explained. This can be family life and childhood, including; traumas, family history, travels, and etc. This is a very crucial piece of a character, and helps define how the character reacts to current situations. Extensive back stories allow for wiggle room like flashbacks
When creating back story for a cast, use these elements for each character: Who is their family? Where are they from? Who are their friends? And what was their childhood like? Knowing these facts help the characters become more realistic…thus being the whole point!
Family History - Everyone was birthed from someone right? Well, that all depends on you as the writer. Where do your characters come from: a rich family funding their personal vendettas, or an orphanage that teaches him/her to trust no one? Use this type of back story to fuel your character, or even create a surprising event like Star Wars; making the protagonist and antagonist closely related by blood.
Native – What land/world is this character from? Identifying a race and point of origin opens up possibilities that can lead to family history and ancestral questions. This comes in handy when creating a storyline where your character is experiencing amnesia, or there’s some type of racial conflict within the plot. For example: is your protagonist trying to save a world that despises his race/species?
Associates – Everyone knows someone…right? Who are your characters’ friends? Do/did they have any associates before the current set of events? A writer can use this to their advantage in several ways. If your character is very introverted or grumpy, something tragic or un-trustworthy events could have made the character this way…or just the opposite makes them loving and trustworthy.
Childhood – if the character isn’t already a child, writing in certain childhood lifestyles can help your audience understand why your character acts the way they do. Was childhood traumatic? Did the character have to fend for their life at a tender age? Or were they spoiled brats who got anything and everything they wanted? If your audience is made aware of these facts at some point, they start to empathize and fall in love with your characters.
When creating each main character, check to see if they have all of these elements. Withhold this information from your audience to create a mysterious character, and Reveal them at your own pace to create suspense!
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Scriptwriting: Real Drama Starts with Real Characters (Part 1)
In writing, you can have a perfect premise, but it will never come alive and become
interesting without great characters. Here is a list of types of characters to choose to
create when writing your story.
Protagonist – the principle character in a work of fiction.
This may seem like an elementary piece of the puzzle, but we’ve all seen movies
or shows that are hard to follow along because another “main character” has been
introduced. Ballooning a cast is an easy way to make your audience feel like their lost in
a crowd at a theme park, not knowing who to follow or what to pay attention to!
Antagonist – Someone who offers opposition.
Every story has a villain. If a story only had situational opposition, it would just
be life! This is fine for romance movies and such, but any other type of film and/or series
needs a character specifically made to halt the protagonist. More often times in this new
age of cinema, audience members will fall in love with the villain faster than the hero!
Best Friend/Confidant/Partner – Someone to whom private matters are confided.
This is a person that runs the same run as the main character and promises to be
their rock of support. Unless your protagonist is strictly a “lone ranger”, this come in
handy to introduce back story and other emotions that will give them more depth.
Comic Relief – Someone who severs strict tension with shtick or jokes.
Sometimes, even in the most epic stories, it’s important to give a slight
distraction. They say you shouldn’t take life too seriously, don’t take your script too
seriously either. Funny moments happen, but only if you as the writer let them.
To make a more interesting character, some of these traits can be combined, or even
traded to make secret motives and back story. Even try adding additional types of
characters such as a “Love Interest” or “Mentor”. Combining types of characters make
them more real and less one-dimensional. Is your main antagonist also the story’s comic
relief, and the best friend secretly the antagonist? With your next script, try this in some
character development before you actually start writing…it will help you get to know
the characters that much more and make lines more believable because they will fit the
personality and goal of the character.
Tyrone SelbyTyrone Selby is the Associate Producer and writer of Spark-Flow Studios, LLC…multi-media house of animation and film, and Co-Director of the Soul 4 Reel Film Festival.
He was Director of Photography for the short film “Unspoken” directed by Rocky McKoy
with Rockabye Entertainment, shown on BET’s: Lens On Talent, and accepted into
several film festivals. Tyrone also produces “Pumpk & Cham and Pai” animated series,
and writer of webcomic “Elements Of Light”, both with Spark-Flow Studios,. He has
written eight scripts, two of which are currently in pre-production, and his directing debut
short film, currently in post-production.
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