More Than a Character

To give a character depth, writers imagine that the best strategy is to give them a deep, abiding trauma. We use this approach to vitalise them; to enrich and make them memorable. And we suppose, because they've experienced an awful, often staggering event in their lives, we use it to explain the character's motivations. This, we say, is the burden they're carrying; this is the reason they act as they do. We've seen this writing strategy used in hundreds of stories, so we believe in it. We think it works. But it doesn't. Not really.

A character that has suffered upheaval is unquestionably more interesting. As people, we are defined intensely by the bad things that have happened... but what is more important than the upheaval is not what it motivates us to do each day — but how we got past it. How we grew. Meaning is not discovered in the horrible thing itself and its imperative... but in how we've risen above the horrible thing by strength and will, thus redefining ourselves. This makes a far stronger, far more relatable character than those personalities who never seem to get over anything.

Continued:

https://alexis202.substack.com/p/more-than-a-character