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Day 3 Assignment
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12 Replies
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KZ gets deep into her characters.
What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is… understanding the collection of traits that creates a Regular or Extreme person, and a Bad Guy or a Good Guy. I have used David Freeman’s “character diamond,” but I had never thought about giving the baddie and the goodie one trait in common, or looking for extreme traits. I hold back with my characters and try to make them too “likeable” — and haven’t found that balance between extreme traits and making them so good, they’re boring.
Since I’m not getting together with people at the moment because of Covid and winter, and all the co-workers I regularly Zoom with are normal and not at all extreme, my characters are my neighbor and his latest girlfriend, and a person I like who lives in another state.
Person 1 – Aging Lothario
• Narcissist
• Charming
• Know-nothing know-it-all
• Phony woo-wooPerson 2 – Facebook Conquest
• Eager to please
• Whining
• Know-nothing know-it-all
• Woo-wooThe “Conquest” caught Covid while she was traveling (and gave it to the Aging Lothario). His illness wasn’t terrible because he was vaxxed, she was sick for the entire 3 weeks she came to stay because she was unvaxxed. Unvaxxed fits the “Know-nothing-Know it all” trait.
The Lothario’s charming trait is confirmed time and time again because he manages to convince these women (who are always about 20 years younger) and who are Facebook friends, to travel for a fling with long-term relationship possibilities (which never materialize because he’s insufferable).
Narcissist – confirmed: when asked during a phone call how the Conquest was recovering from Covid, he talked about playing guitar at a local restaurant and how in awe everyone was of his playing, because he’s “one of the top guitarists in the country.” When pressed about the Covid infections, he said that he was okay, but “the other person” was not doing well. The typical pattern with his Facebook Conquests is that once they move out of the “you’re awesome” phase and criticize him, even about responding too slowly to texts, he begins to otherize and demonize them.
Conquest: – the Narcissist has the trappings of wealth, although it’s a mirage, so on her first visit, the Conquest was eager to please; perhaps even desperate to please. Speaking a little too fast, flapping her hands, laughing a bit too enthusiastically. She and the Narcissist talk a bunch of New Age woo-woo nonsense. She seems to believe it. The Narcissist, I suspect, uses it as a line to seduce this kind of woman. Or has he used it for so many decades that he’s come to believe it as well? Hard to say.
Person 3 – Retiree
• Ditzy
• Good sense of humor
• Nurturing
• Socially bumblingThis person is someone I really like, but she can hardly ever follow the thread of a story, and will stop multiple times to say, “Wait. What?” She embraces her ditziness and throws herself into the role, pleading for input on huge life decisions that only she can make, but wanting someone else to do it for her.
She once accidentally sent a sext out to her entire office. (socially bumbling)
She’s very loving to her new dog, and nursed her previous aging dog through illness.
She makes delicious food and homemade bread and all her neighbors love her. (nurturing)A wealthy friend doesn’t like to be around her because of her ditziness, and she can feel his disapproval, but doesn’t know why, and is constantly trying to loop him in on Zoom calls with a group of friends. (ditziness, social bumbling)
This wealthy friend also has health problems and she once made a peach cobbler and insisted on dropping it off at his house, even though she was told it was something he couldn’t eat. (practical, waste-not, social bumbling)
She likes the show Ozark, which is very dark, and not sure how that fits in with her other traits, but it’s certainly another aspect to her personality worth considering — especially since it seems out of character.
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Lesson #3
George Verongos gets Deep Into His Characters
What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is… core traits help to guide each character’s reaction/interaction/action, instead of having a reaction in mind and forcing a momentary trait onto a character for the sake of a scene.
Person 1:
- Guarded
- Mouthy
- Daring
- Empathetic
Person 2:
- Naïve
- Self-conscious
- Follower
- Introvert
Person 3:
- Overconfident
- Shallow
- Conniving
- Demanding
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Ed profiles people.
What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is characters are just as same as real people when it comes to the consistency of their behaviors, decision making, and reaction to others, in other words, their traits. As they say a zebra can’t change its strips. Having a well defined character traits is good, what’s better is how to apply them in the writing process for our characters in their dialogue, actions, and reactions. I must give this detail and dicipline more effort. My characters are defined and I use a profile. However, I find I not staying loyal enough to those profiles and those profiles can go more extreme, for a trait or two.
I have to keep in mind the character arc changes and there’s a transformational journey, however at the end, they are still the core person who set out on their journey. At the end they should have learned something about themselves and or the world they inhabit, however they’re still are the same character. At the end of Casablanca, Rick is still the heartbroken, jaded, expatriate he was when we met him. Except now he’s not as alone, made a friend in Louie, and got over his breakup with Elsa, but he’s still Rick.
PERSON # 1
Manipulator
Outgoing
Confident
Arrogant
PERSON # 2
Intelligent
Determined
Independant
Impatient
PERSON # 3
Compassionate
Dedicated
Adventurous
Private
I’ve know these individuals for a long time. If they didn’t exhibit these traits long the way, I’d be worried something is off. For all of us our behaviors are probably more obvious to others than they are to ourselves. If we had to list our own traits they probably be different than those assigned by others who know us best.
I’ve witnessed Person # 1, trying to change his behavior, (traits) it didn’t last more than a couple of weeks. As they say a zebra can’t change its stripes. We are comfortable in our own skin, sometimes to the point being detrimental.
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Amechi Profiles People
What I learned doing this assignment is to remember that extreme traits make for more interesting characters, actions, and dialogue.
