Lesson 3

[Brenda Boddy]

BRENDA BODDY – PROFILES PEOPLE

What I learned…I found this extremely interesting. You subconsciously know things about people without really profiling them. Once I did this, I reacted to them differently. Before things about them bothered me. Now I’m realize it’s just them and their traits. I’m excited to do this with my characters.

PERSON D: Regular person: Two normal traits and two extreme traits.

Hard working, Protective, Racial, His way is the right way. This person is always working and providing for his family. He loves his children and wants them to succeed, but always tells them what to do ‘in his opinion’. He doesn’t like mixed races and won’t let anyone tell him what to do. Becomes angry if you disagree with him or ignore his advice.

Person K: Regular person: Two normal traits and two extreme traits.

Super friendly, lazy, emotionally immature, fake. This person feels like your best friend and tells you all the great things he has done and can accomplish for you. However, he often can’t do those things and is just faking you out. To your face he is industrious and the one you can count on. Behind your back he immediately stops working and lets things slide or does a bare minimum job to fake you out that he was working.

Person A: Extreme person: two extreme traits and two normal traits.

Depressed, withdrawn, hates herself, hard worker, true friend. This person will back you to the end, but she’s often unreliable because she’s wrapped up in her world and how she feels. She constantly tells herself that she’s useless, anxious, and depressed. She knows how important it is to accept herself for who she is, to exercise and oxygenate her body to stay alert and feel good, but her first reaction to anything is, “I don’t want to be fat’, and she goes to bed to sleep as often as she can.

MY SCRIPT: BORDER JUSTICE

Person Justice: GOOD GUY IN MY SCRIPT: One extreme good guy trait, two normal traits, and one bad guy trait.

He’s laid back, kind, and won’t let anyone be rough with women or animals, his handshake and his word is his bond, he’s a hard worker, and he will kill anyone who gets in his way.

As a lawman, Justice uses his superpower of helping others. When he says he’ll get the job done…he’ll get the job done, even if it means he must kill the bad guy. He’s never afraid to charge into danger.

Person Mason: Extreme person: Two normal traits and two extreme traits.

Rule follower, loyal, sharp dresser (cares how he appears to others), excitable and anxious.

Mason is Justice’s partner. Where Justice fears nothing and charges into danger, Mason over-thinks, and worries about consequences. He will reluctantly follow but doesn’t like to cut corners or be on the wrong side of the ‘rules’.

Person Cuervo: BAD GUY: Two extreme bad traits, one trait that is similar to the good guy, one positive trait.

Ruthless, Corrupt, Will kill anyone in her way, loves her son.

Cuervo is shipping drugs and women across the border. Her son is her right arm that gets things done. If she feels her son is in danger, she will do whatever it takes to protect him.

[Alfred Dunham]

New ideas and nudges are always helpful.

[Leah Gunderson]

Brenda,

I love this because without clear boundaries there is merely an enmeshment of codependent, homogenous personas. The essence is dull and impossible to distinguish – even if these kinds of characters/people hit all the milestones of story/human development. Act 1 – They are born. Act 2 – They grow and have relationships resulting in kids so they work at a job. Act 3 – They die. This could be anyone or any character in any story or even a moss piglet.

With clear boundaries, everyone/character can independently govern their lives. They can act! And they can do so according to their unique take on life and their personally, unique traits. Now you can have a John Wick or a Mary Poppins.

I agree there is a subconscious activity at play because under our assumptions and biases, there is often a more accurate rendering.

[Lynn Vincentnathan]

Lynn Profiles People

What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is to give my characters several more extreme core traits, some good, some bad. I already did this in the Writing Incredible Movies course, but am revisiting it here and making sure I have these complex of traits for my characters. And hope to make them more “extreme.”

I had even been thinking for some time that the trait configurations of these persons below might be great for some movie characters… I think my script characters are more bland than those below in real life :).

================================================

PERSON 1, Core Traits:
– great people skills, protocol polite, great with children– liar, cheater, thief (seems pathological, but more likely intentional)
– inner rage, anger, jealousy, destructive
– victim/failure (convinces others that he is) – as perpetrator, he gets others to consider him the victim, makes his victims into the perpetrators. People feel sorry for him, a failure, supposedly due to others, blames his victims as “perpetrators.”
– stubborn, refuses to acknowledge any wrong-doing at all, whatsoever.
– alcoholic

PERSON 2, Core Traits:
– natural leader & fun party guy
– successful
– good family man
– feels something lacking, strives to overcome that
– alcoholic, but overcomes it at times

PERSON 3, Core Traits:
– compliant and pleasant, seems reasonable much of the time
– pathological jealousy & suspicion

– paranoid, cannot hold down a job
– depressed

============================

My main characters in WEATHERING IT (rom-com): Two college students struggle to overcome family fights about global warming, then try to get married during the worst ever Texas freeze.

