Welcome to the ninth lecture of my BYU 2020 creative writing class focused on writing science fiction and fantasy. Today's class is the Q&A on characters.
i will say, i played sdv thru a class session once and paid the most attention and retained the most info i had at all that year. i hope the same worked for her lmao
@@greatcoldemptiness have you considered that maybe..... they're genuinely enjoying this? Imagine being so dead inside that other people's joy is an inconvenience to you.
65 Drums same, I tried to write a bit when I was younger but it’s been years since I tried to write anything. But I know that Brandon Sanderson is really interesting and he says good things.
@@itzfreyy532 Mistborn is a great book, the only issue is that is from the BrandoSando beginnings and is not of his best characters. But is way better than 80% of the YA books out there. So yes, buy it, something tells me that you will like that book.
@@itzfreyy532 To truthfully make the claim Buster's Brain made, you can't have read any of his books. Thus when you read any of his books, you can't truthfully make that claim. If you read Mistborn as Vinnie and his Pizza did then you will cease to "have not read any of his books". :P
Time stamps 1. Establish empathy (save the cat) 5:18 2. Establish rooting interest (motivations; why can’t they have it) 8:05 3. Showing progress 10:29 4. Sliding scales (likability, proactivity, competence) 12:26 5. The journey (stories work by a sense of progress or awesomeness overload)(start by showing a difference between what the character wants and what they need) 24:19 6. Flaws, limitations, and handicaps 26:40 7. Quirks 34:58 8. Flaws, limitations, and handicaps defined 38:20 Q&A Multiple character viewpoints 40:45 Goals and motivations 44:56
I've taken a lot of writing classes at this point. I took James Patterson's writing class. I took a creative writing class as well as some other generall writing classes from this adult school thing. I've also listened to other lectures and done extensive research on writing a novel. Nothing has been nearly as useful as these free videos. Nothing. I wish I would have watched these before I wrote my first book. In other classes, I feel like I'm being talked down to, and I feel like the teacher is hiding things. They teach the most general and obvious things (to me). Brandon on the other hand...it's almost like every idea is revelation. Some of his points are things I kind of understand, but then the way he explains boosts my understanding of it a ton. These videos are so incredibly practical. Also, the other students' questions are actual questions I have myself. Thank you so much Brandon for teaching this class, especially in such a fun and engaging way.
i like the way he organizes concepts. usually i know everything he's talking about but he frames them in such a refreshing way that suddenly its not as muddled or confusing, or even overwhelming. Sometimes there will be terms that he separates and gives distinctive definitions of, and other times he will just give things a slightly different meaning which helps a lot with getting out of my head.
Start low end high. Start high end low. My screenwriting teacher said every single scene should either go low to high or high to low. And if it doesn't do that then you better have a damn good reason for the scene. I like to pause movies and see exactly where the low-high, high-low happens. It's kind of neat! Of course he also said that if you're writing a comedy there better be a joke/gag every minute. That class was exhausting. Comedy is so freaking hard to write y'all.
@@2sthimo449 I'm interpreting that as low action to high action, and high-action to low action. No scene that is just in the middle the whole way. Stagnation is bad, essentially.
In film language we see this as emotional intensity in a scene and it's shown in the shot order. So You come in with a wider shot, get a mid shot and establish the mood. You move in as things get more intense or closer to the emotions, and then back out as we disengage. It's really cool to see the same things happen in books.
@@2sthimo449 A practical example of High to Low may be a fight scene that either culminates with an emotional moment by the end or, in a physical sense, wears the protagonist down. The hallway fight scene from Daredevil season 1 is the first thing that comes to my mind. We see Matt start this encounter guns (or rather fists) blazing. At first, he is taking on multiple assailants with high intensity, but as the scene progresses everyone is worn out. Matt, the bad guys, even the audience, all feel the fleeting struggle that everyone is going through in this brutal Scooby-Doo-esque situation. The scene has lots of meaning for the plot of the show and Matt's character, but keeping discussion around the ideas of High to Low, my immediate take away is it shows Matt's dedication and headstrong nature. The very thing he says is emblematic of a Murdock; like his father was someone who wouldn't stay down. That can be uplifting of an idea. But by the time the scene is over, we also get to see the foil that spirit leaves on him. We go from those idealistic heroics to a man beat to a pulp surrounded by bodies. There are probably far better takes of the concept out there, but this is what comes to me.
