Creativity Muscle Workouts: Character Core Wants

Recently I watched "The Making of The LAST JEDI," the number 8 film in the Star Wars series. I'm a diehard Star Wars fan as I remember watching the 1st one in the theater at 6 years old (which gives away my age) and thus find it a joy to watch the "making of documentaries." 

In this one the writer/ director, Rian Johnson, walked us through his process. Since he was BOTH writer and director, he had interesting light to shed on the characters, plot, themes, and settings (the major legs of any story). 

One of the most profound things he said was this, "I started with each character and asked WHAT DO THEY WANT?"

The answer to this question is deep and may or may not be in the awareness of the character. But dig harder enough and you find a core WANT which becomes the driving motivator for this character. 

Thus today, we are going to dig into a "CORE WANT."  

Creativity Muscle Exercise #6

• Select a character you like from a book, TV, film, or game. 
• Ask the question, "At the core of this character, what do they WANT?" 
• You may have to brainstorm multiple surface level wants to get to the deep one... however, if the character was written well, you should be able to get to it quickly. 
• Consider how the story uses this... 

1. How long before the character discovers this is really their CORE WANT? 

2. What are they willing to DO to get it? 

3. What MISTAKES do they make to get it?

4. Who do they have to BECOME to get it? 

5. What do they do when they get it? 

Now REPEAT this exercise with a villain.  

The more you want to understand how a person's deepest desires affect their actions... do this exercise with multiple fleshed out characters. It will help you consider creative ways to show your character living out the pursuit of their WANTS...

DEBRIEF

1. While people are more complicated than one core want, most of people's desires boil down to a just a couple. Did this exercise cause you to ask yourself these questions? If so, what are your answers? 

2. We write what we know thus leaving clues, in everything we write, about ourselves. What about this character made something awaken in you? While this might hurt a bit to admit, it's good to know this so when it comes time to write a character that's different, we can write in awareness not blindness. 

3. What was different about the 1st character you chose and the villain? Was anything similar? 

4. Consider what happens to your fiction writing if you ask this question up front?