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Lesson 26
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ASSIGNMENT
Subject line: Pat’s Solved Character Problems!
What I learned doing this assignment is how to check out my characters to make them better.
1. Check your lead characters to see if they have any of the problems listed in this lesson.
• A. Weak protagonist or antagonist. Need to add more scenes for Elaine.
• B. Protagonist Too Good or Antagonist Too Bad. No
• C. Weak character intros. Weak intro for Elaine
• D. Characters not in action. Need to make Elaine more active.
• E. Protagonist journey not strong. Need to make Elaine’s journey more prominent.
• F. All the characters seem the same. No
• G. Lead characters not present. All characters are present.
2. For any character problems you find, make the prescribed improvements.
Working on this.
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Tasha Solved Character Problems!
Doing this assignment, I learned: it is important to check that your character’s profiles are present in the story otherwise the character doesn’t really exist.
1. Check your lead characters to see if they have any of the problems listed in this lesson.
A. Weak protagonist or antagonist.
B. Protagonist Too Good or Antagonist Too Bad.
C. Weak character intros.
D. Characters not in action.
E. Protagonist journey not strong.
F. All the characters seem the same.
G. Lead characters not present.
Bethany
Is she a weak Protag because I focus too much on making her likable?
I think Bethany is likable, but I have put her in some situations where she’s been pushed and she does or says some things that aren’t nice and are selfish.
I think Bethany is pushed out of her box and as a result the audience is engaged in feeling several ways about her: some main emotions are awe, worry and frustration.
Awe because of her spiritual ability.
Worry because she has a priest that wants to kill her and a demon that’s starting to get physical with her.
Frustration because she doubts herself.
Is Bethany too Good – is she not relatable? Is Bethany a good person doing bad things?
She does a few unlikeable things when she’s stressed or scared like yell at a priest. She is a good person who does bad things when she selfishly tries to date Brad even though she knows it might result in his harm.
Are her two intros weak? Is she introduced in action or is she a talking head?
When she’s first introduced, she doesn’t say much, instead she saves herself from a demon, so I think that’s pretty good action.
Her second intro is a talking head but then the things she’s describing are also depicted so there is action as well.
Can her words be delivered through action?
There are some spots where her meaning can be established through action and tweaks have been made accordingly.
Do her actions deliver a deeper meaning?
There are some moments where action should be used to to establish a deeper meaning and tweaks have been made accordingly.
Is her journey not strong enough?
Her journey is pretty strong but the Old ways need to be better defined through Deacon Anders teachings. What are the old ways she experiences with Deacon Anders. He doesn’t provide her with a very good spiritual foundation. In the confessional scene he needs to make her feel more guilty. I need to better define the rules of his spiritual guidance for Bethany.
Does she seem the same as the other characters?
These are the characteristics that need to come through: sweetness, perseverance, shame, worry, awkwardness, humor, self-deprecation. Strangely, she’s not fearful of the Demon 23, she’s fearful of not being loved.
How does each line deliver at least one of these?
She uses humor in most of what she says but she isn’t sarcastic with it too much, mostly the sweetness drives her to be polite. So she has polite humor.
How does each action show the character’s uniqueness?
Her perseverance drives her forward. A lot of people try to shut her down, but the drive forward is natural for her in this particular journey. She doesn’t ever deliberate about if she should pursue a “lead” regarding the question she’s trying to answer, she just acts.
Is she not present in most of the story?
She is present in every scene of the story.
The areas I’m working on to elevate Bethany as a protagonist are: delivering meaning through action, making sure her dialogue is consistent with her characteristics, balancing her journey with her using the old ways more specifically in the beginning.
Deacon Anders
Is he weak? Is he an expression of Bethany’s greatest fears? Does he force her into difficult situations?
No, he’s not weak. Bethany’s fear is that she’s not loveable and Deacon Anders not only creates this by actively ruining her love life, he feels she’s actually evil and makes plans to kill her.
Too bad? Is he balanced? Does he have a reason for what he is doing? Is he a bad person doing good things?
