After discovering the six essential questions, I began applying them to the characters that I had brainstormed for a new story idea. I ended up applying this tool to the ten characters that I had come up with for the Western I was working on.
This writing technique was excellent, and after using it once, it was something I decided I would use on any story idea I had from now on – aside from poems or short stories where it wouldn’t really be necessary to get so in depth. I became a firm believer in this because I saw how effective it was for outlining and plotting on multiple levels.
The immediate impact it had was giving each of my characters some sense of agency. Each character, no matter how big or small, had to answer what their goal was going into and over the course of the story. It also forced me to flesh out why they wanted those goals in the first place. I had envisioned an opening where the main character is hunting a dangerous outlaw for a large bounty with a group of men. Prior to the six questions, I didn’t think I’d given much if any thought to the makeup of the group of would be bounty hunters, why they too would be after the outlaw, but more importantly the money. But after applying this technique to the leader of the group, I came up with Chester Samuels, who I’d used as an example in last week’s post. It wasn’t until answering these questions that his storyline had desperation infused into it.
Asking these questions also shaped how these characters would interact with each other. For example, when I was delving into the tertiary characters, the answer to these questions gave a minor character a revenge subplot against one of the principle characters that I hadn’t originally envisioned. There would now be this undertone to the few scenes this character would be in. Even if the root of their animosity didn’t make it into the script, this would be a guiding principle when choosing what he would say and what actions he would take.
It also helped me to shape a roadmap, not just throughout the script, but also for the ending. By asking how did it end for each of them, it was forcing me to think about how each of these characters would fit with one another, how their actions would impact others, and ultimately, how it would decide their fates. If one character was a bounty hunter, and the other an outlaw, they were in direct conflict with one another – one could only succeed where the other failed, so determining the outcome of one would determine also determine the outcome of the other, which would have a ripple effect on other characters who were allies or enemies. These questions were forcing me to think from the onset not only what my end goal would be, but how to get there in an organic way that didn’t conflict with the storylines I was developing for the rest of the characters.
All I had done was answer six questions for my characters – but it had unearthed enough information for me to start developing in depth bios for all of them.