Character development
Character development is crucial to any remarkable story. And it’s all about habits and assumptions.
Back in April of 2008, I participated in Script Frenzy, an annual challenge to write a 100-page script in one month. I chose to write mine as a film script.
In the preseason training (i.e. a couple days before April), I researched some of the methods for writing scripts. I read about script structure, hooks for keeping attention, technical issues for making my script look professional, and most importantly character development.
From my brief stint as an amateur scriptwriter, I learned a valuable lesson:
Character = habits + assumptions
Let me unpack this a bit.
Habits
Habits are actions we repeat continually. When we have enough similar actions, we say we’ve formed a habit.
For example, suppose you wake up at 6:15 in the morning. That one action is not a habit. Repeat it two days in a row. Probably still not a habit. But repeat it often enough, and that action of waking at 6:15 will become a habit. We could say then that you’re in the habit of waking at 6:15.
Habits are just that: repeated actions.
Assumptions
Assumptions are beliefs about the unknown inferred from our experiences. When we expect certain experiences even if we’ve never had the experiences, we say we’ve formed an assumption.
Let me illustrate. Every person you’ve ever met had a head, right? I assume that’s true for you. I’ve not met all the people you’ve met, but every person I’ve met had a head. So I assume from my experience that all your acquaintances also had a head. You could likely assume the same about your friends, that none of them has ever met anyone without a head. Fair enough?
Those are assumptions. I haven’t had your experiences, but based on mine, I assume about yours.
Combining habits and assumptions, we get…
Character = habits + assumptions
You’ve seen this before on T.V. and in movies and books. A rich man twirls his hair at the diner table. Perhaps he’s excited or nervous.
A stranger stalks through a dark neighborhood, revving a chainsaw. What do you think he’s up to?
I once wrote of a character that always had a slice of pizza with him. Little details like these develop character in stories…
But more importantly, they develop character in real life.
When I attended my first summer camp as a teenager, I happened to be what seemed like the only kid within ten miles with a watch.
“Hey, man, what time is it?” they asked in the middle of our basketball games.
Years later, I met kids who had attended that camp and remembered me. They didn’t remember my name or my mad basketball skills. They remembered me as the punctual kid with the watch.
Poetic irony, if there is such a thing. Most who know me in person have probably gathered that I’m not an on-time type of person. But at camp, they didn’t know that. They knew me from the habits they observed and assumed I’m punctual.
That’s how character develops. Character develops through persistent repetition of actions combined with assumptions that these past repeated actions represent what will continue to repeat in the future. When we assume certain habits will continue to repeat in the future, we assume those habits represent character.
The more habits we experience the more assumptions we’re able to make, establishing a comprehensive character. Your character then is the culmination of all your habits assumed into one person.
As in the movies, each habit, no matter how small, contributes to your character.
You can’t determine the assumptions others make about you. But you can determine the habits you make for yourself.
Choose wisely. Do you really want to be known as the perpetual pizza eater?
Serving Suggestions:
(1) Take inventory of your habits. What do you do continually, repeatedly?
(2) Of these habits, which would you like to drop? Accomplish this by switching them with new, beneficial habits. Character development is as simple as changing one habit at a time.