Dan Watanabe, Entertainment Expert and Media Arts Instructor, explains why audiences emotionally connect with courageous characters. Anytime that a writer creates a character, he or she ought to take a step back and attempt to understand how a reader is experiencing the story in any given scene. That can be difficult, as writers know context about the scene that a reader doesn’t. But, if a character is well crafted, a reader will be able to connect with a character and experience the story in the same way the character is. Watanabe explains that some characters are so compelling that readers become brave simply by reading your story. He says great characters are written in normal situations, responding with great courage. Not only does this endear people to your characters, but it also creates opportunities for compelling plot developments. Listen to the clip below to learn more from Watanabe as he gives examples and explains emotionally enticing characters.
Thank you for giving such great examples! I was having trouble thinking of what to do for these characters but now I really understand what I was being told is missing from my stories ..... thanks!
Exactly! When it comes to writing, defining characters and build a strong persona for them is very difficult. And, yes. Courageous characters are more connectable and audiences grasp them easily, hence they are difficult to build. With a lot of famous courageous and brave characters that we know, the stakes are very high you're creating a completely new and fresh strong character that would attract your audiences and grasp their attention. You have to build a very strong foundation for that character so that it compels your audience to get emotionally invested in it. Take Blade Runner for example. We loved the original one with Harrison Ford as Deckard, because we all loved this neo-noir protagonist who won't back down from a challenge. Then, in 2017, they released another, if not, a sequel to the original called Blade Runner 2049. We are introduced with a completely different character called 'K.' And the fact that audiences loved it so much is that the character of K is, well, strong, yes. But it is also emotionally unstable. Well of course he's a replicant but we get to see more of his human side. And his outfit says it all. That blade runner 2049 coat - customizejackets.com , in a way, symbolizes the weight and burden that he has to carry on his shoulders of killing someone. That he cannot let his emotions take control of him. That overcoat is his burden of the blood of many replicants that he has killed. By the way, this was a masterclass from Watanabe!