Tuesday, May 12, 2015

"Characters are the heart of all fiction"

I recently watched a lengthy interview with George R. R. Martin, creator and author of "Game of Thrones" and the entire "Song of Ice and Fire" series. Martin expressed, in a brief moment, an idea that sums up the most important tenet of storytelling that I have ever heard, namely:
"Characters are the heart of all fiction."
It's a simple but powerful truth, and one that gets greatly glossed over, if not forgotten, in nearly all of the famous books and treatises on storytelling.

Reviewing the various websites containing quotes by famous authors and screenwriters on the art and process of storytelling, I could find almost no quotes that deal with character creation. Additionally, the many books in my personal library on screenwriting pay almost no attention to character creation or development; instead, most of these tomes tend to focus almost exclusively on structure and plot.

However, ruminating over the many movies that I have seen, and stories that I have read, throughout my entire life, I have found that there is pretty much no exception to this rule.

Let's take the example of Star Wars--one of the most popular and beloved series of all time. Do people really remember Star Wars for the space battles? For the aliens? For the presence of the mystical "Force?" I don't believe so. Because if you think about it, a large number of other less-popular movies have those same elements...they also contain space battles, aliens, and mystical energy fields.

However, here is what those other movies don't have:
  • Luke Skywalker
  • Darth Vader
  • Han Solo
  • Princess Leia
  • C3PO
  • R2D2
  • Yoda
  • Lando Calrissian
  • Jabba the Hutt
  • Wicket
  • Chewbacca

These are the real reasons why the Star Wars series is so universally loved and remembered...its memorable characters. Creator George Lucas alluded to this concept briefly, or admitted is was at least half of the equation, when he said:
"Storytelling is about two things; it's about character and plot."
James Cameron, likewise, expounds:
"I think it’s always about the characters and about how those characters express something that the audience is feeling. So it has to have some universality to it, having to do with relationships, whether it’s male-female, parent-child, whatever it is. And then you have to take them on a journey — and then you have to make it excruciating somehow. Challenged, endangered, in pain. Fear, tension, and triumph. Some form of triumph — our values, our victory, something." (From an interview with Charlie Rose)
Some more examples from film and literature:

  • Star Trek is remembered for Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Picard, Data, Worf, etc...
  • Game of Thrones is remembered for John Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and many more.
  • Taxi Driver is remembered for Travis Bickle.
  • Harry Potter is remembered for Harry Potter.
  • Sherlock Holmes is remembered for Sherlock Holmes.


  • The Terminator is remembered for the Terminator, Sarah Connor, and Reese.
  • Aliens is remembered for Ripley.
  • Batman is remembered for Batman.
  • Superman is remembered for Superman.
  • Every popular Superhero movie ever made is remembered for its title character.
  • Every Disney classic ever made is remembered for its main characters.
  • Schindler's List is remembered for Schindler and Stern.
  • In the Heat of the Night is remembered for Mr. Tibbs.
  • E.T. is remembered for E.T. and Elliot.
  • Lord of the Rings is remembered for Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, etc..
  • Treasure Island is remembered for Long John Silver.


  • James Bond films are remembered for James Bond, as well as for his various loves and nemeses.
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey, filled with dry and uninteresting human characters, is remembered for the very interesting mechanical character, HAL-9000.
On the other hand, who remembers even the names of the lead characters from Ishtar? Heaven's Gate? Cowboys and Aliens? Stealth? Sahara? Final Fantasy? The 13th Warrior? 47 Ronin? 

Take any example from the history of film and literature, and it is immediately clear that its success and enduring popularity rises or falls based on the degree of memorability of its main characters.

So why is character creation given such short shrift by famous writers as well as authors of books on writing?

I have two theories.

The first is that the answer, the idea that "characters are the heart of all fiction," is extremely simple. That the "secret" should be so simple is just not believable to the majority of people, and gives little to expound upon beyond the basic principle.

My second theory on why it is given short shrift is because there is no real "formula" for character creation. Even J.R.R. Tolkien, while writing Lord of the Rings, wasn't exactly sure where his characters came from:
"Strider sitting in the corner of the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo." (Letters, p. 216)
When creating characters, a writer often draws from everything he knows...from his or her own personality and beliefs, from the people he or she has met throughout his or her life, from pre-existing novels, from the news, and from the entire history of humanity. There are no "rules" when it comes to making a character memorable. James Cameron's advice on storytelling and the factor of character creation, for instance, is ridiculously simple:
"I think the future of storytelling is: You think of some good characters and you have them do some cool stuff that you can relate to and go through hell and come out the other side of it changed in some positive or negative way, and then it ends."
Source: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1683090/good-characters-and-cool-stuff-james-cameron-on-the-evolution-of-storytelling

It's a simple principle, but one, I think, that can't be emphasized enough.

No comments:

Post a Comment