ELLIE (protag):
– somber (eco-despair, father abandonment, mother passed)
– dedicated to saving the earth, never wants to marry
– loyal to her Uncle Layo and his alt energy inventions
– fears her anger problem, fears hurting others, turning them off

JIM (protag):
– playful playboy, covering
– deep sorrow, father loss (hides it)
– loyal to his mother and Uncle Fred
– somewhat reckless/suicidal due to obligation to work for Fred

LAYO (antag):
– misanthrope, trusts no one but Ellie
– committed to inventing alt energy projects
– crude, cantankerous
– stubborn, but his affection wins out

FRED (antag):
– negative, rude
– demanding
– successful businessman, driven
– affection for and commitment to brother’s family (Jim and his mother)

[Alfred Dunham]

Might intentionally be, in fact, pathological? Alcoholism is listed in DSM.

[Lynn Vincentnathan]

Seems that alcoholism is just one trait and the person with that trait has a very different configuration of other traits. I remember when I took “Health Ed” in jr college, we had a section on substance abuse (alcoholism and mj use). The expert said that alcohol brings out different traits for different people, and I insisted that it made everyone mean and difficult. But I now see these 2 persons on my list are very different, one more mean and difficult than when sober and the other mellow and fun to be with… sorta silly philosophical.

[Leah Gunderson]

Lynn,

Here is what I am learning from your posting:

Give the characters a mix of extremely attractive/repulsive and good/bad traits with which to express their essence.

Thx.

[Jeremy Cooke]

What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is to take time before starting to make small sketches of the characters and use what I know about them when they are called upon to react.

Person 1: Kind, stubborn, overbearing

Rejected their advice and they stormed out.

Person 2: Fantasist, tries to please everybody, weak.

They agreed with what I said, then agreed the opposite with the next person they met.

Person 3: Generous, clever, know it all.

When someone said something wrong and they overheard it they had to poke their nose in and correct others.

Script I choose: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/e2hnxz4odqqln9w/The%20Lighthouse%20Keepers%20Wife%20v0.pdf?dl=0)

Ezra: Impulsive, Quick to anger, Generous, Easily hurt

Doctor: Genial, Pompous, Self-deluding, Curious, Selfish, Dangerous when crossed, Cruel, Vindictive.

Emma: Proud, Susceptible to flattery, Romantic, Protective, Naive

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Jeremy Cooke.

[Leah Gunderson]

Jeremy,

I feel a pull towards horror with thoughts of reactions.

Here’s what I’ll remember from your posting:

Create character profiles. Know potential reactions. Know how the essence can be expressed by each character in ways that compliment the story’s essence.

[Leah Gunderson]

Leah Profiles People

What I’ve learned to improve my writing is that I need to treat all characters like real people and to profile them with extreme traits.

Person 1 – Someone I really like whose overriding need is to do the “right” thing:

1. Honest in emotions, words, behaviors, and intent.
2. Funny sense of humor that stems from genuine personality without making anyone the joke.
3. Stubbornness drives to completion of plans (even if should’ve stopped or changed plans).
4. Fearful of future via belief that something external is still needed to be safe and secure.

*I was wrong. She is after approval.

Person 2 – Someone I really don’t like whose overriding need is to manipulate:

1. Publicly purports to have qualities to gain followers, but knows the qualities are a charade.
2. Outwardly anodyne to gain trust while fleecing others for personal information and fears.
3. Triangulates relationships and then “helps out” to solve the relationship “problems”.
4. Constantly alert to threats via new people or surprise situations that may expose culpability.

*I was wrong. He is after control for monetary gain.

Person 3 – Someone I really admire whose overriding need is growth to greater maturity:

1. Reflective of daily experiences with a resilient tolerance fostering love of self and others.
2. Sincerely seeks for opportunities to make personal, fundamental changes as needed.
3. Knows to affirm extremes emotions and to route these into useful actions and expressions.
4. Has chosen to truthfully settle up with what life demands while placing concepts of self within the optimism of personal determination and agency, but there are negativities in life that will never change and these can be very difficult to accept and difficult to manage because these can bring deep shocks of sorrow.

*I was right and wrong. He is after wisdom obtained through personal maturity.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Leah Gunderson.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Leah Gunderson.

