 Drama: October 19, 2011 Issue [#4657] |
  Drama
This week: Injecting Depth into the Protagonist Edited by: Joy  
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“The important thing is moral choice. Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.”
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange
“The central theme of a story is often crystallized by a moral choice the hero must make, typically near the end of the story. Theme is your view of the proper way to act in the world. It is your moral vision, and it is one of the main reasons you are writing your story.”
John Truby The Anatomy of Story
"The essence of drama is that man cannot walk away from the consequences of his own deeds."
Harold Hayes
“Great stories are created by powerful and mysterious inner processes. They are designed to guide us to our full potential and are as necessary to our well-being as fresh air. Understanding great stories means understanding these inner processes. And understanding these inner processes can lead to a profound understanding of our selves and the world.”
James Bonnet Stealing Fire From The Gods
"Before I write down one word, I have to have the character in my mind through and through. I must penetrate into the last wrinkle of his soul."
Henrik Ibsen
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. Our discussion in this issue is about adding depth into the main character in a story.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Now that the NaNoWriMo is only a few days away, our brave, productive, yet reckless muses have forced us to come up with story ideas, write outlines, and fill out character sheets.
Imagine we obeyed the muses and did all that. We thought out and planned every essential part of our novels. More importantly, we came up with intriguing characters since we have the imagination and we know that good fiction deserves good characters. On that note, we filled our character sheets or templates and layered the characters to perfection, but just what may be lacking in those character portraits that begs for depth, especially in the protagonist?
Simply put, it is the needs of the character. From habit, we first give the character a desire, something he or she wants badly so that this desire (or goal) opens the way to conflict. A need is different from the desire.
A need is what makes a character human, as it arises from a weakness, which provides a target for the antagonist or other characters to attack. What the protagonist needs emerges from this weakness, even if he or she is not aware of a weakness inside himself when the story begins.
Needs can be psychological or moral. Each need has a weakness hiding behind it. For example, a protagonist may be opinionated and doesn’t like to be corrected. This would be his weakness. His need for this weakness would be developing the ability to take advice from those who know better than him. This specific need is a psychological need. Aching for the love of a parent, fearing loneliness, being greedy are all examples for weaknesses that open up to psychological needs.
Moral needs, like psychological needs, arise from flaws; that is, moral flaws. Moral flaws always involve others. If the character hurts someone else due to a moral flaw, that means he has a moral need to be fulfilled. A good reason to give a protagonist a moral flaw is that it prevents him from being perfect or from being a helpless victim.
A perfect character doesn’t seem real or believable. When a protagonist has no weaknesses, the antagonist’s character becomes the dominating one, and the story becomes predictable and overly sentimental.
The questions to ask ourselves when giving a character depth are:
 Do the protagonist’s beliefs, values, and perception of life feed his weaknesses?
What are the protagonist’s weaknesses when he is acting toward or reacting to others? What are his main needs?
Are his needs psychological or moral? We must remember, for a need to be moral, the protagonist has to hurt somebody other than himself. If he doesn’t hurt anyone but feels hurt himself, then the weakness (leading to the need) is psychological.
As sometimes immoral actions arise from psychological weaknesses, does the story begin with a psychological weakness that may lead to a moral one?
What immoral steps is the protagonist willing to take to reach his desire?
What will the protagonist’s key moral choice be at the end of the story?
If the need is psychological, will it be met at the end of the novel? If so, how?
What will the protagonist learn toward or at the end of the story?
Although most novels or stories work with only psychological needs, for a novel to be great and the main character to be memorable, the protagonist may be given both a psychological need and a moral need. If a writer can do that effectively, the quality of his work will be elevated, as it will hint to the reader how human beings should act toward one another in a given situation and in a society.
Best wishes with all your characters in your stories and in the NaNoWriMo challenge.
Stay well and happy. Until next time... 
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Your Drama Newsletter Editors: NickiD89  Fyn  Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
This Issue's Tip:
At the end of the novel, together with the change in the hero, see if anything else can change also, possibly something like the setting. This could lead to a second novel in a series.
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 Reading Recommendation: A book with drama
If you have a recommendation, a few words on a book or a product review, send it to me or to this newsletter. I'll highlight it here.
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StephBee 
Joy, what a great overview of how to introduce drama to your child. Inspirating. I have Andrew & Joe (9 & 5) in dance classes - I might want to see if they're interested in drama. Thanks for highlighting my PR! I really enjoyed reading that book. If you're a romance writer, The Arrival of Lily Curtis, is a great book to read because it puts a lot of elements together well, plot, pacing, characters, inner conflict and sexual tension.
Thank you, Steph. Dance is good, and so is singing and plays. Anything that gets the kids on stage so that they won't have stage fright on life's stage (borrowed from the bard). Best wishes with your children's activities.
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{suser:heftynicki)
A few years ago the local high school drama department, known for their professional standard productions, began rehearsals for The Wizard of OZ. They recruited elementary students to play the munchkins. My son was a 5th grader and his teacher chose him and two other kids to try-out. He got the part and the next eight weeks were some of the most exciting and character-building for my son. His experience echoed what you say here. Now, we participate in the local drama scene; it's great for our whole family!
I believe in the truth of exposing children to stage activities as much as they can handle, Nicki. I'm glad your family enjoys the experience.
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{suser:lsklassmann}
Hi Joycag
Nice experience to introduce children to the theater art. I have worked with my elementary students the play CATS. They were English students as a second language and they performed all in English. It was a success! They loved so much and improved their performance in class. The developed self steam and became more active and participants.
As is said, theater work referents areas of children's personality and it worth
Congratulations!
Susy.
Thank you for the input, Susy. I bet the children you teach will grow up to be self-confident individuals. Congratulations on the work.
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Kate - Writing & Reading 
Thanks for sharing this exploration; I read it a couple of months ago and it gave me the confidence to go for my first NaNo this year - if it turns into a series of connected dramatic stories or a novella I will deem it a success ~ Just saw the link on our NaNo Prep forum and had to send my thanks - Highly recommend to writers for some great tips across genre lines ~ Many Thanks, Kate
Thanks, Kate, and best wishes with NaNo. I bet your novel will be a terrific one.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
Things never go according to plan, when children are around.
That's for sure.
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