So I am reading about making characters more real. One downfall of characters in a book or in a movie is that they are two dimensional. (even if they are in a 3D movie.)
Inspiration
So to develop characters further it is suggested that you ponder a few questions about them and number one of the list is their birthday. I’ve never considered this question before. I’ve written a book (Someone Else’s Tomorrow) and have a completed screenplay, one in the works and also have a musical stage play halfway done, but this birthday thing could be a really good idea for fleshing out a fictional character. When were they born and who else was born that day.
You might take this from a Zodiac-type perspective and that’s cool too. It adds another dimension as well. Capricorns are:
Practical and prudent
Ambitious and disciplined
Patient and careful
Humorous and reserved
Pessimistic and fatalistic
Miserly and grudging
I don’t know, that’s just what one website said, but then you narrow it down. A character is born on January 8th (my birthday for this example) and shares the birthday with Stephen Hawkin. Am I like Stephen? How is the character like Stephen. But wait, Elvis was also born on January 8th, and David Bowie.
Okay, each of those is very different from the other, but are all of them ambitious and disciplined? Or miserly and grudging?
Am I? We are all complicated combinations and none of it may have anything to do with the signs of the Zodiac, our birthday or any other random fact, but those can all be used (by writers) to give traits and flaws and life to a character. You can use this to turn Pinocchio into a real boy.
I’m not an instructor of writing by any means. I think you have to pass a threshold to give other people advice. Have a book published that sells well. Have a screenplay optioned or even produced, then tell me what you did right. (and even then sometimes success can be a fluke and your advice would be shit. ) But I am passing this on with my thoughts, maybe just to ingrain them into my character building process.
What else makes us what we are? Certainly environment. Considering parents, siblings, peers, neighborhood and schooling adds to the depth, but you have to start somewhere, so birthday is a fairly easy thing that can add a lot. Who shares your birthday is an okay place to check out some folks who may help shape your characters.
It may be easier to focus on one person there. I think if you start taking too many bits and pieces you might end up with a character without cohesion. This could also work in a reverse fashion. I want my character to be like Wesley Snipes in Blade, so maybe I’ll look at Wesley’s birthday, see who shares it, and build from there.
This could be a total procrastination time suck if I let it, but I think to take the five or six main characters and really build them as individuals with their own motivation and back story will help. It certainly would help me as an actor to learn what drives behavior.
When I was doing the character building improv workshop I talked about posture and mannerisms. Starting out with how a character walks and behaves physically is a huge part of the visualization of who they are. For films and theater presentation is huge. A man limps into a room. Why is he limping? Did he just finish a marathon and is sore, or does he have a birth defect, or just a rock in his shoe or a bunion? A light limp could have a huge back story. Make it real. He was in a car crash as a child and now is terrified of riding in cars. Street noise invades his dreams and he is an insomniac. How does that impact his conscious life? Does he drag throughout the day? Is his limp an indicator? His foot drags and so does his day, and his life. He’s a pessimist.
Who is the most famous pessimist of all times in your world? Sigmund Freud was one. What influenced his life? What were his parents like? How could those things be added to the car crash victim?
I’m not really writing all this for anyone reading this, although it might make some aspiring writers think. I’m writing it to make me think.
Does your birthday suit you or could a specific birthday suit your character?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this idea! I’ve been with Carolina Improv Company for 2 year & am taking a class devoted to character development. Now excuse me while I google Arthur Ashe and others born on July 10th.
Thanks Lynne. Lots of writing techniques can also apply to improv. The workshop I created was a lot about bringing out your inner motivation through physicality and growing from the feelings that emoted. Thanks for the comment!