So, here's the trick I have, as a 95+% discovery writer: If the characters aren't going where I want them to go, I open a new separate text document, sit down with them (sometimes framed as a dream where I use some sort of mentor figure as a mouthpiece if they aren't going to talk to *me* me), and just straight-up ask them why they're doing this, where they want to go instead, and then see if we can brainstorm together about where this goes next. I then file this conversation away in my cutting-room floor file (the same place I put the "darlings" that I have to cut from the story). I've practiced this so much that I now have these conversations with my characters inside my head while in the shower, or while walking the dog, or whatever. But a text file works really well if they won't talk to me that way.
That would actually make a really interesting story in its own right. Giving your characters a Mt. Sinai moment where you, the author, reveal yourself to them as their creator and interact with them? I'd totally read that!
As a hardcore plotter, this right here is why discovery writers are fascinating to me. Wish I could do this sort of thing! Alas, my brain just doesn't function that way...
This is actually a pretty good idea I think I'll use. Thanks for this. When I write a lot of my conversation between characters is pretty organic but that's probably because of my own background in psychology and I've put together rather complex people so I just let them chat in my head while I listen and adjust things to get a few different paths they can take.
@@calvinsbeard7423 You might like: ru-vid.com/group/PLj4N-R1RQxAuAQ4qBpaUbGLb1ZWpWySAz My favorite part (I don't remember which season it's in) is when the character says she finally understands what's going on and the author says, "Well I don't! None of this was in the outline!"
1. Establishing Empathy -Show that the character is like us. that they are relatable . -Show that they are nice. -Let them Save the Cat. -Show people liking them. 2. Establishing rooting interest -Show that what the character wants is interesting to us -Show us their Motivation. -Characters who want things are naturally more interesting to us than characters who don't. -What do they want? -Why can't they have it? -Establish personal connection to the plot -Suddenly it's personal. 3. Progress -How are the characters going to change? -A flaw that they have. -Character Journey. -Mystery or Question -Willl they be able to become the thing that we know they can become. -What is going to change.
"What do you want for lunch, Michael?" "I want my soooooooooon!" I spit out my tea. hahahaaaaaaa My husband and I couldn't stand that character. He basically only had one line for a season- "They took my son!"
A big problem with Michael is that it's really hard to give someone a different motivation when you've kidnapped their son. If someone kidnaps your son, you bet it's going to overshadow everything else going on in your life (apart from, maybe basic survival). So the lesson here? Avoid motivations that overshadow everything else unless you're going to make progress immediately.
1:00:00 speaking as a PhD candidate in at an R1 institution, a protip on writing dialog for academics (in a modern, empiricist tradition): academics tend to hedge *a lot* more than normal people. if you have your "academic" character basically ever use the word "every" or "all", that's a red flag, unless they follow it up immediately with something to qualify that statement's scope. Chidi Anagonye is a caricature, but he's one that cuts deep.
Can confirm! Especially in the sciences, you're often advised not to state anything definitely because in general you can't be sure whether further experiments will disprove your current understanding. The situations where you *can* be totally sure are actually pretty rare, even in basic stuff they teach to first-year undergraduates.
Incredibly true! Also - coming from political science - wanting to define exactly what we are talking about in a discussion. I find myself doing this way too often...
So I'm halfway through, and I just realized something. The 539,592 views is probably not anywhere near that number of people, just a lot of rewatches. Because that is exactly what I am going to do. There's so much to learn from this brilliant lecture.