[Jeremy Cooke]

The key word I pick up on is “extreme traits”. No point in someone getting mildly tetchy. Drama is found at the margins – well the stuff I like anyway.

[Leah Gunderson]

Jeremy,

I agree. Maybe mild Mary will kill me over aggressive approval needs! You never know!!!!

And maybe my wisdom seeking friend is actually a GOD!!! Hello Jesus!. LOL

[Yannis Zafeiriou]

Yanni Profiles People

(and learns to be a little less judgmental)

What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is that people are a lot less complicated than I think they usually are. I tend to fixate on behaviours that aren’t their core traits, ie fixate on unpleasant interactions that may not reflect who they are at their core. Testing them in different scenarios led to surprising results, e.g. someone I thought of as an “extreme bad guy” turned out to be a “regular good guy” and one person who I thought was an “extreme bad guy” turned out to be an “extreme good person.” Interestingly enough, with the third person I tested, I thought they would be an “extreme bad guy” so I tried adding many positive traits, but the testing confirmed my original hypothesis. The most crucial part of this exercise is definitely testing them out in different scenarios. Additionally, people have so many more than 4 core traits, so when writing, we could take the same character and bend them to be either good or bad depending on which traits we focus on. We can also make them more extreme by amping up a certain characteristic, which makes them more interesting/guides their behaviour more.

Person 1: Generous, Caring, Complimentary, Narcissistic. I thought she would be an “extreme bad guy” but she turned out to be a “Regular Good Guy” because many of the negative traits I tested (selfish, manipulative, etc.) didn’t persist in all scenarios.

Person 2: Generous, Caring, Martyr, Obsessive. Extreme Good Guy. However, if I substituted “Overly Critical” for one of her positive core traits, I could paint her (as a character) as an Extreme Bad Guy.

Person 3: Generous, Obsessive, Melodramatic, Charming. My hypothesis was that he would be an Extreme Bad Guy, so I tested multiple positive traits that he also has, but they didn’t persist in every scenario. So my initial hypothesis stands.

[Leah Gunderson]

Yanni,

Does reality exist without an observer?

And can we increase compassion and empathy while exercising discernment?

It seems to me that one reason Heath Ledger’s Joker is so impactful is that all of the distractions of complications and projections of complexity cannot hide the simple profound truth of what connects the him with Batman . . . they are the same.

What did the mighty war horse, Bucephalus, who carried Alexander the Great fear? His own shadow.

I believe we do need to appreciate all the complexities that come with humanity. After all, complications take a lot of work and are deserving of appreciation. But beneath all the shenanigans we find flawed, imperfect people who are fundamentally the same and it may be that their greatest fear is their own shadows (past).

It makes me think of my brother’s friend – I’ll call him Rakesh. Rakesh’s family has a family temple that is over 600 years old. As I imagine about this temple, I feel my arms stretch across oceans with my hands searching through dense jungle vines until I touch the cool exterior of the temple. Stepping inside, I read an eternal sentence that contains all the stories of the all lives that have ever lived and will ever live engraved in once continuous circle along the edges of the temple’s ceiling: The past is immovable.

For some, acceptance brings joyous expansions into wisdom. For others, shame imposes a constant burden to hide. So, can we judge? Maybe I can judge me. But as writers perhaps we are not didactically judging as much as we are discerning – and best way to engage discernment is experience . . . even the experience of a fictitious story.

Essence, I think, cannot be forced as truth stands on its own accord. I believe it must be discerned by putting all the peripheral aside – even if this means the capital “I” must bow down in order to really perceive another person, a new character, a new me who is less judgmental.

Thx for the thought.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Leah Gunderson.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Leah Gunderson.

[Angelina Fluehler]

Hi there

I actually made similar exersice in a frame of the other class. I dont have much time to observe people I know at the moment so I decided to take my three characters instead as an example here.

Terry:

World
View: Curious, looking for deeper understanding (intellectual);

Independent & Proactive; Do it yourself; Has
a heart

Life
Metaphor: There is nothing impossible

Rules
and strategies: Keeping adapting to become a better version of himself;

Justification: Does things for discovery
and for learning

Agent Torn:

World View: Analytical; Do it yourself; Looking to achieve the end result

Life
Metaphor: I’m the best. Winner trait,
but more on the surface

Rules
and strategies: Part of the system; System’s strategy & rules; Doer.

