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How do your characters handle conflict?

But before I go back to characters… LOL.

A big thanks to those of you posting links to articles at

Almost 4,000 unique visitors so far and the tracker has some pretty impressive internet connections taking a look but I want to thank everyone for checking it out… I hope it doesn’t take ANYTHING away from your writing. By the way, if you can think of a category we might need, just let me know.

And to answer the 20 plus emails to those of you who keep wondering what my ulterior motive is for tossing up the site…

There isn’t any.

Geez. I don’t need money. I’m not selling anything. So suspicious! But that’s okay… I still thank you for the thought… LOL.

Kay. I’ve been up all night on this rewrite and I really don’t have time for a huge post but while I’ve been working, I keep wondering about the things my characters keep doing… Some surprise me… Some don’t. The ones that don’t are because these are the things I want my characters to do.

By the way… Let me get a little off track… Great stuff in the Scribosphere lately and a lot being blogged about on characters! Love seeing that!

Real quick before I head back to rewrite Hell…

I have a word processing document that I add to every so often when one of my characters handles conflict in a new way than any of my characters have handled it before…

Some of you might think it’s kinda stupid… If so, please feel free to stop reading. LOL.

On the other hand, I thought it might actually be of some help to those of you that just can’t get your characters out of BORING MODE.

The following list is by no means exhaustive… Please feel free to add your own to the comments section… I think we can all benefit from different perspectives.

One of the things that I’ve done with MY list is to develop it into OUTLINE style. This makes it real easy for me to add new bullets under specific headings or categories.

What I like about having a list at hand is that every once in a while, you get stuck, right? Okay, maybe not. I sure as hell do — and when I do, I like breaking out my list because it helps me brainstorm even more ideas…

So… Without further delay… Here’s the Character Decision List:

VIOLENCE

REVENGE

PUNISHMENT

ARGUING

RUNNING AWAY

SUICIDE

MURDER

NOTHING

AFFAIR

QUIT JOB

PROFESSIONAL HELP

RELIGION

GROUPS

DEPRESSION

DENIAL

PROBLEM SOLVING

MARRIAGE

DIVORCE

ALCOHOL

DRUGS

TRAVEL

SPY

COLLEGE

WRITE

ARSON

EMBEZZLEMENT

MOVE

NEW JOB

MATERIAL THINGS

EXERCISE

DISAPPEAR

ENTERTAINMENT

HOBBY

Okay, that should give you an idea… Notice the above categories or headings are in no particular order… That’s because there are NO RULES.

Now you can add to this list very easily simply by writing your screenplay, watching a movie, reading the paper, reading a book, talking to people, WHATEVER. Every time you see a character in a movie, a story, a television show, a newspaper article, etc. do SOMETHING that’s not already on your list, go ahead and jot it down.

Just keep adding to the list… FOREVER.

The next part of the list gets a little trickier because again, there are NO RULES. You do it the way it will work BEST for YOU. For example, under PROFESSIONAL HELP, my list looks something like this…

PROFESSIONAL HELP

See how it works?

Under REVENGE, a list could looking something like this:

REVENGE

Once you’ve developed your own list into several pages, just pull it out any time you’re having a problem with what a particular character should do next… You obviously do not want to just make your character go to a psychiatrist… LOL. The point of the list is this…

“If” your character were to go to a psychiatrist, what would he talk about? What would it cost? How long would he stay? Would he sit across from the shrink or lie down on a couch? Would they start talking about sex? Would they talk about your character’s mother? Father? Maybe your character doesn’t go through the usual cliché garbage we always see when a character goes to the psychiatrist… Maybe your character gets into a fight with the psychiatrist… Maybe they argue. Maybe he KILLS the psychiatrist… LOL. Get the idea? The list is to simply SPARK more ideas on how your particular character would handle the ensuing conflict he or she is going through AT THE MOMENT.

Another great way to use the list is to COMBINE elements… This works really well when your list has really grown like mine… Take two, three, or more headings and or elements below the headings and combine them in a way that your character handles the current conflict you’re throwing at him or her. Again, THERE ARE NO RULES. It’s just a tool to help keep your characters from being BORING.

Either pull your list out when you’re having trouble or keep it right next to you when you’re writing… I tend to have the document open as I write so I can click back to it any time I want. When I read, watch movies, etc., I always have a digital recorder with me and I record any new ways of dealing with conflict that I see or read about. Yeah, it’s OKAY TO STEAL!

See? Pretty simple stuff. My list goes on for PAGES. My best advice is to build YOUR VERY OWN LIST. That way, using your own words, getting the stuff on your own from different resources will mean a whole lot more to you than simply copying what I’ve come up with… Besides, I have some stuff on my list that I’m not ready to share with anyone… LOL.

If you can think of more headings or categories, share them in the comments section if you are so inclined.

Or not.

Unk

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Thursday: 11 January 2007|0706|Under Uncategorized

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Comments

7 Responses to “How do your characters handle conflict?”

  1. george w. bush on Saturday: 13 January 2007|2343

    I’ve never been the first at anything…I think you, Mr. Unk are a wonderful human being. I can’t wait to read your beautiful re-write. Good Luck!

  2. Unk on Sunday: 14 January 2007|0807

    LOL. Who WAS that masked man?

    Unk

  3. The Film Diva on Wednesday: 17 January 2007|1639

    I do the same thing!! I stole my version from an acting teacher I admired who had done a lot of stage-acting and was from the Uta Hagen-Meisner-Stanislavski school of character building. I’m cutting and pasting these into the doc as we speak. Thanks, Unk, once again giving up the goods.

  4. Depth-charging your characters… » The Unknown Screenwriter - a screenwriting blog featuring screenwriting tips, tricks, rants, and observations... on Wednesday: 17 January 2007|1825

    [...] From that experience, I very often approach writing my characters in much the same way… What are the OBVIOUS PREDICTABLE DECISIONS this character would make right now? Figure those out and write exactly the opposite! It doesn’t always work but more often than not, I end up with some amazing decisions that I can use to brainstorm other decisions that help peel back the layers of dimensionality. And yeah, those decisions immediately make their way into my Character Decision List in the post below. [...]

  5. MaryAn on Friday: 19 January 2007|1428

    The problem with the scoop thingie is, Unk, that your own stuff isn’t on there. Now, I realize you expect us to come HERE to get the goods from you, but if the point is to put all the best stuff in one place, then DO IT!

  6. Unk on Friday: 19 January 2007|1749

    Mary Anita…

    I would NEVER propose to put my own stuff up there… I just spout it out here… If you can use it, outstanding!

    Unk

  7. adam on Sunday: 21 January 2007|2138

    Just 10 short days after you posted this, the importance finally hit me. I wasn’t exactly sure how to “use” such a list a first, besides just keeping it.

    I’m slow at putting one and one together, but when I do, I almost always get TWO.

    The most essential thing about conflict in a script is how it “reveals” character. Yeah, yeah, it moves the plot and adds excitement, but nothing else reveals “inner character” like the way a character reacts in the face of crisis does. So this list is really a very important list . . . maybe the most important. This is all of the REVELATIONS of character.

    Am I overstating or piling on?

    This just keeps getting easier and EASIER!!!

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