Studying acting is a great way to learn how to create characters as a writer. In my last blog, I wrote about what I’ve learned from acting. In this blog, I am going to delve into the Stanislavski System of acting.
Constantin Stanislavski is recognized as the father of modern theater. He created a system of acting that dug deeper into the emotions of the actor and the work. He created a series of seven questions to help actors approach a character. I have listed those questions below with tips for how writers might use these questions to create better characters.
The Seven Questions
Question One: Who Am I?
Start with the basics—name, rank, serial number. Hair color, eye color, zodiac sign, education, background, etc. Fill in the rest of what makes up your characters, what sets them apart. This is the question at the heart of who a character is and why they are that way. Look deeply into their past, present and future. Get to know them as you would a new friend. Think of the questions you would ask a first date, new neighbor, college roommate, work colleague, then ask those of your character. Don’t stop asking questions or dreaming up answers. You need to know your characters as you do your spouse or siblings or best friend.
Question Two: Where Am I?
You need to establish your character in place. This means knowing whether they are in public or private. Whether they see the sunset or sunrise from their window. Are they in a city or the country? A rundown tenement or mansion? Fill in the tiniest details of their surroundings and how they feel about those locations. We learn more from a character’s emotional response to their setting than we do from the best descriptions of that space. Do they love their high rise apartment or feel isolated by it? Do they love the safety of their hiding place in the woods or feel lost? Why?
Question Three: What Time Is It?
What day, week, month, year is it? What hour of the day? Are they in the present or the future? Are they in Jacobean England or Civil War America? When they exist will determine your character’s speech, demeanor, clothing, place within society, and other elements of story. Timing affects everything. Season determines setting. Time determines clothing and speech.
Question Four: What Do I Want?
What does your character want in the story and in each scene? Once you know your character’s primary motivation, you will know what actions make sense. Everything in your plot should move toward that objective, even as your character encounters obstacle after obstacle. The goal should be clear throughout the story.
Question Five: Why Do I Want It?
Knowing why your character wants what she does will define her actions. It also defines the type of tension required. If you know why she wants what she does, then it’s easier to figure out how to block her from succeeding until the end of the story when she either succeeds or fails for the final time. But more importantly, knowing why your character wants something will help you create a fuller character. One who has backstory and motivation, as well as a reason to keep fighting. It is essential you know what motivates your character.
Question Six: How Will I Get It?
Everything in the story and character needs to show how she is going to get what she wants. Her gestures, actions, speech, movement, motivation all need to reveal the how of the story. It also forms the plot—the steps she needs to take to reach her goal. Each step should lead to the next until you reach the conclusion. It should be a logical progression, or at least a natural one.
Question Seven: What Must I Overcome?
What is stopping your character from achieving her goal? The answer to this question is how you create tension—by thwarting your character until the end. Obstacles can be external or internal. Anything that prevents your character from reaching her goal, whether those goals are mid-story goals or the end goal. External obstacles could be another character or an external force, like weather, nature, circumstance. Internal obstacles are those hurdles we face within ourselves, such as mental illness, doubt, worry, fear, internal conflicts. The best books combine these types of obstacles to put the character in as much turmoil as possible. This helps increase the tension and raise the stakes, which keeps the reader glued to the pages.