Psychology and Your Characters

I think we can all agree that characters in movies, TV shows, books, plays, and usually in art, have issues. It’s why we love to be with them. Sometimes those issues are physical…although usually it’s a cut on the face that doesn’t bleed in an action movie…and most of the time it’s psychological. In fact, I dare you to think about a favorite character in a favorite movie that doesn’t have psychological issues. Luke Skywalker? Family trauma much? Indiana Jones was afraid of snakes (and had his own Daddy issues). Even the most recent Superman battled all sorts of worries. We love our favorite characters not because they are handsome/beautiful and perfect, but because they have damage. Sometimes it’s manageable, sometimes it’s not, but always it’s there.

And yet when we are learning the craft of writing, we’re never told to do anything other than ‘write what we know’.  Which often means scripts by aspiring writers have characters made out of cardboard, having the occasional ‘trait’, but rarely anything resembling a real, nuanced human being. You know, someone who had imperfect parents (perfect ones don’t exist), and other bits and pieces of life experiences along the way that got them to where they are when we meet them on screen.

So, let’s add another piece of ammunition to your writing arsenal right now. It’s called the DSM – the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It’s a very thick book that was first published in the 1950s, and is updated every thirteen years or so. It’s the ‘bible’ for mental health professionals when it comes to diagnosing mental illness. The book has its own less than glamorous history…for the first 2 editions it had homosexuality as a mental disorder…but they fixed that.  

Full disclosure, I bought a copy of DSM 5 – TR (the most recent update) because I’m two quarters into a Masters in Psychology. When I started reading about all the different diagnoses, the variations, the nuances, what counts as something requiring treatment or something you just deal with, I wondered why I never thought about this when I was constructing characters for my scripts. Then I thought how helpful it would be in the hundreds of scripts I read every year for my screenplay competition, and in consulting. Imagine the time I would save not having to write ‘this character doesn’t feel like a real human being’.

Here is my advice when using this book – because it’s not exactly a rip-roaring page turner. Think about your current script and the people in it. As you think about who they are, what they want, and what the obstacles will be…which are the foundations of any story…spend more than a second on the first bit. Who they are. What traumas do they have…and it doesn’t have to be flashbacks from Afghanistan or finding their whole family dead, or being beaten to a pulp by Dad. What life events have shaped them? Where are their vulnerabilities? What are their triggers…what would be something that would give them emotional pause as they go about their journey? Marty McFly hating being called a coward, because his Dad was so sniveling for example. How could their own emotional history, and their own brain chemicals/wiring provide an additional obstacle in their quest for whatever it is they want?

Don’t settle for: ‘is an alcoholic’. No one is an alcoholic simply because they like to drink alcohol too much. If you disagree…then you have a lot more work to do before you can call yourself a writer.

This book, the DSM 5 – is 1080 pages long. If you can’t add genuine depth and greater authenticity to your characters in that many pages…you have a lot more work to do before you can call yourself a writer. Understanding the human condition is a key ingredient to connecting with strangers. A book like this (or this book specifically) can be useful to flesh out a character and make them relatable. I would argue it’s more than useful, it’s important.

Now…a word of warning. This book should not be used as a mental health supermarket.  Don’t just read up on symptoms, tell yourself ‘that’ll do’, and blindly trudge into a mental illness adventure of which you have zero experience, apart from what you read in this book. Emotional authenticity with any character begins with your own experiences. Your own emotional life and knowledge. Start there. Use the book to flesh out characters…from a foundation of truth. Do the work. Spend the time with these people. The more authentic your characters, the more easily your audience will be able to relate and engage. If they feel real to you, and not just a collection of traits invented by you because someone in a Script magazine article told you characters need traits…then they’ll feel real to us. That’s part of displaying your ‘voice’ by the way, because only you sees the world your way.

I’m not suggesting every character in your story needs a serious, diagnosable mental illness. That would be stupid. But living life means experiences, memories, scars, emotional hot spots, good times, sad moments and everything else that makes you who you are right now, and who your characters should be. They lived a life before page one of your script. It’s shaped them, like your life has shaped you.

If you find yourself looking at a wall wondering how you can make your character have more ‘traits’…I beg you…stop, and google DSM -5 TR, while you seriously think about your characters as people who have lived imperfect lives. DSM-5 TR offers a window into every diagnosable issue we know about right now, and makes it very clear humans are deeply complex, emotional creatures. There’s no reason the people in your script can’t be like that. Put in the time, do the research, and your script will elevate dramatically.