Creating Believable Characters

Who hasn’t heard of Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? She is the Nurse who McMurphy battles with to be allowed to watch the World Series. Because the World Series is broadcast at times not scheduled by Nurse Ratched as TV times, McMurphy asks that the times be altered. His request is denied, with no rational reason as to why.

A clear antagonist, Nurse Ratched represents oppression in society. Her nickname ‘Big Nurse’ reminds us of Orwell’s ‘Big Brother’, the all-seeing, dehumanising force designed to keep us down and curtail everything which makes us human. Nurse Ratched manipulates the fears and desires of the men under her watch, using fear and shame to keep them submissive. She is a master sadist. Ken Kesey, her writer-creator, master-minded her.

As a character, Nurse Ratched is sublime – she is hated, loathed and feared by the patients, and yet, she’s a real hit. We can’t believe her cruelty, we can’t wait to see what perverse punishments for her victims she’s going to come up with – yes, we love her! She is such a compelling character that she even got a prequel Netflix series written for her, 45 years after Milos Forman’s film.

But why is she so compelling? How did a dark, cruel, hateful character like her become so ingrained into our collective imagination? Why do we want to know more about her? Why do we keep watching her?

This is what we want to discover here: what is it that makes a character so irresistibly interesting, what qualities does she possess that so powerfully capture our imagination?

Let’s look into another, completely different example, Friends, the TV show which spans generations and ask the same question: what is it about the six characters that makes us want to watch the show again and again? To all intents and purposes, this is an ensemble show where each of the characters carry equal weight – even though, if you watch the entire ten seasons, you’ll come to the realisation that the show is really all about Ross and Rachel.

But why do we tune in over and over again when we know exactly what’s about to happen, since we’ve watched it so many times? Because we can relate to the characters’ flaws. Each of them represents a small component part of the human psyche. Whether it’s Monica’s perfectionism, Rachel’s tendency to engage in bad relationships, Chandler’s relentless sarcasm, Ross’s jealousy, Phoebe’s spontaneity, or Joey’s cluelessness, we can all find something of ourselves in them, something with which to identify, which offers us some comfort.

Where do compelling characters come from?

Some writers are intuitively capable of creating the most powerful characters because they already know them intimately. They come straight out of real-life experiences, or they’re a Frankenstein amalgamation of the best – or the worst – characteristics that these writers have observed in people. They often also have an expertise, a knowledge of particular milieus – ice hockey, the FBI or the pharmaceutical industry – which helps them write true-to-life characters.

But what happens if you don’t have this expertise? You research, and you approach people who can help you. Many writers post questions on social media forums asking if anyone in the group is an expert on a particular subject. For example, Are there any psychologists or criminologists who could answer questions on female serial killers? They often get a response which helps them craft a truly believable character.

Getting to know your characters better

One of the best techniques to create believable characters is taking time to be with them – to interview them, or chat with them, as if they were in the room sitting opposite you. Do this with all your characters until you feel you know them well: all you need is a pad of paper, an open mind and to visualise your character sitting there, amenable to answering every single question you ask, no matter how personal or difficult. Picture her – what is she wearing? How does she smell? What’s her body language? How is she looking at you? Do you feel threatened by her? Are you attracted to her?

Plan sessions of no less than thirty minutes with each of your characters and ask every question you can think of.

Here’s some examples to get you started:

• Where were you born?
• Who were your parents?
• What was your favourite subject at school?
• What do you like about what you do?
• What’s the worst thing that could ever happen to you?
• What is the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?
• What’s your favourite colour/smell/person/pop star/actor/ country/place?
• What do you like about the story I’m writing?
• What don’t you like about it?
• What do you like/dislike about the other characters?
• What would you rather do if you weren’t doing what you’re doing in this story?
• Have you ever wished someone dead?

This interview technique gives you a fascinating insight into your character’s innermost thoughts and desires, a trove of information you can store and use or just have in the back of your mind as you write your screenplay – because the better you know your characters right from the start, the more depth you’ll be able to convey writing about them and the better your choices will be as you unravel their story.