PERSON 1 (JF)
CORE TRAITS – 1. Justice seeker 2. Jealous 3. Self-Depreciating 4. ClownPERSON 2 (JM)
CORE TRAITS – 1. Old-Fashioned 2. Dramatic 3. Overexcited 4. UnreliablePERSON 3 (AU)
CORE TRAITS – 1. Wounded 2. Warmhearted 3. Worrier 4. Hierarchical/Family-OrientedI adjusted one of the traits of each after spending time with them this weekend.
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Title: Gary Profiles People
Person 1:
Deeply religious.
Extremely critical of “others”, (not doing what he thinks they should be doing)
Gregarious to someone in need, (give shirt off his back).
Needs to work on self esteem.
Person 2:
Self righteous, (always thinks they are right)
Funny, (uses humor often)
Over thinker, (worries constantly)
Looks out for others and takes care of people in need
Person 3:
Flirty
Self deprecating
White lies, (will tell you what they think they want you to hear)
Unreliable
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DEEP INTO YOUR CHARACTERS
Judith’s Profiles People
What I learned is writing out the interactions of a person helps me focus on their traits. However, it is still a challenge for me to identify what each trait is for each person.
Person 1 –
Stingy
Aggressive
Charming
Deceitful
Person 2 –
Conservative
Generous
Self-absorbed
Stubborn
Person 3 –
Resentful
Organized
Controlling
Loyal
Even though writing out the interactions with these people helped me find their traits, I’m still feeling very challenged to come up with scenes for a whole script to apply these traits in actions and dialogue.
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Sandra Profiles People
What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is to create unique characters with interesting and extreme traits instead of ordinary traits, and show it through interesting actions and dialogue. Take it to the extreme.
Person 1 Traits:
Intelligent
Perfectionist
Stubborn/Hardheaded
Anxious/Fearful
Person 2 Traits:
Charming
Opinionated/Prejudiced
Naïve
Motherly/Over-bearing
Person 3 Traits:
Athletic
Impulsive
Manipulative
Explosive
Results of Testing: I currently do not have any EXTREME people in my life, so I used people from the past and recalled situations and how they reacted. In all three individuals, the traits stayed the same, and it was easy to see patterns. When they were under stress or things didn’t go their way, the negative traits would intensify even more.
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Maureen Profiles People
What I’ve learned: That some core traits are more apparent than others, but when pushed by the right events and circumstances, they reveal themselves. Circumstances and events in my writing can and should push the revelation of deeper traits in my own characters.
PERSON 1-
Empathetic
Charming
Nasty
Liar
PERSON 2
Funny
Non Committal /Plays Both Sides
Charming
Wily/Sly
PERSON 3
Witty
Charming
Biting
Vindictive
After being tested, Person 2 showed himself to be Brave and Resolved rather than Non-committal and Playing both sides.
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ASSIGNMENT 3
Title: Ed Profiles People
What I’ve learned that improves my writing is that people are neither all good nor all bad. Everyone is a patchwork of qualities, traits, desires, triumphs, disappointments, etc, etc, which occasionally ought to at least be hinted at. It never hurts to discover a smidge of sympathy for a villain (like Ebenezer Scrooge) or that the hero is also a jerk (like Sherlock Holmes).
This assignment was challenging to complete in the allotted time (failed miserably). And now I have to figure out how to release these people from my basement without incurring some sort of reprisal. But I’ll figure it out. I always do.
Person 1: Controlling, Secretive, Judgmental, Self-critical
Person 1 has admitted to wanting, more than anything, to be loved by someone, but as soon as someone appears close to fulfilling that role, Person 1 can’t resist controlling them to an unreasonable degree, which then drives them away.
Person 2: Intelligent, Reliable, Personable, Compliant
This man is socially immature in that he’s too easily influenced by the woman in his life, and tends not to think for himself. Confuses loving someone with always agreeing with them.
Person 3: Polished, Well-spoken, Refined, Lazy, Self-centered.
This man, a longtime member of the clergy, prefers the approval of others and “the finer things in life” over standing for principles. Gifted with a wonderful voice and polished demeanor, he desires accolades and a genteel lifestyle above all.
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Steve John Bennett Profiles People
Person 1
Supportive
Kind
Reactive
Trapped
Person 2
Controlling
Critical
Argumentative
Driven
I work with this father/daughter combination and watching them bounce off each other and scrap confirms their traits.
(Had to wait for the weekend to meet them, and fell behind…)
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It turns out this exercise is impossible for me to do with people I’m currently in relationship with, because I’ve spent the last two decades removing all traces of extreme characters from my life. So instead of basing it on current extreme personalities, I chose adults from my childhood who were extreme. While this was fruitful, it didn’t allow me to do the “testing” phase of this exercise, where I interact with them. What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is that most of my main characters in my projects are dull. I will make sure that I never do that again AND will go back to my projects and re-think my characters to make them more extreme.
Person 1
Charming, funny, violent, cruel
Person 2
Brilliant, Caring, Addict, Liar
Person 3
Sweet, caring, extreme narcissism, terrified
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Daniel profiles people.
What I learned is how to both give a character some depth and consistency. It makes them come across more real and fleshed out.
Person #1
* Highly intelligent
* Very judgmental
* Needs to be the big brother-authoritative
* Argumentative
Person #2
* Damaged
* Non-Trusting
* Suspicious
* Blameless
Person #3
* Impulsive
* Emotional
* Argumentative
* Strong willed
I have known all of them for quite some time. They were all consistent. We were just interacting and they had no idea what I was up to but their traits have been consistent since I’ve known them.
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