37:00 I’m going to give an example of using quirks that become so much better when connected, from the famous manga One Piece. Character: A retired general in a fishing village Quirk: Has a pinwheel on his cap Motivation: while this seems random quirk at first, a flashback establishes that when heroine was a baby, she was scared of the general’s ferocious face, so she would cry anytime he got close to play with her. But she starts laughing when the general experimentally snaps on a pinwheel on his hat. Ever since, he has always kept the pinwheel on, because he could make that girl laugh and he could get close to her without being scary. Years pass, bringing struggles and loneliness to the girl, all through which he keeps the pinwheel on his head to be a source of her laughter. And finally, when the girl makes trustworthy friends and goes on an adventure around the world with them, the general takes off the pinwheel because the girl now has a reason to laugh happily other than his pinwheel.
Notes for my personal use regarding the first 40 mins which is a little confusing, in case you would like to use them :) If I have made a mistake do let me know. YOUR CHARACTER WILL HAVE AT LEAST ONE OF THE THREE 1) Establish Empathy - They people like us, who other characters like or dislike 2) Establish a Rooted Interest for them in story - What is your character's motivation? Why can't they have what they are motivated to achieve? What is their personal connection to the plot? 3) Establishing progress - What is the flaw they have or the journey they must undertake? What question/mystery keeps readers hooked to your character (i.e. what milestones will signal to the reader that there is progress, e.g. will spiderman become a hero)? The Scales of Character Your characters will fall somewhere on these three interconnected scales (proactivity and competence can go hand in hand for example) 1) Likeability (How much empathy you establish for the character in your story) 2) Proactivity (Motivation and what they do to achieve what motivates them) * 3) Competence (Where are they on the progress scale of what they want to do/can become? This isn't always swordplay, it could be their ability to talk/become assertive and grow in their interaction with others) * difference between motivation and goal is story ends when goal is met, whereas motivation goes on. (e.g. Your character is motivated to win the tournament (goal). Why? Because his father never believed they were competent enough to make it (motivation) ) Movement on any of these scales will create a sense of motion for the story as a whole. *WILL NOT TALK ABOUT THE ICONIC HERO, COS NONE OF MY CHARACTERS ARE BUT IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO FIND ABOUT THEM PLEASE SEE **15:45* FLAWS,LIMITATIONS,HANDICAPS A lot of times when characters have problems its because you haven't foreshadowed their motivation at the beginning of the story. This could affect their actions and dialogue. For Example, you may artificially include an argument in dialogue that would appear wooden to your reader because you included the argument for creating tension, rather than letting your character's motivation drive the dialogue. Realistic characters have many motivations. You may want to be a novelist, but your family may want you to become a doctor, while your parish priest might want you to become a clergyman. QUIRKS/FLAWS/HANDICAPS ARE NOT PERSONALITY If you can connect either of the above with the aforementioned establishment and scale they will appear less like a replacement for personality. For example if you have a character who is a stamp collector, it could be a minor quirk, but they could be proactive in their collecting stamps when they can't be proactive in other areas, What is their motivation for collecting these stamps? It could be because they cannot travel to these locations as they have a physical or economical (in my case lol a sad South Asian passport) handicap, they prefer to collect stamps to substitute their travel. Ta Da all combined and believable and empathetic. Then if you could connect it to their journey/plot it seems very digestible to the reader even though award winning actor Nicholas Cage is present. When building your character think about the above and how they create empathy/motivation/competence and how the conflict could arise from this. 50:20 - How do you make a non-viewpoint character interesting/motivated when your main cast doesn't know what they're thinking? DO NOT MAKE THEM A VIEWPOINT FOR THE SAKE OF IT. What you could do is - suggest to the reader, that your character's inability to understand a non-viewpoint character will be a plot-point as that character has their own motivation/interest.
I love (and am incredibly grateful) that Brandon added these lectures to his channel for free. This is so much more helpful than the Masterclasses a lot of other authors have done for actual money. Although I can't help but be annoyed at the lady with the messy bun and the dude right beside her in the bottom right playing freaking video games together on their laptops while in a class thousands of others would kill for the chance to sit in on physically. The camera didn't zoom out enough to see them in the audience until about 15 minutes in but once it does you can see them playing some game involving shooting guns and a blue inventory screen/hotbar against each other for THE ENTIRE CLASS! Talk about disrespectful...
