Characterizing Drama’s Dramatic Characters
For as long as I’ve studied drama, I’ve always taken the approach that you build your story around your characters, and that – like Ibsen – you don’t write a word until every character is fleshed out to the last detail. (There’s always that chance that you’ll uncover some new facet of a character as you write – which is a wonderful experience, and should usually be taken into account if the thought is organic – but I digress.) You’re going to have characters no matter what story you try to tell, and they’re instrumental to providing a plot that’s both thought-out and progresses naturally. When Ira Glass brought up the word “drama,” it cemented my notion that character is one of the larger parts in storytelling as well. He says: “It’s a drama. It’s like people interacting, conflicting, getting along, liking each other, and hating each other, and they’re like, laughing, you know, just like, you want all the things that happen between people…” (Part 4, 2:22-2:30). Character’s pretty important.
If two characters get into a fight, leaving one dead and the other trying to cover up the deed, having a witness character there provides ample drama. Look on TV, there’s endless love triangles to fuel the season’s plot forward. The best part about it is that you don’t even need something huge like a murder, or an affair, to spark a story. It can be something as small as a man wearing a green hat. Why does he wear that hat? Why that hat specifically? Does he only wear it on Tuesdays? Who gave him the hat? Endless stories. Endless drama.
One response so far
I love this piece of advice that you chose. How often do we think that plot or setting is the most important element of a movie or a novel? I found it very eye-opening how much attention Glass places on character. I never realized how much thought and detail goes into choosing the right character for a role and how much they contribute to the overall work as a whole. I like how you point out the role of a character “wearing a green hat;” Glass is stressing the importance of a character as a whole and his/her large contribution to the work even by just acting present. Thank you for pointing out this piece of advice that so easily can be forgotten and deemed as trivial.