Justifications: Simply wants to achieve the
goals

Gabriel:

World View: Rewarding; Proactive; Supervisor; Helping

Life Metaphor: I want to give you a chance

Rules and strategies: Managing souls &
energies

Justifications: Angels help people. Terry fails this time , he will be in a trouble and it will be on the todo list of Gabriel.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Angelina Fluehler.

[Leah Gunderson]

Angelina,

From your posting, I’ll remember to observe the character I create and so what I can to make they real within the context of the story and to the audience who for a moment is living within that story.

LOL. I don’t know why I just thought of Pinocchio in Shrek exclaiming, “I’m a real boy!”

[Alfred Dunham]

(Alfred Dunham) Profiles People.

What I learned is:

It is worthwhile to double down on what makes one’s Characters work.

In CAFE, the story I’m trying to develop:

JAKE: The Subjective Main Character and Objective Protagonist Character [he’s the Character with the Story Goal (Active characteristic of ”Pursue” and Static characteristic of “Consider”)] is a lonely surgeon whose wife has died. That’s clearly NOT enough!

RAISA: Jake’s Subjective Impact or Opposition Character and Objective Guardian [the Character that Helps the Protagonist reach his goal] (Active characteristic of “Help” and Static characteristic of “Conscience”)] is the Café’s waitress who seems only half alive. Again, this is not nearly enough. Jake is used to giving orders; Raisa is used to taking orders and not complaining. That’s better but still not nearly enough. I had to do some deep thinking to expand their characteristics to something more dynamic and useable.

One can substitute, from Star Wars, Luke Skywalker and Obi-wan Kenobi. They have the same definitions, but they are very different people from Jake and Raisa. We need MUCH more. The significant details make the difference.

Lesson 3

PERSON 1

Fearful

Legalistic

Serious

Well-meaning

Person 1 is a religious fanatic who sees deep, nefarious shadows in everything he encounters, yet he is friendly, loves to converse, and will allow one the dignity of one’s own conscience even though he seriously thinks they are “going to hell.”

PERSON 2

Penitent

Friendly

Trustworthy

Unhygienic

Person 2 grew up as “one of the lads” (English) despite being a member of an exclusive religious community, and that community, including his wife and son, finally expelled him as “dead.” As he grew older, he converted to one of the more standard “world religions,” became eccentrically penitent, referring to himself as “[First Name] the Sinner.” Brilliant and consummately trustworthy, he will always be one of the primary influences in my life, but he loved to scour garbage cans for broken tools, especially, and anything else he could find.

PERSON 3

Soft-spoken

Cooperative

Fear of metal

Dangerous

Person 3 is a lovely person on the surface. He is friendly, soft-spoken, cooperative, a good son, calling his mother regularly and will talk to her for hours – but the phone has never been connected, and his mother is dead, along with his sister – and he is the reason they are dead. He is schizophrenic, hears voices telling him what to do, and is terrified of metal, especially in or around his head [he thinks people are reading his mind from the signals from the metal] – a potential problem for his dentist. He will discuss – even allow, on a trial basis, a metal crown on a broken tooth – but it can also drive him over the edge. You NEVER turn your back on this person. It’s why he’s in the psychiatric section of a State Prison and is no longer free to go home. But before he killed his family –?

[Leah Gunderson]

Alfred Gene,

Yes! I agree. The characters must work.

Thx

[Rodger Plack]

Rodger Plack

What I learned is.. as in Hal’s example with his friend. People do not change much. Their deep-rooted personality traits seem to come through no matter how hard they try to fight or hide it. People are who they are. Obviously there sometimes is some type of personal growth. But, most people do not seem to disappoint in being who they are.

Person A:

Greedy, Backstabber, Good Mother, organized, has to win.

This is a person I used to work with. To avoid conflicts I gave the person the benefit of the doubt. Eventually, I was blindsided and fired. Things worked out for the best for both of us. This person constantly comes into my new place of work. She was not a regular here before. It has been 6 years, she came in last night for Mother’s Day. She always acts like we’re best friends and wants to talk to me. I’m cordial but then go on my way. I think she actually thinks we’re friends. But, you set me up and got me fired, we are done.

Person B:

Alcoholic, Doesn’t take responsibility, Peter Pan syndrome, Fun/funny, Great storyteller.

Long time roommate and friend. Has never grown up. Nothing is ever his fault. Really nice guy but when he gets he does not respect people or their property. Fighting some kind of childhood demons. Really fun guy until he has too much. Hasn’t changed as of the last meeting.

Person C:

Sexy/seductress, Outgoing, Center of attention, open-minded, scammer.

