Character Growth

More from Lajos Egri: A character stands revealed through conflict; conflict begins with a decision; a decision is made because of the premise. The character's decision necessarily sets in motion another decision, from his adversary. And it is these decisions, one resulting from the other, which propel the story to its ultimate destination: the proving of the premise. A character moves relentlessly from one state of mind toward another; they are forced to change, grow, develop, because the writer had a clear-cut premise which it was their function to prove. The contradictions within a man and the contradictions around him create a decision and a conflict. These in turn force him into a new decision and a new conflict. Growth is evolution; climax is revolution. Character must have a seed in the beginning and must follow a logical and believable path of evolution. A Character's background , his temperament, is the seed which ensures growth and proves the author's premise.

The Bone Structure

To build a character, Lajos Egri suggests using The Bone Structure:

Physiology

1. Sex
2. Age
3. Height & Weight
4. Color of hair, eyes, skin
5. Posture
6. Appearance: good looking, over- or underweight, clean, neat, pleasant, untidy. Shape of head, face limbs
7. Defects: deformities, abnormalities, birthmarks, diseases
8. Heredity

Sociology

1. Class: working, ruling, middle
2. Occupation: type of work, hours of work, income, condition of work, attitude toward organization, suitability for work
3. Education: amount, kind of schools, grades, favorite subjects, poorest subjects, aptitudes
4. Home Life: parents living, earning power, orphan, parents separated or divorced, parents' habits, parents' mental development, parents' vices, neglect, Character's marital status
5. Religion
6. Race, nationality
7. Place in community: leader among friends, clubs, sports
8. Political affiliations
9. Amusements, hobbies: books, newspapers, magazines, sports played

Psychology

1. Sex life, moral standards
2. Personal premise, ambition
3. Frustrations, chief disappointments
4. Temperament: easygoing, pessimistic, optmistic
5. Attitude toward life: resigned, militant, defeatist
6. Complexes: obsessions, inhibitions, superstitions, manias, phobias
7. Extrovert, introvert, ambivert
8. Abilities: languages, talents
9. Qualities: imagination, judgment, taste, poise
10. I.Q.

Premise

From Lajos Egri, The Art of Dramatic Writing:
No idea, and no situation, was ever strong enough to carry you through to its logical conclusion without a clear-cut premise. If you have no such premise...you will not know where you are going. You must have a premise--a premise that will lead you unmistakably to the goal your play hopes to reach. Must be worded so that anyone can understand it as the author intended it to be understood. An unclear premise is as bad as no premise at all.

Every good premise is composed of THREE parts.

FRUGALITY LEADS TO WASTE

1. FRUGALITY - suggests character
2. LEADS TO - suggests conflict
3. WASTE - suggests the end of the play

Other premises:

• Bitterness leads to false gaiety.
• Foolish generosity leads to poverty.
• Honesty defeats duplicity.
• Heedlessness destroys friendship.
• Ill-temper leads to isolation.
• Materialism conquers mysticism.
• Prudishness leads to frustration.
• Bragging leads to humiliation.
• Confusion leads to frustration.
• Craftiness digs its own grave.
• Dishonesty leads to exposure.
• Dissipation leads to self-destruction.
• Egotism leads to loss of friends.
• Extravagance leads to destitution.
• Fickleness leads to loss of self-esteem.
• Ruthless ambition leads to its own destruction.
• Escape from reality leads to a day of reckoning.
  

You must believe in your premise, since you are to prove it. Great love defies even death. You must show conclusively that life is worthless without the loved one. And if you do not sincerely believe that this is so, you will have a very hard time finding the emotional intensity needed. The premise should be a conviction of YOUR OWN, so that you may prove it wholeheartedly.

It is idiotic to go about hunting for a premise...it should be a conviction of yours. YOU know what your convictions are. Look them over. Suppose you do find a premise in your wanderings. At best it is alien to you. It did not grow from you; it is not part of you. A good premise represents the author.

You may start with an idea which you at once convert to a premise, or you may develop a situation first and see that it has potentialities which need only the right premise to give them meaning and suggest an end.

ONLY ONE PREMISE PLEASE.

Hide the premise. It is impossible to denote just where the premise is and where story or character begins.

The Story

Ira Glass explains the essence of good storytelling.

Genre

More notes from Blake Snyder. Make sure your story is one of these genres.

• Monster in the House. Jaws. Confined space. Sin committed.
  
• Golden Fleece. Star Wars. Quest. Road Movie. In search of one thing, discovering something else, himself. Internal growth. Heist movies.
  
• Out of the Bottle. Flubber. Wish fulfillment. What if... Hero must be put-upon Cinderella. And learn that magic isn't everything. Lesson at the ending.
  
• Dude with a Problem. Die Hard. Ordinary guy, extraordinary circumstances. The badder the bad guy, the greater the heroics. Dude triumphs using his individuality to outsmart the more powerful forces.
  
• Rites of Passage. Ordinary People. Everybody's in on the joke, except the person going through it. Surrendering. Give up to forces more powerful than ourselves. That's life!
  
• Buddy Love. Rain man. Love story in disguise. All love stories, are buddy movies, with potential for sex. At first they hate each other, but their adventure together shows how much they need each other, and realizing this leads to more conflict. Need All is Lost moment where they separate. Then they have to surrender their egos to win.
  
• Whydunit. Chinatown. Not about hero changing, its about discovering something about human nature we did not think possible. Walk on the dark side. Turns the view back on us and asks, are we this evil?
  
• The Fool Triumphant. Forrest Gump. The wisest among us. Underdog. Everyone underestimates his ability. Thus, allowing him to ultimately shine. Not give up despite the odds. Usually against an "establishment" bad guy. Everyone discounts his chances for success, and an institution for the underdog to attack. Fool has an accomplice, an "insider" who can't believe the fool is getting away with his "ruse." Insider gets brunt of the slapstick, sees the idiot for what he really is, and being stupid enough to try to interfere. Give audience vicariouos thrill of victory.
  
• Institutionalized. M*A*S*H. Honor the institution and expose the problem of losing one's identity to it. Pros and cons of putting group ahead of ourselves. Often told from point of view of newcomer. Good for exposition, can ask, how does that work? Way to show what is a "crazy" world to us civilians. Who's crazier, me or them?
  
• Superhero. Gladiator. Extraordinary guy finds himself in ordinary world. Tales about being "different." Superhero must deal with those who are jealous of his unique point of view and superior mind. We all feel that way. Sympathy must come from plight of being misunderstood. Inspires us to what could be our potential.

For more in-depth analysis, see Blake's excellent book, Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies.