Characters in Action - Revealing the inner person

I’m a big believer in getting to know characters by seeing them in motion. Ideally, these actions are dramatic:

    •    kissing,
    •    punching,
    •    breaking into a building,
    •    rescuing a drowning puppy,
    •    dancing on a rooftop,
    •    confessing to murder,
    •    escaping a fire,
    •    flirting with a stranger,
    •    eulogizing a parent,
    •    calming a baby.

(Go ahead and imagine your characters doing those things. It’s fun and it might surprise you.)

A step up from this list is imagining your character doing something you did that was dramatic. We all have times in our lives when we did something that mattered. If we did something that made a positive difference, it may be a resume item or a story you inevitably tell someone you care about or a boast. If we failed in some way, it may be an action we took that embarrassed us or reveal a flaw like cowardice or caused someone distress or pain. It may have been a action that ended a relationship forever. Seeing your character do these consequential things, things we hold onto for years, can bring real gold to a story.

It’s also possible to think of moments of trauma or compassion. When others acted upon us with impact, it often shaped our views, including concepts of what was possible. Trust and a sense of community can be formed by these moments. These also can be used to test our stories’s  characters, but it’s a tricky choice. Putting moments of victimhood into stories carries the possibility of insight, but also the chance of self-indulgence or bids for sympathy or justification. Each of these is challenging to turn into art.

It’s best if the action you visualize for your character is one connected to the work in progress. From a practical standpoint, it can turn into a scene that writes itself. But even if it ends up being cut, it puts the character into a context. Characters are not real people (though I hope they feel that way to you). They exist in relation to the theme of the story as a way to personalize truths for your audience. Relevant actions reflect the selectivity that’s essential to every story. Discovering such actions help writers to focus and heighten moments in a story, and these are the building blocks that create beauty, insight, and passion for readers.

This action-based approach isn’t just for the protagonist or antagonist. For me, it helps in the development of every important character. I wouldn’t apply the ten actions above to a spear carrier, but they provide a quick and powerful approach to seeing secondary characters like best friends, partners in crime, confidants, and mentors.