13.21: Q&A on Character Depth and Motivation
Writing Excuses
Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2018
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our listeners submitted some great questions!
* How do you fairly and even-handedly write a deeply compelling character you deeply dislike?
* What's the best way to discuss a character's underlying motivations without expressly stating them in narrative or dialog?
* How well should characters understand their own motivations?
* How do you make non-violent characters interesting?
* Can there be too much depth to a character?
* How do you balance character depth across multiple attributes?
* How do you make a character motivation seem deep when most people's motivations are actually pretty shallow?
* Do you create standard dossiers for your characters?
* Does your story have to have a villain?
* How do you know whether or not a character's voice is working?
* Do you track words or phrases that are unique to a particular character's voice?
Liner Notes: Brandon mentioned Howard's "Tyrannopotomus Rex" doodle as part of the writing prompt. Here it is, should you need visual reference.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This year my family will be having our 67th annual Christmas Eve dinner. |
| 0:04.8 | It's a menu passed down from my grandmother through my mom to me. |
| 0:08.8 | The entire family shows up. |
| 0:11.8 | I'm talking fourth cousins once removed and this is not an |
| 0:15.1 | exaggeration which means that during the lead up I don't have time to menu plan or |
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... |
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