Human Behavior

  • Why your characters won’t behave themselves

    One of the biggest aspirations of writers is to create believable characters, whether they realize this or not. We’ve all seen the situation where characters onscreen or in print are just “too perfect” or where you’re absorbed in the story and then suddenly, something happens, and you involuntarily go:

    “What the hell?”

    That’s when stories die—regardless of where it goes after that.

    It’s not suspension of disbelief anymore. It’s outright disregard for plausibility, because plausibility is always bounded by the world you create for the audience, no matter when or where your story takes place.

    As an author, you can feel it before it gets that far. You know when the dialog feels forced, the action seems contrived.

    Where you reach for the plot armor or the “magic pixie dust” to get a character either into or out of a situation that’s critical to the story you want to tell.

    And that’s when you’re asking yourself:

    Why in the hell won’t this character behave?

    The answer is unfortunately that you’ve probably done everything you’ve read or been told was correct.

    You’ve created your character profile. You know everything about them from their favorite color to their childhood best friends and their nervous habits that give them away no matter what situation they’re in.

    You know their goals. You know their flaws, their scars and quirks.

    And you might’ve even come up with those lists based on published character development guides or by reverse-engineering some of your own favorite characters.

    But the reason your characters don’t “behave” despite everything you know about them is because we assume that if we have the right pieces and parts…

    …then we understand how something (or someone, in this case) is going to behave.

    But that’s not really how people (or the world) work. People don’t really do things randomly.

    People do things because they seemed like the best option at the time, based on who they are, what they know, what they believe about the situation and what they expect will happen.

    You don’t touch the hot stove if you expect it’s going to burn you.

    And yet a lot of the formulaic advice for creating stories expect you to do just that. Assemble the characters. Pick a plot. Put them in the blender of your brain and presto!

    You have a great story.

    But the part that’s missing in all that is understanding people in a way that “watch people” won’t ever help you achieve.

    You have to know enough about the characters in your story that you can predict how *they* would respond to any situation.

    That means writing isn’t actually about writing or defining characters—or even worldbuilding.

    That means writing is a whole lot more like acting.

    Robert Downey Jr. may have played both Tony Stark and Lewis Strauss, but they weren’t anything alike. They had the same basic physical features. You could tell it was Downey Jr.

    But that recognition only lasted from the first moment you saw him. After that, you weren’t watching Downey Jr. anymore.

    You were trying to save the world of the MCU…or you were trying to take your revenge against the leader of the Manhattan Project.

    So, when you’re stuck with characters that won’t behave, don’t pull out your character sheets and look at what they are.

    Look at what they’ve done, what’s happened to them, and try to “get inside their head” so you can figure out how they think, what they believe and what they’re going to expect.

    This is what the structure of the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint™ helps you figure out—how to understand what drives your character’s decisions.

    Because it’s not what they look like, their preferences or their favorite color who make them who they are.

    It’s how all those things you know about them work together to drive your character’s decisions.

    Because, in fact, your character is the sum of their decisions, not a function of the plot. And if those two things aren’t aligned…

    …then that’s why you’re stuck with characters who won’t “behave” the way you expect.

    Because you’re inside *your* head, not theirs.

    Once you understand what really drives decisions – for your characters or for anyone – then your job as a writer is to step inside your characters and let them tell you what they would do.

    Because, if you do it right, even when you don’t know what happens next.

    They will.

    So, if you’re stuck with your own story, go ahead and check out the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint™and see which parts you might be missing. If you don’t already have it, you can get your copy right here:

    https://storysys.me/blueprint

    The information you’ll find inside the Blueprint just might be the thing that makes it all click…

    …and your characters finally “behave” the way they’re supposed to behave.

    To unlocking the soul of your story,

    ast
    —
    Andrew S. Townley
    Creator of the Perpetual Story System™

  • Plot vs. Characters: which one really drives the story?

    There’s a lot of advice out there today that says the plot drives a story, and while this can be true to some degree, there’s far more to a great story than just picking the plot.

    In fact, without not just the right characters but also having a deep understanding of why they do what they do…

    …there’s no convincing way for the plot to come alive.

