Writing Styles: Creating Characters Part 3 - Action

[Dementedvillian]

One of the more interesting pieces of advice was from William Goldman (the screen-writer). He said to give your character a hobby and make it very specific. So not just dolls, but 16th  Century Peruvian green dolls. Then have your character talk about it.

I don't remember the book it came from and I'm not 100% sure it was William Goldman (Stephen J. Cannell?), but I DO remember as soon as I read it how, I noticed how many TV Series had a character with an off-beat hobby, So if it's good enough for NCIS it's good enough for me!

I know this post is over two years old, but I remember watching a movie, The Stranger, where the main villain is an escaped, high-ranking Nazi war criminal- and not a repentant one either- who embeds himself into a comfy Massachusetts suburb as a history teacher, a fiancee, and a future son-in-law to a federal judge. What stuck out to me is that he has an interest in clocks and clockwork, almost to the point of obsession. Not only does it make him more three-dimensional, but it tells us that he has an obsession with order, and likes to see everything in their proper place (in both meanings of the word). It also helps ingratiate himself further into the community, personally helping maintain a large clock in the city square.

I highly recommend The Stranger btw. It's Orson Welles' only financially successful film, and though it wasn't as innovative as any of his other movies (though it was the first movie to ever use Holocaust footage), it's still a pretty tense movie.

[Kiva]

One of the more interesting pieces of advice was from William Goldman (the screen-writer). He said to give your character a hobby and make it very specific. So not just dolls, but 16th  Century Peruvian green dolls. Then have your character talk about it.

I don't remember the book it came from and I'm not 100% sure it was William Goldman (Stephen J. Cannell?), but I DO remember as soon as I read it how, I noticed how many TV Series had a character with an off-beat hobby, So if it's good enough for NCIS it's good enough for me!

I know this post is over two years old, but I remember watching a movie, The Stranger, where the main villain is an escaped, high-ranking Nazi war criminal- and not a repentant one either- who embeds himself into a comfy Massachusetts suburb as a history teacher, a fiancee, and a future son-in-law to a federal judge. What stuck out to me is that he has an interest in clocks and clockwork, almost to the point of obsession. Not only does it make him more three-dimensional, but it tells us that he has an obsession with order, and likes to see everything in their proper place (in both meanings of the word). It also helps ingratiate himself further into the community, personally helping maintain a large clock in the city square.

I highly recommend The Stranger btw. It's Orson Welles' only financially successful film, and though it wasn't as innovative as any of his other movies (though it was the first movie to ever use Holocaust footage), it's still a pretty tense movie.

Thank you. That's a classic I haven't seen yet.

[Kiva]