One of my not-strong points (and one that I think is shared by a number of other new screenwriters) is that of creating unique voices for my different characters. My characters have been adequate and functional, but not brilliant or memorable.<\/p>\n
Well, I’m hoping that by taking on board a suggestion from a recent episode of Scriptnotes<\/a> (a great podcast by John August<\/a> and Craig Mazin <\/a>about screenwriting and things of interest to screenwriters) I’ll improve my characterisation and dialogue<\/p>\n Put simply, they suggested doing some casting prior to writing. Decide which actors would be ideally suited to play the characters in your story, then write for them.<\/p>\n It doesn’t mean that they will actually be in the movie, but by having a clear picture of who the character is, it helps to create a unique voice and characterisation for them. <\/p>\n A proviso William Goldman<\/a> adds in his book Adventures in the Screen Trade<\/a><\/em> is not to make your character description too specific to a particular actor. You want the part to appeal to a variety of actors!<\/p>\n Anotehr thing to keep in mind is that the idea isn’t to simply copy characters from other movies – you still need to bring originality to the part. And you wouldn’t need to base it on an actor, necessarily. If you know some interesting people, you could incorporate aspects of their personality, mannerisms and way of speaking.<\/p>\n But the point is a good one: Have a clear picture of your characters.<\/p>\n In the past, I’ve tended to have a fairly nebulous idea of what the character was like. By taking this advice on board and casting my scripts prior to writing them, I’ll be able to craft stronger, more distinct characters.<\/p>\n At least, that’s the plan!<\/p>\n Happy writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of my not-strong points (and one that I think is shared by a number of other new screenwriters) is that of creating unique voices for my different characters. My characters have been adequate and functional,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78,57,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-casting","category-characterisation","category-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t