Nice and considerate person on the outside but you never know if this is genuine or a trap. This is obviously an ex-girlfriend. We hadn’t talked in a while but she broke up with her current boyfriend so she is calling, texting, Facebooking etc.. She has not changed. She is after something. She is one of those people she is what she is, take it or leave it. I left.

Story Characters:

Solley:

Free-spirit, Alcoholic, Destructive behavior, Needs to be the center of attention, needs affirmation from others, wants to be loved/accepted.

Drew:

Insecure, Takes the easy road, Nice guy, Country boy-Southern charm.

Jerry:

Loner, Naive/slow, handyman wizard, seeks to be accepted, poor communication skills, low self worth.

[Leah Gunderson]

Rodger,

Here is what I’m learning from your posting:

Knowing that people are who they are can really make setting up flip-characters a lot of fun!

Like Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Professor Severus Snape. Alan really got that essence!

[Brian Walsh]

Brian
G. Walsh Profiles People

What I’ve learned to improve my writing is that perceived character traits
aren’t real if they aren’t demonstrated. For a character trait to be
real it must reflect the essence of the character and these traits
will reveal themselves in dialogue and actions.

This
didn’t work very well for me at first. Two of the first three people
I attempted to profile did not match the character traits I perceived
in them, which means I don’t have an accurate accounting of their
essence.

I
was able to get two of the next three people I profiled to work, more
or less. Not every trait was demonstrated, some were hinted at, but I
am confident that, given more time and opportunity, those traits that
were hinted at would be fully revealed.

Person 1

Gregarious

Sympathetic

Self-absorbed

Exhibitionist

Although
she is an exhibitionist, I misinterpreted her need to be wanted and
her need for attention as simple self-absorption. She hates being
alone and needs friends around her all the time. She moved from
another state and has no close relatives here. When you get to know
her you understand that she’s not always flirting to gain compliments
and attention, but it’s because she wants you to stay because she
gets lonely when she’s by herself. She clings to you and invents
reasons for you to stay longer just to avoid being alone.

Person
2

Narcissistic

Duplicitous

Uber-Patriot

Bigoted

I
was right about him. Although he comes off as a regular guy if you
don’t know him well, the more you are around him, the more you
realize what drives him. He feels he is smarter than everyone else
and is rigid in his beliefs. He is the kind of person who thinks a
loyal American never criticizes anything his country does, not matter
how wrong. If you tell him you hold your country to a higher standard
because you love America and want to be proud of it, he will tell you
that you should move out of the country if you want to criticize it.
He makes a point of denigrating other people when they are not
around, which I’m sure includes me.

Person
3

Abrasive

Dismissive

Dutiful

Judgmental

I
found that Person 3 feels that sugar-coating things, as he puts it,
only makes matters worse. He has no patience for what he calls
“stupid people doing stupid things.” He doesn’t tolerate what he
calls “stupid questions.” He works hard and goes out of his way
to tell people when they are doing something wrong, and he doesn’t do
it kindly. He is insulting and demeaning to people who make mistakes.
He does not show the ability to “walk in another person’s shoes”
and that lack of empathy leaves him disliked by most people who deal
with him. He finds everyone to be wanting in one way or another,
except himself. I didn’t realize his narcissism until I pushed him on
how he expects to be judged on his mistakes when he is so rude and
insulting to others when they make a mistake. He told me he stopped
making mistakes when he became a grown man. Everything he does now is
intentional.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Brian Walsh.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Brian Walsh.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 12 months ago by  Brian Walsh.

[Jeremy Cooke]

Your friends make great characters.

[Leah Gunderson]

Brian,

Here is what I am learning from your posting:

“Perceived” traits don’t work in movies. Trait must be demonstrated (acted out) at some point as the expression of the essence.

The essence is perceived and it can be communicated through many traits and multiple characters.

Thx

[Jack Sherry]

Jack Profiles People

What I learned is that I have people I know that are unusual and interesting to draw characteristics from.

Person 1

Lawyer, intelligent, but became involved with one of his clients and turned into a marijuana smuggler and distributor, ended up with millions, but then became a fugitive, lost his family then lived under a fake name with another family for 6 years, continuing his pot distribution, making more millions, then lost it all, including his second family and went to prison for another 7 years, then got out and started all over again with friends from his first life.

Person 2

Hard working teenager, member of a world championship skydiving team, talked his way into getting 1 million from an investor to turn a hotel on South Beach in Miami into condos back in 1975, which started the conversion of South Beach into what it is today. Then he moved to Orlando and bought and sold large buildings, cars, planes, boats and eventually moved to Bejing to start a Chinese travel agency which went bust when Covid hit. Now back in Orlando doing it all again by talking a bank into a 17 million loan at 3.4% last year.