Goodness, I don’t write, and don’t plan on writing….. but still this is pure gold! I never had a class this good in university! Wow and well done Brandon!
Im watching these after nearly 40 years of trying to write my novel (which is itself based on a short story I wrote) and sitting here nodding my head like a bloody idiot while staring at a blank screen on the laptop. I have the entire series of books in my head but its getting it from there to the pc that is the issue. All that Brandon says here is amazing and I wish I had him around for these tips years ago. What I dont think anyone can teach is how to get it out. I'm nearly 61 now and fear my amazing (in my head) characters will never see the light of day.
Hey, I read this at work yesterday and made a reminder to come back and reply, so I hope you read this eventually. I really feel you, I could say the exact same words you did except for the numbers. I'm 20 years younger than you--just turned 41. Been thinking about and reworking my story for 20+ years, and this year was the year I finally started getting it out. These lectures are a big part of why, and I'm ecstatic about it. Probably the biggest hurdle for me was to just do it. Just knowing the writing will suck at first--but you fix sucky writing, you can't edit a blank page. A blank page will always be just that. So I hope you'll find things that work for you and help you get there. For me, I even had anxiety about brainstorming on notebook paper, but I finally got over that with the help of digital writing tablets like OneNote. For some reason it matters to me to put stuff down on paper but I don't feel like I'm "wasting" paper or ink just writing every thought down on a tablet. Sounds dumb, and it is, but try to figure out your hurdles/blocks and overcome them. I've made peace with the fact that my story may never be published or even good in my eyes, but I can't live without trying. The story's in me, and it's made to get out, even if I only write it for myself. Praying you'll do the same. I know what it feels like, brother (or sister). Best of luck to us!
Wow, just wow your advice around character voice and conveying character and setting between the lines. "Thank you for such great content," he added politely and professionally.
@1:04:00 shows a point where Sanderson gets really passionate about a question and just spewes a ton of what seems like GOLD info. I think right there he just summarizes the entire lecture into author gold nuggets. Just an observation. I really liked it and made notes of a ton of it.
of course! Watch the entire thing, but after that, re-watch this part a few times. I follow other's passion, and you can see the passion in his description here, and it really paints a good synopsis of the entire lesson.
Been watching my way through all of these and loving them. They actually make me feel better about my writing rather than like I'm a fraud. Thank you! Also, the Gorilla in the phonebooth thing just reminds me of every time people have a conversation when one of them is driving in a film or TV show. I can never pay any attention to the conversation because I spend all of it going 'look at the road, you're going to crash. You're going to crash the car! LOOK AT THE ROAD!' I wish they wouldn't do that.
Any other One Piece fans here thinking that Luffy subverts a ton of these tips entirely and yet remains one of the best shonen protagonists ? Oda is truly a master. We all know Luffy's goal but 20 years later and his exact motivation for that goal is still the subject of much conversation and wonder. Great lecture!!
Regarding the three sliding scales, it's cool to have just read the first 6 Dune books watching this. Dune Messiah in particular is like watching an iconic character slide down the like-ability scale.
I am absolutely loving these lessons, so much knowledge is being received on my end. Thank the student who asked the last question on how to write a character unclear of their motivations👌it answered quite a lot with regards to my current wip
Wow, I love this guy. I just discovered him, and literally has helped me so much already to understand pieces of my process I didn’t quite have gripped. Masterful.
SO much can be learnt from Lost. Almost unlimited great examples of how awesome the audience found certain things, only to be dissapointed later when much of it was left unexplained. Tons of strong characters, who both worked and didn't work for numerous reasons.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Greatest writing teacher of all time. I like how he explains what makes characters work. Likability, Proactivity and Competence. Never heard of that before - that's really interesting.
How do you make characters people care about...Love this. I think this is crucial to writing a good story. Can’t tell you how many books I’ve put down because characters weren’t relatable or undeveloped. So glad there’s a Part 2! Gold
Branderson the Manderson, I watched one of these and now I'm on the second one, just now realizing I will have to treat this as a uni course and get my notebook out and scribble. These are a treasure! Thank you!
