Shallow Foundations
Note: Although this blog references The Rise of Skywalker, at this point I still haven’t seen it. When you sit down to write a story, you create characters who’ll serve that story. They each have a unique function. Once that function is complete, the character is done. They exit the story. James Bond movies illustrate how characters function in self-contained stories. Bond’s boss, M, briefs Bond about his mission. Q will provide Bond with weapons and gadgets. Once M and Q have fulfilled their roles, their jobs are complete. In a few Bonds, M and Q might reappear, but usually never with any great depth, necessity, or regularity. There’ll be…
Character Development
One of the most important things for me in story is character development. Measuring development can done by asking (and answering) these three simple questions. Where does the character begin the story? What is the journey the character takes? Where does the character end the story? This is one of the reasons I loathe so many of the blockbusters nowadays. Characters don’t develop. They just are. I’ll use the new Star Wars Trilogy as an example. This new series has polarised fans. I find it boring because the protagonist is complete when she is handed to us. Although she opens the story as a scavenger, she is a crack pilot…