What Do Your Characters Want?

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

Whether Mick Jagger knew it or not, he immortalized one of the great secrets of fiction writing when he came up with "You can't always get what you want." If our characters don't have difficulty getting what they deeply desire, there isn't much to write about.

Oliver Twist and Little Orphan Annie wanted a family.  The Little Mermaid wanted to discover the world beyond her sea.  The writer in Stephen King's Misery wanted to escape the crazy lady with the sledgehammer.

Conflict being at the heart of good storytelling, the bigger the hero's dream, the bigger the obstacle should be. If we can put enough impediments in their way that it seems impossible to reach the goal, the reader will have no choice but to stick around to find out how this miracle will take place.

Occasionally we have a hero with no immediate needs, for whom everything is smooth sailing.  In those cases it's time to rock the boat by throwing them a curveball.  Giving them a problem forces them to want to fix things. 

To up the stakes we include an antagonist whose wants are in direct opposition to the hero's goals.  Sometimes they are enemies from the start, sometime they don't even know each other or the fact that they're competing until well into the story.  In both cases, we often keep them separated physically as much as possible, building up to a climactic final confrontation. 

While it's tempting to focus on the two characters in this primary conflict, we open up additional levels of interest if we remember that everybody wants something, including all of the minor characters.  Even those who appear for only one scene have motivations all their own.  The receptionist who is inconvenienced by the hero's pursuit of her boss, the night watchman who wants to know why the hero is loitering after hours, and the TV reporter who spins the story to suit their agenda are all opportunities for meaningful interaction that will move the story along with microconflicts.

While keeping the conflicts coming, a good rhythm of ebb and flow teases the audience with one step forward, two steps back, and creates an atmosphere of "Will they make it or not?" 

As in real life, the main "want" is only one of countless others happening simultaneously. The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen doesn't just want to survive, she wants to protect her family, be with her true love, punish the oppressor, achieve world peace, etc.  Multi-layered motivation makes for a well-rounded, believable character, and the compounded problems heighten the drama.

We all want a happy ending.  But in fiction, the real joy is in the journey and the conflicts along the way.

That's What Friends Are For

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director

Ever since the dawn of the sitcom, writers have recognized the value of  a second banana. (Actually, it goes all the way back to Greek comedies, but I don't have photos of Lysistrata and Calonise, so let's go with Ed Norton.)

Audiences love a good friendship, and writers love them even more because it paves a ready path for:

1) Exposition
2) Plot Progression
3) Conflict
4) Mentoring

In a comedy, it's especially important to have a partner in crime, a foil even, to share the hero's dilemma, or even make it worse. A hero with no one to talk to doesn't reveal much.

Where would Andy have been without Barney?  Lucy without Ethel?  Those two examples epitomize two very classic chemistries: 1) The sensible protagonist with the wacky friend, and 2) The wacky protagonist with the sensible friend (although Ethel usually could be roped into any hare-brained scheme).

Quite often the supporting cast is also a rich field for mining memorable and very useful characters. The quirky neighbor is a particularly popular archetype. Bewitched and Three's Company were richly enhanced by the nosey Gladys Kravitz and the befuddled Mr Roper. Anyone who watched Newhart eagerly anticipated the appearance of bumpkins Larry, Darryl and Darryl, a contrast to Bob's button-down personality.  Indeed, contrast is a major component in the supporting casts of everything from The Beverly Hillbillies to Big Bang Theory.

Looking again at the Mertzes and the Nortons, neighbors have always been a staple of story. In more recent memory, Seinfeld's Kramer opened the door to at least momentary mayhem whenever he came bursting in, just as Lenny and Squiggy did on Laverne & Shirley.

Not that all neighbors are nuts. Sometimes—as on Home Improvement—the guy next door is the voice of reason, even when the fence obscures his wise face.

Whether they are a harbinger of hassles for the hero, or just someone to reveal plot points to, a second banana or a supporting character with pizzazz has the potential to become a breakout personality  the audience comes to enjoy on a par with the hero himself.
 
We put a great deal of thought into our protagonist, making sure they have charisma and wit, are interesting and worth caring about.  Don't they deserve a good friend to hang out with?

Who are some of your favorite supporting characters?