How to Create a Protagonist

the hero the lead the main character your protagonist the most important character in your story will be your protagonist if you get this character right many of the other parts in your story will fall clearly into place but if you get this character wrong you will constantly be lost and confused trying desperately to build a story on a bad foundation today i want to give you the most important elements of a strong protagonist if you can nail these simple concepts and apply it to your own writing it will dramatically improve your stories let's begin what creates the core of a character it's not what they wear it's not how they speak it's not their job what creates the core of a character is the beliefs they hold these will be the moral philosophical or ethical beliefs of your characters the beliefs your characters hold will define who they are in hacksaw ridge desmond doss believes that he should not take the life of another person i ain't got no no problem with wearing my uniform saluting the flag and doing my duty is just just carrying a gun and taking a human life and lego batman batman believes that he must remain alone because if he opens himself up to others he will be hurt like he was when his parents were murdered your greatest fear is being a part of a family again these beliefs create the core of who your character is and why they want what they want their beliefs define them their beliefs will be challenged as they exist within the story without strong beliefs you have no character you have no want and you have no story the characters do not simply hold beliefs what they believe will influence their external actions because of his beliefs desmond doss refuses to carry a gun into battle problem private corn stock is there not one in your size or is it the color that is the issue this makes him the laughing stock of his unit the other soldiers think he's a coward and don't trust him it also makes him more vulnerable on the battlefield because he has no way of defending himself in lego batman because of batman's beliefs he refuses to work with others he constantly tries to do everything on his own placing too much responsibility upon himself and allowing the villains to overpower and outsmart him how many times i gotta tell you batman works alone once you understand this then you can start building more superficial characteristics like where they live and what they wear but these things will always be secondary to the beliefs that the protagonist holds a strong protagonist also has a clear want and takes action to get it in the art of dramatic writing by laos egry he writes the pivotal character knows what he wants without him the story flounders in fact there is no story the protagonist's want is based upon what they believe their beliefs define their want and this want is necessary to create your story your protagonists want will create the conflict in the story they will take action because of what they want and their action will create the plot listen to this quick snippet from aaron sorkin as he was doing an interview with the aspen institute rather than kind of tell the audience uh who a character is i like to show the audience what a character wants uh and it all boils down to intention an obstacle somebody wants something something standing in their way of getting it your protagonist's want will define the external plot of your story and it's important that what your character wants is vital to them it cannot be some small desire in sicario kate macer wants to stop the cartel and put an end to their illegal activity along the u.s mexico border she believes doing so will save many lives and stop many more from being ruined by drugs however this proves to be much more difficult than she realizes and kate is placed in many situations where she must decide between what is moral and legal or what will be effective in stopping the cartel in the art of dramatic writing agree writes a pivotal character must not merely desire something he must want it so badly that he will destroy or be destroyed in the effort to attain his goal a good character must have something very vital at stake we can clearly see this in moneyball billy bean is the manager of the oakland a's a baseball team that's running out of money and cannot compete with the more financially successful teams the problem we're trying to solve is that there are rich teams and there are poor teams then there's 50 feet of crap and then there's us billy wants to create a winning team so bad that he is willing to get ridiculed by fans criticized by his staff and even risk being fired if it means that he can achieve his goal and save the oakland days in story robert mckee writes true character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure the greater the pressure the deeper the revelation the truer the choice to the character's essential nature actions without consequences don't matter we don't get to see what matters to your character unless there are serious consequences for going after what they want if what your protagonist wants doesn't really matter to them your entire story crumbles it's not that your character must try and save the world in every story what defines a strong want for your protagonist is how important their want is to what they believe in whiplash andrew believes he's worthless if he does not become a truly great musician does it really matter to the human race if andrew succeeds or not no not really but it matters deeply to him because of what he believes and therefore it matters to the audience one of the most important characteristics of a strong protagonist is that the story is largely driven by their actions as they go towards what they want a strong protagonist takes action that specifically changes the story it's important to remember that second half many writers will create protagonists that are taking action but the action they take doesn't actually impact the story now not every single event in your story has to be caused by or because of the protagonist but if your protagonist doesn't cause a particular event that event still does need to impact them in some way in breaking bad walter white did not cause his lung cancer it's just something that happened to him however his reaction to this information sets up the conflict for the entire show in the big short the characters did not cause the american mortgage crisis however once they realize it's happening every important character in the story is taking action based upon this new information to get what they want but do you really need a strong protagonist what if you want to create a story about a character who doesn't want to take strong action or doesn't hold strong beliefs agree writes a weak character cannot carry the burden of protracted conflict in a play we are forced then to discard such a character as a protagonist there is no sport if there is no competition there is no play if there is no conflict the dramatist needs not only characters who are willing to put up a fight for their convictions he needs characters who have the strength and the stamina to carry this fight to its logical conclusion weak characters make for bad protagonists because so much of the story's conflict rests on the desire the protagonist has to get what they want if they don't hold strong beliefs and if they don't deeply want what they're trying to get then the story will flounder and the conflict will die out the different stories i've referenced today work because their protagonists are willing to put up a fight they are willing to continue fighting for what they believe even when challenged by antagonist or by catastrophic events but what about change many characters go through change throughout a story but not all do does your protagonist have to change one of two things will happen in your story either the beliefs of your protagonist will change or the beliefs of the characters around your protagonist will change the purpose of story is change the purpose of story is to examine philosophical ideas through character beliefs in external conflict if you do not have any change you create a story with no meaning or stakes therefore the beliefs of the protagonist must triumph or they must change their beliefs in some way in hacksaw ridge desmond doss does not change his beliefs are heavily challenged again and again but he does not falter instead the soldiers who fight alongside him realize how serious he is about his beliefs and they begin to admire and respect his conviction not only that but his beliefs save many lives as he continues rescuing soldiers when others have given up you've done more than any other man could have done in the service of his country now i've never been more wrong about someone in my life in lego batman batman's beliefs do change batman realizes that he has pushed people away because he fears that he will lose them he realizes that if he does not change he will live his life completely alone and so he makes the decision to open himself up to the people in his life i was afraid a feeling the pain you feel when you lose [Music] someone close to you and this is how he is able to defeat the villains and save the city when you are trying to build your protagonist keep it simple focus on nailing these few elements of a strong protagonist whether from a book a friend or a professor it's possible you've come across bad advice regarding character building some people like to focus on superficial characteristics like how a character looks what they wear or how they speak and while these things are important later on they are not the foundational things you need to build when you're creating a protagonist what i've said may seem simplistic you may think this is an easy boring way to write stories in reality most bad stories become bad simply because they fail to stick to these simple clear elements of a strong protagonist if you're a new writer or even a seasoned vet it's likely that you're making one of these mistakes in a story you're writing right now hey thanks for making it to the end of the video i hope you enjoyed it if you did give it a like and subscribe for more videos just like this one you

Channel: Tyler Mowery

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Keywords: film analysis, movie review, tyler mowery, nerdwriter, lessons from the screenplay, every frame a painting, screenwriting, script breakdown, writing, workshop, writing course, teach screenwriting, oscar best screenplay, film school, protagonist, main character, antagonist, villain, hero

Id: h-RCafAOh50

Length: 11min 2sec (662 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 03 2021