No, he’s not too bad. He’s actually friendly with Bethany when he thinks her threat is contained. It’s when he brings Demon 23 into play that he starts to become colder to Bethany and more villain like. And he’s only a villain to Bethany because he thinks it’s his God-given mission to deal with Bethany’s “evil” that he thinks she has because of her past possession. He’s a priest, so he does a lot of good things especially if they will further his position in the church. As for people, I think he thinks they’re fun but doesn’t really concern himself with their well-being if it doesn’t suit his agenda.
Is his intro weak? Is he introduced in action or is he talking head?
He’s introduced in action as he’s being terrorized by a demon he’s supposed to help exorcise. He’s so scared, he actually tries to kill Bethany because she’s the demon’s host and he thinks he can stop the torment by killing her.
Can his words be delivered through action?
There are some spots where her meaning can be established through action and tweaks have been made accordingly.
Do his actions deliver a deeper meaning?
There are some moments where action should be used to to establish a deeper meaning and tweaks have been made accordingly.
Does the antag seem the same as all the other characters?
These are the characteristics that need to come through: two-faced, righteous, seemingly genuine kindness, guilt and concern for manipulation, friendly
How does each line deliver at least one of these?
His manipulation of Bethany is at first masked by kindness and you think he has an actual friendship with her, but when he has the fight with Bethany and she pulls away, his manipulation feels more two-faced. The righteousness needs to be amped up during Act 4.
How does each action show the character’s uniqueness?
It shows his uniqueness because each action is about getting him to his end goal, which he actively uses black magic to attain, despite being a priest.
The areas I’m working on to elevate Deacon Anders as an antagonist are: delivering meaning through action, beefing up his righteousness during the 4th act, doing a pass to make sure his actions show his uniqueness as a character.
Demon 23
Deacon Anders
Is he weak? Is he an expression of Bethany’s greatest fears? Does he force her into difficult situations?
No, he’s not weak. He is the manifestation of Bethany’s greatest fears – that she’s unlovable because of her past possession. He puts her into difficult situations with his toxic ex behavior in poltergeist form.
Too bad? Is he balanced? Does he have a reason for what he is doing? Is he a bad person doing good things?
Yes, he is balanced. When he realizes he’s been attached to Bethany to do Deacon Ander’s bidding, he starts to rebel and help Bethany. Eventually he comes to realize that he doesn’t want to possess Bethany, he actually loves her and ultimately helps her defeat Deacon Anders and tells Bethany his name so she can send him away.
Is his intro weak? Is he introduced in action or is he talking head?
He’s introduced in action as he possesses Bethany, but he’s not really established as a character who will come back later in the story. Not sure if this is needed. But maybe there needs to be a characteristic of the possession that is present when Demon 23 starts to make his presence known later in the story.
Can his words be delivered through action?
His meaning is mostly delivered through action.
Do his actions deliver a deeper meaning?
There are some moments where action should be used to to establish a deeper meaning and tweaks have been made accordingly.
Does the antag seem the same as all the other characters?
These are the characteristics that need to come through: jealousy, possessive, initial disorientation, rough around the edges, helpful eventually, remorseful
How does each line deliver at least one of these?
Mostly by the time he’s chatting with Bethany, he’s remorseful and he’s trying to figure out how to fix it, but he’s uncouth so it doesn’t come off great.
How does each action show the character’s uniqueness?
Well, he’s basically an abusive ex in the form of a demonic presence that can only use a poltergeist-like action to express himself in the beginning of the story. As a demon, he goes a long way in redeeming himself when he helps Bethany defeat Deacon Anders. The fact that he even tries to help Bethany makes him unique as a demon.
The areas I’m working on to elevate Demon 23 as an antagonist are: delivering his character traits via his words when he does get a chance to speak, making sure the possessive ex set-up and pay-off are strong, defining his uniqueness in the opening and then paying that off throughout the story.
2. For any character problems you find, make the prescribed improvements.
Improvements have been added.
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