1. Characterization

2. Character As Action Every Character has a desire or motivation.
Think of yourself as a character.
What are your desires or motivations in life?
How do these affect the decisions you make?

3. Character
If the basic foundation of a character is that he or she desires or wants something, then we must also assume that the person has to take an action or series of actions in order to accomplish this

4. SCENARIO:
For example, what if our character was a five yr. old boy, and what he wanted was a bright red lollipop that his mother had left on the kitchen table. What action would you expect him to take?

5. Scenario 1b:
Now, what if, instead of doing that, we had the child sit in the middle of the room all day, without once going towards the table, or doing anything else?
Do you think that would make for a very interesting story?

6. ACTION
Action is important on some level, because it tells us how to read a character, and what his desires are.

7. Scenario1c:
Now, what if this little boy was used to going and taking candy off the kitchen table, even though his mother has repeatedly told him not to in the past, and this one day, he sees the candy, and he goes to the kitchen table.
What do you think happens next?

8. Scenario 2:
What if he doesn’t this time? What if this time, he goes to the table, looks at the candy, puts it in his hand, and then puts it back and walks off?
Now would you consider his action important? ... Why?

9. Flat vs Round Characters
Action can allow us to see changes that take place in a character, and note, change is always important in a character. This is what separates a Flat character from a Round character.

10. Flat Character
A flat character is someone who stays the same, does not experience any change. They are static, and two dimensional because we do not see them developing as a person.

11. Round Character Round characters must be developed in some way.
Need to be realistic and complex.
Need to go through some kind of conflict in the story (internal or external).
Need to make some kind of decision or change that spurs them to action.

12. This leads us to Plot A plot is a series of events in a narrative.
At the heart of any plot is a conflict or struggle between opposing forces.
This conflict can be external or internal.