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All great screenplays and teleplays are about characters and emotions clashing and colliding. Without conflict there is no story. Without a story you have no script.
Although all characters struggle with external events and obstacles, the deepest conflicts are always within the character. A Character Map will help you chart the emotional tensions deep inside the character and how those tensions lead to his or her transformation. Powerful screenwriting creates powerful internal conflict for the script's characters.
At the heart of any character's inner conflict is change or transformation. Someone or something provokes some kind of shift or change in the character. The character discovers something new or begins to think, feel, speak and act in a new or different way. One of the first questions to ask yourself before starting your script is--Why now? What happens in your screenplay to provoke a fundamental shift or change in your character or in his or her situation?
Change doesn't come easily and it never occurs without opposition. No change ever continues unchecked. Someone or something stands in the way. Obstacles always arise to prevent, derail, stymie or stall change. Why? Transformation is always upsetting. Emotions run high. The situation and characters are thrown into turmoil. Someone or something resists the change with all his or her might. Who or what stands in the way? Is your character resisting the change or is someone or something resisting the transformation your character is bringing about or is undergoing"
What specific action changes or transforms your character? What is lost? What is gained? Who opposes the change? What does your character want? What does your character need? What is the cost of either choice? What does your character fear most? How much is your character willing to sacrifice? To what extreme is your character willing to go?
The answers to these questions get to the heart of who your character really is. They give depth and meaning to your writing. A good screenwriter thoroughly understands his or her characters' emotions, inner conflicts and the whole process of internal transformation. Great screenwriters dig deep to find this emotional truth within themselves.
Creating a Character Map is the first step in the Emotional Toolbox® approach. A Character Map charts internal conflicts and emotional transformation. In writing your screenplay, each major character should be mapped. This process will help you get inside your character's emotions. But first you have to start with yourself.
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