    And if the plot doesn’t live and breathe with your audience in a way that sucks them in and won’t let them go even after the story’s over…

    …then you need to ask yourself why you’re even writing the story at all.

    But there’s also more to it than just developing your character in terms of their background, their experience and their motives.

    You have to also understand something about why people do what they do, and the main reason people do what they do…

    …is because of what they believe.

    This realization has come from my own personal deep dive into psychology and human behavior for over 20 years and applying it directly in my business, professional and personal life.

    Because it turns out that beliefs drive everything—even things that are often seen as “evil” in both the world and the story.

    Sure, some people can’t help but operate this way, but if that’s all they have, then they’re as much of a stock character as the Fairy Godmother.

    Maybe characters like that are part of your world just like they are in ours.

    But those aren’t the characters that captivate your audience.

    The characters that captivate your audience do so not just because they’re relatable. The do so because they seem…real.

    Most of us aren’t really taught much directly about people and why we do what we do, and I think that’s one of the reason there’s so many stories with potential that end up never really going anywhere.

    It’s not because the idea wasn’t good…or the plot was bad.

    It’s because the characters didn’t behave like real people.

    And one of the truths about people is that every interaction we have with the world is driven by what we believe is true and right.

    It’s really that simple.

    So if your story’s stuck right now, then maybe it isn’t about your characters or your plot in the traditional sense.

    Maybe it’s that you don’t really know what your characters believe – what their worldview really is – and as a result?

    It’s obvious why you might be stuck with a particular scene or a story.

    You know it seems forced. You know it needs to happen.

    But you don’t understand the underlying beliefs, rationale and motivation that ultimately make it inevitable.

    So, if that’s the case, then I’d suggest you read the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint™, starting with The What on Page 9.

    And if you don’t already have the Blueprint, you can grab it here:

    https://storysys.me/blueprint

    Because your characters will tell you everything you need to know about how your story can unfold.

    All you need to do is learn to listen.

    To unlocking your story’s soul,

    ast
    —
    Andrew S. Townley
    Creator of the Perpetual Story System™

  • Untangling fear and writer’s block

    Do any kind of investigation on writer’s block, and you’re going to find a lot of advice and potential solutions for the problem. You’re also going to find a lot of people talking about why it happens, and one of the most interesting reasons I’ve seen is fear.

    That’s right. Now, there’s some psychological basis to this, because most of our other reasons for not doing something are in some way built on a foundation of fear of some kind. However, while you might be…

    …afraid what you write won’t be as good as what’s in your head…

    …afraid that it’s not as good as someone else’s work…

    …afraid that you might actually be successful…

    …afraid you’ll have to share things with the world it may not like…

    …or even afraid that you’ll have to change yourself and the way you see the world…

    …most of the time, this isn’t what I see stopping people.

    Most of the time, it’s their relationship with their story. And specifically, because they’ve lost their connection to their story, it’s pretty obvious why they’re stuck.

    There’s nothing to write about.

    It’s not that you’re afraid—of any of those things above.

    You literally are in a separate “room” in your head from the story you’re trying to write.

    And until you reconnect with it properly, you’re going to end up staring down the blinking cursor that’s taunting you at the top of an empty page.

    So…how?

    Well, one of the first things you need to understand is how your characters behave as people. Sure, there’s some specifics, but there are some critical things that guide people’s behavior.

    Based on the deep study I’ve done in psychology and human behavior over the last 20 years, it’s easy to assume that people are hard to predict.

    This is true to a point.

    But there’s still only a small set of reactions you can expect in any situation. In fact it’s smaller than you might think.

    And these reactions are driven by the way your characters see themselves, the world they’re in and the people and the events in it.

    The best part is that this can change—either temporarily or permanently.

    Everyone has a bad day where everyone is a threat and everything is a problem. That’s not random.

    That’s a function of the environment you’re in and how easy it is for you to get what you want.

    And if you don’t know what your characters want and what they believe is necessary to get it?

    It’s not fear that will stop the words from coming. It’s just missing connections.

