10 Tips on Making Your Characters More Active

By James Powell · December 15, 2014

One of the fundamental principles that’s hammered over the heads of new or experienced screenwriters is to make your characters active. Pretty much a huge “duh,” right It seems like a simple enough concept to grasp and yet thirty or so pages into reading someone’s script, you start thinking “Could this character be any duller.” Having passive characters is one thing that can work to your advantage, depending on what kind of story you are telling. But it can also be a doubled-edged sword, and the last thing you want are characters your audience can’t get around. With that in mind, here are 10 tips to make your characters more active.

1. Backstory

Give your characters integral backstory. Flushed out backstory isn’t necessary for all, but backstory with a fulcrum adds for stronger attachment and helps provide your audience with a clearer understanding of where they are coming from.

2. Under The Skin

Don’t be afraid to get underneath the skin of your characters. Find out what motivates them. Either it being in an external sense or internal, get your characters to show what makes them tick.

3. Strengths and Weaknesses

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, so provide reasoning behind the fundamental flaws of your characters. Playing to the strengths and weaknesses of your characters will help benefit your story and help characters feel more realized.

4. Flaws Are Good

Writing flaws is tricky. Writing humanistic flaws is simple. Flaws are what make us humans stand out from each other, so treat your characters the same way. Being sympathetic is fine, but don’t feel the need to apologize for their actions.

5. Commit To Your Cause

Make sure you provide a cause that is the very threshold to their existence. Then, include goals that are beyond challenging to achieve.

6. Dilemmas

“The red pill or the blue pill.” Having moral dilemmas provides consequences; and with that, results in conflict. Character dilemmas ensure for higher stakes and will motivate your audience to get behind them.

7. Goals

Let the goals of your characters emerge from their dilemmas. Goals can change, so let the nature of your characters environment play a hand in the greater picture.

8. Vulnerability

Vulnerability is a great way for your audience to become attached to your characters, especially if your story involves a present antagonist. The element of unease puts the stakes of your character into perspective and can make for an enticing emotional pull.

9. Active is Action

Active characters bode well in stories. However, you don’t have to make them “active,” per se. You can decide to make your characters more influenced by the environment that surrounds them, and reactive to the situations they are thrown into. Active can come from being inactive, so find out what is going to make them get out of their shells, and embrace the light.

10. Don’t Settle

Over the course of cinema, characters have evolved, so don’t be the archetype writer. Find an original, playful voice with your characters that can evolves beyond what meets the eye.