Not my problem
Great quote from Alvin Sargent in the most recent Written By:
Somebody told me once, “If you have a problem with a character, give the problem to the character because it’s not my problem.” It’s truly their problem and you have to watch and wait and see what they do that makes some kind of sense. Sooner or later, if they are really people, they will do something, or someone else will come and help them. But I have nothing to do with it. If you have a problem, give it to the character.
Characters are not responsible for plot; you as the writer have to decide what you’re showing, when and why. But your characters need to be responsible for the actions they take. The reader and the audience can feel when characters are doing something simply for story’s sake.
Think of yourself as the producer of a reality show. You’ve hopefully cast interesting people, who will do and say interesting things. You’ll create obstacles that will force them to react. You’ll shoot a bunch of footage and edit it to tell the story you want. But if you’re pushing your characters around, telling them exactly what you want them to do, the audience will feel the manipulation — and your characters will resent it.
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May 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
OMG… thank you sooooo much for posting this, John. :D Okay, it truly bothers me to have problems in real life, but passing them on to my character really adds to my script ;) and maybe I can find a better way to personally deal with it in real. Thanks again!
May 10th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Re: Sarah
Just my interpretation here but I don’t think that’s what John or Alvin meant. They’re referring to a personal problem you may have with a character, which is more specific than just any old personal problem you may have. I’ll use Walt Kowalski from Gran Torino to highlight what I interpret to be the difference. For the record I didn’t even like the movie, but it’s a straightforward to use for these purposes.
Walt uses racist language. Many writers, myself included, might have a personal problem writing a character like Walt because we don’t support the racist language he uses. John and Alvin’s advice: Not my problem, because I am not Walt. This is Walt’s problem, and compelling drama can be gained from it.
What you’re talking about is different. The equivalent would be “I use racist language. That’s my problem. I’m going to give it to my character because that might turn out to be therapeutic.” This writing style works for some people, no doubt, but if you don’t know how to deal with a problem in real life then how can you possibly hope to resolve it in a convincing way for a character?
Just my two, and good luck with those problems ;)
May 10th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
I was recently recommended “The Art of Dramatic Writing” (by Lajos Egri). It’s a great book for describing hoow well crafted characters actually drive the plot (not the other way around).
May 10th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Really good points. I’m just laying out my 7th feature right now and the more I write, the more I find that things are so much easier if your can get a solid thread working between the themes, how they refract within the characters, and how that stuff can organically drive the plot. I mean, you kind of have to work from wherever the lightning strikes (I hate whenever anyone tells me that it MUST start with the characters/plot/whatever.) and be ready to unstick that lightning if it’s fucking things up, but once those elements are harmonized, it does an amazing amount of the heavy dramatic lifting.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:07 am
I worked on the writing staff of a TV drama (in another country) for three years and I was amazed that, try as we sometimes might ;-) we literally couldn’t force a well-developed character to ‘play along’ with a storyline if it wasn’t right. The story beats might have been sound in and of themselves, but if the character wasn’t driving it, or if it wasn’t truly manifesting from within them, the story invariably failed and we always scrapped it. It was almost spooky.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:09 am
PS I’m a different Sarah than poster no. 1
May 11th, 2009 at 12:10 am
interesting post John. Just let them freely make their own choices, problems and conflicts will arise organically.
@Sam I think – and maybe this just works for me – its not plot, character, or theme – its vibe, or an image: that image will encompass the character, plot, theme, and just about anything else you need. I find the best launching pads for stories are songs or paintings, or even vivid phrases that conjure imagery in the brain. If the image depicts action – there is your plot… and the vibe, the emotion, the sense, the atmosphere and colours of the image will suggest theme and from theme comes character.