Another means to help you understand your characters better is to use a psychological technique – one that focuses on your characters’ archetypes. You may find Belbin’s psychological scales – which identify team-player characteristics – useful, or Myers-Briggs’s – where you plot your character’s personality traits according to levels of introversion or extraversion, feeling or judgement. They both offer valuable insight into questions such as:

• Is your character confident or shy?
• Would he be capable of hitting someone?
• Would he stand up for an underdog?
• Is he competitive? And if so, at what cost?
• Is he a generous person, or an ego-tripper?

A third, easy and proven technique to help you get to the bottom of your characters is to write their diary for a week – handwritten.

• Where did they go?
• What did they do?
• Who did they meet?
• What conversations did they have?
• What went wrong?
• What went right?
• What were they excited about?
• What were they frightened of?
• What did they hope for?

These are useful techniques which help you do something which is essential: focus on your characters. They force you into taking the time you need to think your characters through – what do they want? Why do they want it? Who or what’s stopping them? What difference will it make when they get what they want?

What makes a character compelling

The best characters display personality traits which represent real-life emotions. They must have enough recognisable flaws, hopes, and dreams to make your viewers root for them.

Think about the film The Proposal. New York editor Margaret must find a way to not be deported back to Canada, because she’s failed to complete an administrative form in time. We are introduced to her as a bully, as someone feared by her employees, a success-driven, self-absorbed individualistic character, but gradually, through her relationship with her assistant, Andrew, we witness the unveiling of the hidden emotions she never wanted anyone to see. We come to realise that she just wants to be loved.

And yet she blackmails her assistant into marrying her to keep her in the US – and keep her status. She’s flawed, she’s human, she makes bad choices – like most of us do. This is what makes Margaret such a compelling character: she makes bad choices. She hurts people. She’s blind to the good that’s in front of her.

Compelling characters are almost exactly like us, which is why we empathise with them – even the worst villain has a flaw we can identify with. Take The Joker. Arthur Fleck wasn’t always a sadistic murderer – he was a boy looking for a family to love him. But no-one did. They saw him as a clown, a freak. And so he made the decision to live the way society saw him, turning to crime and creating mayhem around him.

Every brilliant character has a flaw

In Tick, Tick, Boom, the autobiographical film of musician Jonathan Larson, we follow his journey as his music takes over his life. His friends and the love of his life begin to abandon him, as he comes to realise that maybe his work is not as great as he thinks it is, and perhaps he should have chosen another career.

We can all relate to obsession, but what makes Larson so compelling is his humanity – his utter joy in seeing others love his music and perform it; his persistence and his self-belief, even when his electricity is cut off. We want him to succeed but we don’t want him to experience the pain he feels as he follows his own path. His character appeals to us – he’s imperfect, vulnerable, and passionate.

Take your cue from Stanislavski

Outstanding theatre actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski insisted on artistic self-analysis and reflection and in focusing on the character’s objectives throughout the story. His method is as valid now as it was a hundred years ago.

Put another way: given that the overarching theme in life – and hence in the stories which we write – is the fact that all anyone wants, ultimately, is to be happy, this is what gives our characters purpose in life. How they find happiness is where characters differ from one another – this is what creates their individuality.

When approaching your characters, Stanislavski’s advice would be to start with the larger idea – the pursuit of happiness, however each of them would define it – then work your way down to the intricacies of each character’s flaws and the twists and turns of their behaviour.

In short, the more time you spend with your characters before you start writing, the better. Listen to them. Analyse them. Understand them. Hear their accents, the slang they use, their catchphrases. You should be able to identify them just from a single line of dialogue. Doing so will allow you to ensure that your characters’ expressions, actions, and experiences will all be different.

Finally, believe that your characters are real, living, breathing human beings – which is what you will demand the actors to embody in your film and what you hope viewers will believe too. Spend time with your characters and get to know them. With each rewrite, you should love them more and more.

This is the key to creating believable, compelling characters.

Checklist

Write your character’s diary for a week – really get to know her and what she stands for.

• Interview your character in a no-holds-barred interview – listen to what she says and responds to.
• Watch your favourite film/TV series and analyse what it is about the characters which draws you to the story.
• For dialogue, write with your ear: read the dialogue out loud and ask yourself if your character would really say what you’re writing.
• Create a backstory for each of your characters, including their physical attributes, aesthetic leanings, and even political affiliations – you may need it for a show bible or a pitch deck.
• Get your antagonist and protagonist to interview each other – that can be fun!