    Because as soon as you connect those dots, understanding not just your character’s background, but what drives their thinking…

    …then my experience is that you can’t write fast enough.

    And stopping before 6am becomes a much bigger problem than staring at a blank page.

    The good news is that it’s easier to fill in these blanks than you might think, and helping you do that is one of the main reasons I created the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint™ in the first place.

    It gives you some prompt questions to help you create your story’s breakthrough scene (or scenes), and it just so happens…

    …that these prompt questions are a pretty good cure for writer’s block as well.

    To get your copy of the Blueprint, just go here:

    https://storysys.me/blueprint

    I don’t want you afraid to write your story, and I don’t want you stuck staring at a blank page. You might be afraid of a lot of things, but I don’t believe that’s what’s holding you back.

    I believe you can beat your blank page by rediscovering your connection to your story, because once you do…

    …you’ll be back in the groove, and your story will be desperate to get onto the page.

    All you have to do is let it happen.

    To unlocking the soul of your story,

    ast
    —
    Andrew S. Townley
    Creator of the Perpetual Story System™

  • Stuck with a scene? Hit the pub with your characters!

    One of the things I see as a recurring theme when people are stuck with a particular scene is that they think their “writer’s block” is caused by things external to the story. I hear people say:

    • they don’t know what happens next,
    • they think they aren’t on the right schedule, or
    • they think they’ve “run out of ideas.”

    That’s where all the typical advice like “walk away,” “write something else” or “read something” typically comes from. Or, of course, to set up a “writing place” and make sure you write on a set schedule, because…“it’s a job too.”

    I’m not saying that these aren’t symptoms of other things, but every time I hear it, I think about the claims of how Jane Austin would write as and when she could.

    My own experience is that things like routine help, but I’ve also been stuck when I wasn’t quite sure was next…and I’d plow through all the advice of starting with anything and trying to make progress.

    But later, once I started to actually understand more about how the world worked from my studies of psychology, human behavior, and in particular, systems thinking, I realized that the problem wasn’t the schedule.

    The problem was that I didn’t know my characters—or their environment.

    Specifically, I didn’t really know much about what made them unique, interesting and different. Sure, I followed the advice.

    I gave them a backstory.

    I gave them motivations.

    I had strengths, flaws and quirks.

    They had their arcs. And I thought I “knew them inside out” like you were supposed to.

    But the thing I didn’t quite realize was I didn’t understand people. I didn’t understand *why* that backstory happened vs. other things.

    I didn’t understand why they were motivated to do something…

    …or when they’d do something that went *against* what they said they wanted.

    And most of the strengths, flaws and quirks were isolated and superficial.

    Because it’s true that you can’t predict what your characters will do in your story if you don’t understand both your characters and the environment they’re in.

    But you can’t really understand how those characters will *react* until you understand who they truly are—not just as a collection of characteristics and events…

    …but what that makes them think, believe and value.

    This is generally the stuff you’d find if you were talking to some friends at the pub after work—after a few drinks and a few sessions for sure.

    But only if you were paying attention to the “in between” bits that connected everything you knew about the character into a coherent whole of a real person.

    Because when it comes to writing scenes with your characters, most people don’t directly connect what they know about the characters to the actions they take.

    They assume they know…they do it by feel.

    And that’s exactly how characters sound flat…scenes feel hollow…and continuity drifts.

    That’s where the information in the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint becomes so valuable, because it helps keep you focused on how your characters as people respond in the situation.

    Not just in broad strokes—but in detail.

    And when you can do that? You’re not guessing anymore.

    You’re not “out of ideas.”

    And you’re no longer staring at a blinking cursor taunting you from the top left of an empty page.

    You just write the story your characters show you…

    …because you literally know your characters better than themselves…

    …and because you understand how what you know about them drives their decisions.

    That’s exactly what the Breakthrough Scene Blueprint™ going to help you discover. Grab your copy of the Blueprint here:

    https://storysys.me/blueprint

    And before you try to take another crack at that breakthrough scene…

    …make sure you make your characters at least buy the first round.

    To unlocking the soul of your story,

    ast
    —
    Andrew S. Townley
    Creator of the Perpetual Story System™