Character and plot are not mortal enemies, a good writer mustn’t say “This is good for the plot, but oh no – that’s not what my character would do” no, it will suite the character. A good writer says “My character’s fear/goal is X so the best way to dramatise that in plot is Y, which also dramatizing my theme”
May 11th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Zach, I think if Sarah can pass off her real life problems to her characters, and she gets good story and characters out of it, then she is doing what John suggests. As long as the characters are handling problems the way they would, it doesn’t matter what the problems are, or if they come from her real life or not.
And I don’t think John or Alvin are referring to a personal problem a writer may have with their character. I think they’re referring to a problem or obstacle a character has.
Or am I the one with problems?
May 11th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Dammit, you’re good at concisely laying out really significant points.
May 11th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Thanks, John! I was struggling with a scene in my current feature where I felt I was “forcing” my hero to choose a direction just for the sake of the story. After reading and digesting this little tidbit, I came up with a much more organic way to get the hero to make the same choice himself. Thanks again!
May 11th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Thanks Zach and James. Here’s just one example… I once had to write a 10-pages script for a college. I simply couldn’t find a story to write about (because of the limitation) which ended in some sort of panic that eventually resulted in writer’s block! So this became my story… I passed on my writer’s block to a somewhat grumpy writer (think of Michael Douglas in Wonder Boys) and filled 10 pages within an hour.
“…but if you don’t know how to deal with a problem in real life then how can you possibly hope to resolve it in a convincing way for a character?”
True! But maybe it can be a good way to face and eventually solve your own problem from a diffrent point of view.
Furthermore, I don’t think that the character necessarily has to resolve his problem(s)… for example in a drama I’m writing at the moment the actual hero has to deal with isolation. He’ll never escape from his isolation, but the audience will by changing the POV (e.g. we start with his POV and then swith to his wife’s POV) of the story.
May 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Nice post – but gotta add that as a writer/producer of reality tv, John, you’d be surprised at how manipulative and down right Machiavellian producers of reality can be, especially on house reality shows, or “competition” shows. A word here, a nudge there, and you get the hair pulling, fist flying, fight the network execs salivate over.
May 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Good lookin’ out, John. I read that too and loved it. Have fun in the NYC and stop smellin’ up Angela! :)
May 11th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
“Create obstacles?” My reality (shows) may not be real!?!
May 11th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
@Constantine Totally, that’s part of what I mean by going wherever the lightning strikes. It’s like Lynch’s thing about catching an idea and using it like a small fish to bait in bigger fish.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Characters do as they’re told or they get killed! Did anyone catch the PRINCE OF PERSIA glimpses: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41041
May 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Good analogy, John. I came to LA to be a scripted writer, but ended up in the reality world, and that’s what it comes down to: cast characters that will react and contrast, then set them in motion!
May 11th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
invokes the Bradbury Gambit
May 11th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
UHURA: “Captain, I’m getting a signal via blogspace disturbance. I believe it could be one of ours.”
KIRK: “On screen.”
ON SCREEN
Two screenwriters talk about writing Star Trek.
BACK ON SPOCK
SPOCK: “This is illogical. It appears to be a broadcast from the early 21st century. From the early days of the Internet.”
KIRK: “That’s impossible.”
MCCOY: “Jim. They’re talking about — us.”
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid301778988?bctid=22652383001
May 12th, 2009 at 11:18 am
@Zachary:
I don’t think that’s what John’s post is about. The problem he’s talking about is the problem of making the plot work and the tendency a lot of writers have to make the characters do things for the sake of the plot.
The writer’s problem is getting a story told that makes sense. This is not the character’s problem. The character just exists in that story and what he does must make sense for his character.
May 12th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Oh, and I’m not the other James in these postings.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Neither am I
May 12th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I discovered this lesson why dealing with an actor. She kept asking me about everyone’s motivation around her. Why would this character do that? Why with that character this? Finally, it dawned on me as a newbie (of which I still am) to tell her not to worry about anyone else because her character has her own problems. Focus on those problems and what you will do in the scenes to address them. Not only did it shut her up, but she acted better after that.