Articles by Deanna Carlyle

Articles:

» Character Slams
(featured article at right)

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This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of Scriptscene’s Rewrit.

You’ve heard of poetry slams? A poor poet bares his soul onstage, and then audience members cheer, heckle or burp? Well, character slams, as defined by screenwriting guru David Freeman, serve a similar function: They expose a fictional character’s soul to positive or negative reinforcement, forcing him to grow (or not, depending on your theme and purpose).

During a seminar I attended with him this year, Freeman encouraged writers to continually “slam” a character’s fear, limitation, block or wound to force the character to grow. He presented a simple, five-step brainstorming technique for slamming characters, one that goes right to the crux of the character-plot conundrum: Which came first, character or plot? The answer is both, and here’s how:

Types of slams
1. Happy occasion slam - e.g., The commitmentphobic Hugh Grant character in Four Weddings and a Funeral attends a wedding and sees how happy, great and wonderful his exes are now that they’ve committed to other relationships.

2. Unhappy occasion slam - e.g., A commitmentphobe at a funeral for a now-dead, unhappy bachelor.

3. Inquiry slam - e.g., Another character asks, “Do you have a problem with commitment?” or claims, “You have a problem with commitment.”

4. Similar situation slam - e.g., An obvious creep or loser guy turns to Hugh Grant and says, “You’ll never catch me getting trapped in marriage!”

5. Opposite situation slam - e.g., in Good Will Hunting, Will’s lover tenderly strokes his back, and Will freaks out and leaves because he’s afraid of intimacy and doesn’t want to risk re-opening his wound (He was beat cruelly and sadistically by his parents).

In his seminar, Freeman said characters needs to be slammed a number of times before they’ll change.

The slamee could then . . .

1. Retaliate for the slam
2. Joke it off
3. Admit the other person’s right, then do nothing
4. Excuse own behavior and do nothing
5. Ignore the slam

The major turning point slams, however, your character can’t ignore if he’s going to have a growth arc.

Are you ready to do some slam-dunks? Your character is playing defense, but with creativity and persistence, you’ll bring him around to winning this game called his life.

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