Good job on your class Brandon. I watched a few of your viseoa a long time ago, and got back into it. Im a piblished author as well. A famous author once said that as soon as you're paid for your work, you're a professional author, so I am now, and proud of it.
Maybe it was going to college later life but the idea of me or my parents paying tens of thousands of dollars for me to pay games in class is just so absurd I don't know how to process it.
I can't imagine going to a class taught by someone of the caliber that Brandon is, and ignoring the teaching. It's actually sad as there are many other people that would like to be in the class, but weren't able due to no slots being left.
27:00 how to make char motivation feel “ proper” to reader 40:20 42:00 how to not write chars that feel like roles rather than indiv real chars Make each char believe they are the protag in their own story or viewpoint and write accordingly Rather than written as the “goofy sidekick” or the “love interest” 47:28 how to make chars do what I want them to
I really like Angela from the Inheritance cycle. (I got her name right, right?) She's on-screen very little compared to other characters but is super fun to read about. Every interaction she has is fun to read because of her interesting personality. She's awesome!
I *think* Paolini based her on his sister, so perhaps he had an easier time writing banter between characters *probably* most closely analogous to his real life!
"Lot of fantasy and sci-fi writers comes from a world building-perspective." So true! My project -literally- started with me imagining a bad ass-looking suit of armor.
Thanks so much for this, it's the most helpful and fun lecture I've ever watched on character development. Is there a part two or lecture 10 coming soon? Can't wait!
All characters exist on a sliding scale with three toggles. Likeability - how much empathy is established for the character. Proactivity - the character's motivation and what they are doing to achive their goals. Competence- how good they are at it. A character moving on even any one of these scales creates a sense of progress. An Iconic Hero Does not move on the scales Ex. James Bond and Sherlock Holmes If someone is high on the proactivity scale you establish a really stellar motivation.
I get so excited every time Brandon starts the class! So enthusiastic, and I am so eager to learn! Where was this course when I was in uni? But, I am glad I found it now :)
Very important to make villains relatable so they aren't just a moustache twirling villain. That's very boring after a while. A good villain should be to the protagonist "in some other circumstances, we could've been friends"
How I come up with a story: I think of a really weird event that just shakes a big portion of the world. Then I think of what effects that would have on general people. Then I have roles for fixing this problem that need to be filled. Then I think of a trait, or a quality, or a theme. And build my characters around that theme to fit the job they need to fill in the story to fix the big weird thing
Speaking of depression in characters, NHK Ni Youkoso (a short novel that has an anime adaptation) has three main characters and all of them have mental problems of some sort. But they are very, very proactive throughout the whole story, because they always try to solve whatever problems they have, just not by directly confronting these problems. It does a very good job of having progress that even seems positive, but it wraps that progress into events that make you question the very nature of mental health problems and elevates that melancholy on a higher level. It's a great anime title that oscillates well between comedy and tragedy and doesn't just waste your time with cliches, but it has a heavy "anime industry ruins people" theme used here and there. I think novel is even better, but I may be very biased, because I've read it soon after re-watching the anime. It also has some "darker" elements that weren't shown in anime, like psychedelic drugs.
I’m currently having a concept in mind for a vampire book in which worldbuilding and character building so this channel is perfect for me. It’s run by the legend himself
Sanderson really does follow the idea of recognizing a character by the way they speak. I realized who someone was by using just the words “I think” as a big clue when I read Mistborn...
My MC, being an unreliable narrator who has a thing for morbid jokes and is a protagonist only because he is requested written evidence: **chuckles** *I'm in danger*
7:20 That's a good one. I recently saw a very average movie where suddenly, one of the baddies (a guy) was protecting another (female) baddie from some falling rubble. That instantly made me like that bad guy, even when he didn't even have a major role and I was like: "I see. So they are not just some sociopaths..."
this reminded me of the way A:TLA humanizes the Fire Nation guards and soldiers; they're on the wrong side, sure, but they're not necessarily evil, and it's showcased through a very small amount of dialogue and actions
This makes me feel so much better because I’ve been telling myself this about I just need to keep writing through the first draft then come back to fix the first chapter 2