Person 3

As a ten year old, she had to endure her mother leaving for another life. She worked her way through college, taking eight years through two failed marriages, then became a successful insurance agent, married the boss, retired and became a sailboat captain for 25 years.

Script I chose – Sailboat Bay

Sara – city girl, vegan, hard working law clerk for federal judge, never knew a father, ambitious

Thatcher – country boy, fisherman, boat builder, satisfied with his easy-going life

Vicky – Sara’s mother, used car saleswoman, always telling jokes, making up words so she can pretend she’s educated,

Tammy – Thatcher’s mother, sneaky, devious, got pregnant in college and told a wealthy student it was his child so she could marry him

[Leah Gunderson]

Jack,

Here is what I’ll remember from your posting: art can imitate life.

[David Penn]

David Profiles People

What I learned from this assignment is the importance of having specific- and often extreme- traits for each character in your story.

DAN: Charming, empathetic, manipulative, obsessive

Interacting with Dan, I definitely saw all the traits above except manipulation- though I’ve seen this in the past.

BRETT: Amiable, Loyal, cunning, rageful

Brett did not show his negative attributes; they come out when he’s drunk and it was an afternoon when we spoke- and he sounded sober.

NEIL: intelligent, confident, pompous, deceitful, vengeful

I could not speak with Neil, though these traits are rock solid and could be verified upon a casual meeting with him.

[Leah Gunderson]

David,

Here is what I’ll remember from your posting:

Characters are more useful in storytelling if they have specific and extreme traits.

This makes me think of all fairy tales and myths.

[Beth Zurkowski]

Beth Zurkowski Profiles people

What I learned: I didn’t do this to my characters in my books until today. Thanks.

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Person 1

Charming

humorous

passive aggressive

negative

person 2

sweet

hard worker

perfectionist

paranoid

person 3

sweet

follower

vindictive

unforgiving

The Shade Riders scripts

Nova

fearless

curious

hot shot

argumentative

Benny

skeptic

helpful

argumentative

opinionated

Takeesha

helpful

nice

argumentative

negative

[Leah Gunderson]

Beth,

Ok. What I’ll remember from your posting is that character profiles pertain to all mediums of storytelling: scripts, novels, short stories, etc.

[Anna Burroughs-Merrill]

Anna Burroughs Profiles People

What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is….? This was a rather interesting assignment. It reminded me of those college “experimental psychology” classes where you had to go to public places and lurk, tracking data, while trying not to look like a stalker.

Person 1: (Extreme Person) This is somebody who used to be a good friend, but now I try to avoid them because I don’t need their drama sucking me dry. As I interacted with them with this assignment in mind, it was like reading a textbook case of “Borderline Personality Disorder” out of the DSM-IV. I expected to be asked to provide free help (again) and sure enough, I was right.

• Charming
• Histrionic
• Needy
• Saboteur

Person 2: (Good Guy) This is somebody who a is a quiet, thoughtful person, but rather than admit they might not have the skill to do something, they will pretend to know what they are doing, but drag their feet and ultimately sabotage the “thing.” Passive-Aggressive and Stubborn are probably interchangeable with this person, although they are sneaky about being stubborn.

• Reliable
• Perfectionist
• Passive-Aggressive
• Saboteur

Person 3: (Bad Guy) I’m going off person 3 from memory as this is a bona fide “bad guy” (as in, dangerous) and not somebody you want to let back into your life for any reason. Instead, I reminisced with a friend who had the same experience with Person 3 about their personal traits and the swarth of destruction they leave wherever they go. We both learned to tune out the “charismatic” and “brilliant” part and stop making excuses for the deceptive, total lack of remorse.

• Charismatic
• Brilliant
• Deceptive
• Psychopath

My Script: I’d already elevated my main characters in Season 1 of my script using a somewhat similar “traits” exercise, so now that I am working on Season 5, I did this exercise to a couple of new characters (which I am not going to post) and one of the original characters who has been through enough “stuff” that they are eager to redeem themselves (its so much fun to make your readers root for one of the bad guys).

Jamin’s OLD traits:

• Arrogant
• Brave
• Jealous
• Vengeful

Jamin’s NEW traits:

• Arrogant
• Brave
• Altruistic
• Prodigal Son

[Leah Gunderson]

Anna,

The flip-characters are fun!

