#Characters or Ciphers? Which Are You Casting in Your Story? #WritingTips

AUGUST 13, 2014 by K.M. WEILAND | @KMWEILAND 6 COMMENTSCHARACTERS
Characters or Ciphers? Which Are You Casting in Your Story?
This week’s video talks about why your characters may be as one-dimensional as those in The Monuments Men and offers an easy tip for adding dimension.

Video Transcript:
Just because you have a character in your story doing something does not mean he’s a character. It’s not enough to give a character a name, give him a goal, give him a few witty lines, make him cry when his friend dies. So what more do I want?
What I want is to discover characters with dimension. This becomes a little more obvious—and in some senses easier to accomplish—in stories that are blatantly character-driven, because the whole story is about discovering who these people are. But dimensional characters are just as important in plot-driven stories. That doesn’t mean you have to take time away from your action. It doesn’t take chapters on end. All it takes is a few almost throwaway lines.
This is on my mind right now because I was extremely disappointed with The Monuments Men. It had all the earmarks of a great story, and yet it fell flatter than a pancake, largely because its fantastic cast had zero to play with in the character department.
Who are these people? We don’t know, because they never tell us about themselves.
What are their personal reasons for joining the Army and hunting down stolen art? But then, who wouldn’t want to risk his for a painting, right?
The sad thing is that all George needed to do to bring these characters to life was to sow a few interesting tidbits here and there. Hints into the characters’ pasts. Insights into their motives. Personal dichotomies that reveal all is not as it seems on the surface.
A few well-timed sequel scenes in which the characters get to reflect, discuss, worry, doubt would all have been good too. But even just a few simple, almost offhanded comments about what lies under the surface would have done marvels for this story.
So take a look at your story and what you’ve revealed about your characters. Who knows? There may be some marvels waiting for you to uncover.

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