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Beginning Screenwriting: Character Development, Part II

© Travis Sexton

A strong character is the quintessential element to any screenplay. A screenplay won’t survive unless you, as the writer of the story, know the main character better than he knows himself. So how do you do this? Last time I suggested making a visual picture of your character by cutting images out of magazines. Cut and paste until you have the person you’ve pictured in your mind staring back at you on paper. A visual picture will help remind you whose story you’re telling. After I have a visual of my character in place, I then begin the process of writing out my character’s biography.

A character’s biography can be as short or as long as you want. The important part is feeling secure enough with your character and his past in order to get him through the most critical point in his life (i.e. – where your screenplay begins).

The first step in writing your character’s biography is developing your character’s name. Some author’s place a high emphasis on character naming because the name symbolizes who they are as a person. I begin the naming process by looking at my character’s picture and then asking myself questions like – “Where was this person born?” and “Who are his parents?” Is my character French, or Italian, or Asian? Was my character born on the East coast, the Midwest, or on the West coast? I definitely do not exhaust the naming process, but I do take these types of factors into consideration. This brainstorming process also works as an aid later when I actually begin writing. Bottom line, if you give your character a strange and exotic name, then you better have a damn good story behind it. I feel a great example of this is Gilbert Grape’s name in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” Gilbert’s name symbolizes his struggle in life. A grape has the potential to be either sour or sweet, a raisin or possibly wine. Throughout the movie, Gilbert struggles with becoming the hardened raisin (by ditching his family) or a sweet wine (by staying, helping, and defending his family).

Once you have your character’s name in place, you can begin writing. I always begin with my character’s day of birth. Where was he born? What time was he born? Was it an easy birth? Was he born later or earlier than expected? As there is no right or wrong way of going through the biography process, I then take the time to analyze my character’s parents. Were the parents expecting a child or was their pregnancy a surprise to them? Are the parents happy to be together? Are they married? Were both of them involved with the pregnancy?

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