Ok. Here is what I’ll remember from your posting:

For every mental/emotional disorder that can be found in the DSM, there are standardized definitions of those disorders. So, it is not enough to give a character a challenging trait. It does need to be en extreme trait that drives the character to action and conflict.

Thx.

[Jo Nickel]

Jo Profiles People

What I Learned: I believe I have done this exercise in a previous ScreenwritingU course, but I found it valuable to repeat the experience. Extreme people make the most interesting characters and as a result I decided to add more extreme character traits to 2 of my lead “old lady” characters. My character’s core traits place them in conflict with one another, with other characters and with society’s expectations. What fun!

Person 1

Character Traits:

1. Controlling

2. Miserly

3. Judgemental

4. Musical

Person 2

Character Traits:

1. Drunkard

2. Obnoxious

3. Braggart

4. Loyal

Person 3

Character Traits:

1. Dependent

2. Dreamer

3. Artistic

4. Altruistic

**After interacting with each person above at a graduation party, I changed 2 of the traits I listed initially because I detected a stronger, more prominent core trait.

[Leah Gunderson]

Jo,

Here is what I’m going to remember: exploit extreme traits of characters to create better conflicts.

[Leo Sopicki]

Leo Profiles People

What I’ve learned is to keep working on characters in my story. The deeper you go, the more you “know” them, the more real they should end up in the story.

Person 1

1. Creative
2. Focused
3. Sense of humor
4. Caring

Person 2

1. Quick learner
2. Shallow loudmouth
3. Violent
4. Insecure

Person 3

1. Unpredictable
2. Serious entrepreneur
3. Like to party and dance
4. Good listener

[Leah Gunderson]

Leo,

Here is what I’ll remember from your posting: Always go deeper into knowing the characters.

[Roger Tribble]

ROGER

CHARLES —

A) Soft spoken B) Follower C) Observant D) Loudly Vehement When he observes scary objects/situations

MAXFIELD

A) Loud B) Suspicious C) Pushes into others conversations D) Wants the credit for any “discoveries.

MICHELE:

A) Epilepsy B) When in trance sees into physical and mental environment C) Panic attacks

D) Sees into others inner thoughts. Gets violent in seizures.

THING – (Organometallic)

A) Discordant English B) Insider with knowledge into each “discovery”. C) Rarely reveals whole story D) Frequently speaks in word salad — needs to be interpreted.

WHAT I LEARNED:

— I am surprised at the effectiveness of this assignment. However, I will need to come back to this to fill it out and make it “whole”. Needs to be completed. However — this is great training.

[Leah Gunderson]

Roger,

Here is what I’ll remember from your posting: Keep working. Writing is fun, but it is also real work.

[Jenifer Stockdale]

Jenifer Profiles People

What I’ve learned that is improving my writing is that I can use extreme character traits to make my characters more interesting. Just as I can “up” a situation, it will be helpful to have a character who may act in an extreme way.

Person 1 – This is a 30 year old woman. She is very caring, a great mother, a martyr for her children, and a complete fraud. She goes on TikTok and creates an image to lure people into her world and her drama and have them give her money. I cannot/do not have any contact with this person, so I couldn’t interact with her to do part two, but I could watch her on TikTok to see if I saw the traits. I was actually very surprised to not see her acting like supermom. She told a story about her daughter going to a neighbor’s for a cookout (the child asked and she just let her go) then she got hurt falling off a scooter. She seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing that I am shocked. She was whiney and complaining about things her children did. She let her daughter say the “f” word and laughed about it. I can’t imagine this is anything she would have done before! She did complain about her car and her rent going up (significantly) I think this is a set up for a money grub… This part of her personality is consistent with what I’ve been told about her and how she gets money from her “followers.”

Person 2 – I like this person. He is usually patient, but when he loses his cool, look out. He is generous, and very much loves himself, probably more than anyone else (conceited). I interacted with him when he was busy and knew that he would be bothered by me talking to him. I asked him who the person he respected the most was and he told me it was me. I told him to stop fooling around it could be anyone – not just someone he new personally. He wouldn’t change his answer – after three times of asking him he yelled at me to leave him alone, he was busy (okay, he would be upset if he knew I said “yelled” but he was stern and very clear that I was annoying him). I told him after he that it was important that he did this and then I asked him what he thought of himself – he would not agree that he thought he was great because he had just cut a piece of wood wrong, but I am asking him now and he says he is talented and arrogant – he says he is the top 5 percent in his vocation (he really is).

