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Usenet Posted 19 years ago
Screenwriting
Character biographies?
"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, or at least the primary ones, before beginning the screenplay itself. At the very least, outline your main characters' lives from birth until their appearance in your story to ensure that you will know them as you know your best friends." ("Writing Screenplays that Sell," page 41)
Does anyone actually do this? It not only seems like a terrible waste of time, but also extremely mechanical, artificial, constraining and backwards. If I don't already know the character, why would I want to write his or her story? I don't quite get this. If it's your character he or she comes from within you, how would you not know him or her better than your best friends?
I've recently started rewriting the one feature script I actually finished. One of the weaknesses of the first draft (one of many) is the lack of forshadowing. I know the character, but I decided I should further illustrate why she was the way she was (my story was too rushed) it was also a tie-in to a future event, which would cause that event to make more sense. So, should I have gone back to my non-existent "biography" an searched for a "clue" for her behavior. Or doesn't it make more sense to create the past incident when needed? I guess what I'm saying is, if you don't know your character and what motivates him or her (from the outset) how is writing a bogus biography going to help?
What am I missing here?
RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"
Does anyone actually do this? It not only seems like a terrible waste of time, but also extremely mechanical, artificial, constraining and backwards. If I don't already know the character, why would I want to write his or her story? I don't quite get this. If it's your character he or she comes from within you, how would you not know him or her better than your best friends?
I've recently started rewriting the one feature script I actually finished. One of the weaknesses of the first draft (one of many) is the lack of forshadowing. I know the character, but I decided I should further illustrate why she was the way she was (my story was too rushed) it was also a tie-in to a future event, which would cause that event to make more sense. So, should I have gone back to my non-existent "biography" an searched for a "clue" for her behavior. Or doesn't it make more sense to create the past incident when needed? I guess what I'm saying is, if you don't know your character and what motivates him or her (from the outset) how is writing a bogus biography going to help?
What am I missing here?
RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"
Top answer
[nq:1]"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, or at least the primary ones, before beginning the screenplay ... him or her (from the outset) how is writing a bogus biography going to help? [/nq] The only time I did this in any great depth was in a script about the fictional adventures of a real person.
- [nq:1]"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, or at least the primary ones, before beginning the screenplay ...
- him or her (from the outset) how is writing a bogus biography going to help?
- [/nq] The only time I did this in any great depth was in a script about the fictional adventures of a real person.
- I devoured a couple of biographies of him and other real characters...
- and it helped a lot to inform *my* version of them.
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35 Answers
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[nq:1]"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, or at least the primary ones, before beginning the screenplay ... him or her (from the outset) how is writing a bogus biography going to help? What am I missing here?[/nq]
The only time I did this in any great depth was in a script about the fictional adventures of a real person. I devoured a couple of biographies
The only time I did this in any great depth was in a script about the fictional adventures of a real person. I devoured a couple of biographies
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In my experience, it depends entirely on the story, but I'm sure the mileage varies for others. I use how much I have to know about the character as a guideline for whether or not to bother. The most in-depth character bios I've done to date involve a story in which the two prime characters have been best friends for over forty years. That length of friendship impacts on how people talk to each ot
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[nq:1]"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, or at least the primary ones, before beginning the screenplay ... he or she comes from within you, how would you not know him or her better than your best friends?[/nq]
I think it's perfectly ridiculous and an unjustifiable waste of time as well. I've never seen a mediocre writer - or a good one - get better
I think it's perfectly ridiculous and an unjustifiable waste of time as well. I've never seen a mediocre writer - or a good one - get better
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[nq:2]"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, ... not know him or her better than your best friends?[/nq]
[nq:1]I think it's perfectly ridiculous and an unjustifiable waste of time as well. I've never seen a mediocre writer - ... characters. Conversely, I've never known anyone's writing to get worse for skipping this step. I may be wrong, of course.[/nq
[nq:1]I think it's perfectly ridiculous and an unjustifiable waste of time as well. I've never seen a mediocre writer - ... characters. Conversely, I've never known anyone's writing to get worse for skipping this step. I may be wrong, of course.[/nq
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I don't. I think it might actually get in the way - because yoiu concentratrate on all kinds of useless details when there are more important things about character you need to know. I do think it's a good idea to actually know who your characters are before you start writing - how they would react and why* they would react that way. For me, the *why is most important - the character of the
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[nq:1]I don't. I think it might actually get in the way - because yoiu concentratrate on all kinds of useless ... and why* they would react that way. For me, the *why is most important - the character of the character.[/nq]
Speaking strictly as a guy who is still waiting to make his first $2,000,000 sale...
The only time I get into dense biographical development is 1) if it's a char
Speaking strictly as a guy who is still waiting to make his first $2,000,000 sale...
The only time I get into dense biographical development is 1) if it's a char
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[nq:1]I've never seen a mediocre writer - or a good one - get better because they wasted days or weeks fleshing out inane details about their characters.[/nq]
Well, there's the rub.
If all you're doing is filling out a few pages with inane details, then yes, you're wasting your time.
I don't think it matters if all you're doing is deciding if your protagonist went to UCLA or OSU. If hi
Well, there's the rub.
If all you're doing is filling out a few pages with inane details, then yes, you're wasting your time.
I don't think it matters if all you're doing is deciding if your protagonist went to UCLA or OSU. If hi
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[nq:1]I don't think it matters if all you're doing is deciding if your protagonist went to UCLA or OSU. If ... doing some digging into who the characters are - whether that takes the form of a formal biogaphy or not.[/nq]
See, I usually cover these things in the outline, because it's inherent knowledge to me about my characters. Whn I carefully pick my words in dialogues, I make sure I convey
See, I usually cover these things in the outline, because it's inherent knowledge to me about my characters. Whn I carefully pick my words in dialogues, I make sure I convey
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[nq:1]But drawing up bios won't help me. Maybe they're essential for some people to organize their thoughts, the way some ... write out bios, you'll know as a result of having written scripts, not from having read a guru's how-to book.[/nq]
Sure.
The point is to know your characters, and writing bios is simply a tool to help you get to know your characters.
-Ron
Sure.
The point is to know your characters, and writing bios is simply a tool to help you get to know your characters.
-Ron
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[nq:1]"Many teachers recommend writing full biographies of all your characters, or at least the primary ones, before beginning the screenplay ... how is writing a bogus biography going to help? What am I missing here? RonB "There's a story there...somewhere"[/nq]
I believe that Tolkien guy did extensive mapping, research, etc., etc., etc., for "Middle Earth" when he started our to write his Ri
I believe that Tolkien guy did extensive mapping, research, etc., etc., etc., for "Middle Earth" when he started our to write his Ri
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