Characters or Concepts

In script writing class, we share our initial ideas together.

This process used to scare me. I now liken it to a circle of eager farmers comparing the seeds which each cradles in the palm of his grubby hands.

Some of us talk about concepts. Class struggles, redemptive missions, the tense pull between nature and technology. The ideas sound lofty. The better ones have the potential to be spun into essays, or even textbooks.

Some of us talk about characters. Jill's still secretly furious with Emma, who had an affair with her husband twenty years ago. John got the promotion Marco wanted. Leanne fancies her priest.

The characters often sound cartoon-ish. Worse still, they reveal things about their creators. Like the time our obese classmate mournfully outlined a character who needed to escape the heavy woes "weighing her down." The rest of us steadfastly did NOT make eye contact with each other.

Here's what I've noticed, over my two years in the class. The concept plays may shoot up a few hopeful scenes, but eventually they wither and die. Every last one of them.

The character plays don't all grow to maturity. But at least some of them do. They have a fighting chance.

Let your characters tell you the story.

Concepts may have gotten you A's at school (especially when you lifted your prof's) but, as the basis for a story, they suck.