character dimensions

[smoovebd]

Could someone please explain character dimensions to me?  From what I've read, two dimensional is bad, 3 is good.  What exactly is it, and what are you looking for?  How do you make them three dimensional?  Thanks for the help.

BD

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[caissiela]

This is a really good question so thanks for asking it.  Hopefully I can give you a good answer.  It's basically how your characters read off the page.  For example, if you're reading a scene with four characters you should be able to distinguish between them in different way outside of just looking at their names.  A lot of this can be done with dialogue.  I know it may be considered cliche but a lot of films and genres have a formula when it comes to characters.  Take horror/thriller for example -- Most of these films have the funny guy, the macho guy, the nerd, the innocent girl, and the...well...the not so innocent girl(s)  (Think of Scream or the original Nightmare on Elm Street.)  So, the point being is that by making these characters have identifible traits you can visualize them and it will effect the way they move throughout your story from both a dialogue and an action stand point. 

Trying to brief here -- basically you want all of your characters to be fleshed out and different.  That's what makes them 3 dimensional. 

A good way to check would be for you to read a scene you wrote.  Can you tell one character from the other without looking at their names above the dialogue?  What if you were to change the names above the lines you wrote?  Would the scene change...I hope so...if not...well your characters are too alike and don't stick out. (they're essentially two dimensional)

Another good trick that I personally use is to assign a famous character from a movie already made to each of your characters as you write.  That way there you have a visual, an audio, and usually a well written character from a produced film to use.  (this doesn't work if you are using the guy from that movie that had that one line that was funny and then he died and he was never in the movie after the first 5 minutes) Think big characters and you'll do better...but be careful that you get a good eclectic group.  You don't want 5 of the same characters.  You wouldn't want Rambo and Arnold from Predator (sorry can't think of another example right now)  they're both too alike.

In the end you can always ask yourself...would a good actor want to play each and every part of my script?  Even small parts are played by good actors if the role is "juicy" or "interesting".  It's important to have strong main characters...but don't forget those supporting rolls too!!

Hope that helps.

[smoovebd]

Thank you.  That does help.