Saturday, January 22, 2005

Motivation

I just had a story-writing epiphany, and I'm putting it here so I don't forget it. Character development has always been a stumbling point for me.

When writing characters, don't think about personality or backstory. . . Think about motivation, objective. All action flows from motivation. Personality is just an explanation we give ourselves after the fact. This is, of course, exactly what you tell actors and directors. Funny it took me this long to put it together with the writing process.

posted by Ian Gilman at 2:58 AM

Comments

Sol Steins book on writing quotes Kurt Vonnegut: "Make your charcters want something from the very beginning, even if it's only a glass of water"
posted by Blogger Claus Dahl at 11:29 AM 
Nicely put! Thank you for sharing that, Claus.
posted by Blogger Ian Gilman at 2:01 AM 
Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home