Character Debates

Bet you’ll never guess where I got this idea from. Oh, so you knew it was from the debate fever over the Presidential election? Darn it, caught me. It’s a good lesson to be learned, though. Debates show someone’s true colors and it reveals their inner character. And I realized what a great exercise this would be for anyone stuck on understanding a challenging character or one they’ve just recently begun to write.

You could have two kinds of debates:

• You versus the character
• The character in question versus another character (new or old)

In the case of you versus the character, it might helpful just to discover what little tics you’ve attributed to this new person from yourself or to see where you’d really clash and what might be difficult to write in the future. As for character v character, this could be useful to flesh out details of what makes the character unique and to show how is s/he compelling.

I did this very exercise just the other day. Now, I’m a bit unorthodox when it comes to working out dialogue for characters. I’ve said it before, but I’ll admit it again, I talk aloud to myself like I’m in some really sad one act play that no one came to see. It helps me get a grasp on the character and bring them to life. So I didn’t record my character debate, but I used both versions to try and understand a new character better. And it worked. I got into her head and was able to expand my knowledge on her likes and dislikes, her personality, behavior, strength and weaknesses. I’m telling you, it works.

What you’ll need is a medium for the debate. I’ll assume most people will want to write it out, so give each person involved a column and go to town on the issues. Log what each individual would feel or say in response to the topics you’ve chosen that play into your narrative. By the end of the debate, which can really be however long you want or need, I’m betting you’ll know the ins and outs of the character that started off a bit foreign to you. And maybe also, a little bit more about yourself.