Person 3- Hard-working, opinionated/judgmental, stubborn, with a heart of gold, he would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. I cannot currently interact with this person because he is on Martha’s Vineyard, but I am just thinking about the last few times I interacted with him. I brought my fiancé (now husband, this was years ago) to meet him and he brought him in his garage and showed him a piece of metal that was steel fused to aluminum (which cannot be welded). He asked my husband to be how they got fused and he answered “Explosion welding” – person 3 was blown away! He had asked many people and nobody he asked knew it! My husband could then never do anything wrong in his eyes. He formed his opinion then – and it was fused! (LOL)

[Michael Wallace]

Michael Profiles People

What I’ve learned from this is that I can improve my writing by giving my characters several more extreme core traits, some good, some bad. By making my characters more extreme it will add depth to the characters and provide more opportunities for greater conflict.

================================================

PERSON 1, Core Traits:
– outgoing, can be very friendly and personable
– adventurous, likes to try different things, fun to be with
– belligerent, can be condescending and abusive
– confrontational, likes to get others worked up for fun

PERSON 2, Core Traits:
– generous and sentimental
– hardworking and reliable
– can be condescending and hard to work with
– can be defensive and confrontational

PERSON 3, Core Traits:
– ambitious and successful in her career
– a snob, judgmental and arrogant
— belligerent and condescending
– abusive to her husband and others

============================

My main characters in KIDSIDE TRADER

Brendan Malone (protag):
– Successful Wall Street executive and knows it
– smart, tough and willing to take no prisoners
– can be charming but always with a purpose
– is conflicted in his relationship with Cindy in that he desires her but always screws it up

Anthony Capparelli (protag):
– smart beyond his years
– learns form Wall Street’s best not realizing what is right and wrong
– loyal and keeps his word
– not willing to admit he is wrong

Cindy
– strong and caring
– willing to go out of her way for others
– puts herself in vulnerable positions over and over

– Naive

Cacoulidis (antag):
– arrogant and self-centered
– ambitious
– dishonest
– willing to break the law to get what he wants

[Heather Hood]

Heather Profiles People

Okay, disclaimer: this was my job as a psych. Intake nurse. I apologize if I come over as being kind of nursey. I purposely don’t do this with my friends.

Gary

Outwardly Pious

“An outstanding father”

Temperamental

Abusive

Gary tries very hard to present himself as a ‘Good Christian Man’. He will go out of his way to help you – as long as it doesn’t put him out. Just be aware his help always comes with a price – which is always a lecture.

His wife and son tread on eggshells around him and show signs of battered victims’ syndrome. We look for the warning signs: agitation, extreme physical pain, difficulty breathing, slamming objects around etc. which indicate a violent explosion is imminent, and invite the wife and son over for tea.

The worst part of Gary’s traits is he is trying so hard to change things. He is aware of his temper but can’t control it. He feels trapped – and that only adds to his agitation. The right approach is to give Gary options and praise. “Don’t worry about the cement, Gary. You do the dry wall like a boss.”

Knowing he will go home and take his failures out on his family means we act proactively to protect them by building Gary’s self-esteem. Thus, our small community nurtures the entire family’s mental health.

Patricia

Addict

Liar

Gregarious

Generous

Pat would give you the coat off her back if you needed it but would spin you a story about the Queen gifting it to her during Expo 86. You never know if she’s telling the truth or has Munchausen Syndrome. The worst part is sometimes her elaborate stories pan out, so you never know what to believe.

Unfortunately, Pat is an alcoholic and she is usually three sheets to the wind. It’s hard to hold a conversation with her because she repeats things over and over….

If you’re hungry she’ll go through her cupboards and freezers until you’re loaded down with groceries. She is a national treasure and needs to be protected.

Theodore

Narcissist

Forgetful

Intelligent

Sly

Teddy is a true anti-social Narcissist in every sense of the word. He believes the world revolves around him and everyone exists to serve his needs. He spent most of his youth in jail and brought the prison with him to the rest of his life.

Most of his day involves seeing how he can use other people to get what he wants. He believes he is a ‘lay minister’ in the Catholic church and the inventor of a treatment called ‘anger therapy’. He will weasel his way into your life via his wife who is charming and social, then he learns your weaknesses.

He storms into people’s lives, wreaks havoc and disappears, only to return after people have put their lives back together. His outward clownlike behavior is a façade. This is not a nice man.

Everyone
has body language that exposes their thoughts. Teddy’s are classical: stroking
his beard as he thinks every time he considers a ‘plan’. Eye movements that
indicate which side of the brain he’s using. Unfortunately, he knows people are
watching so he compensates