Getting Depth and Life From the Brain to the Page

What's "eutheric" mean?

As long as you weren't on the phone tonight talking to your characters, that's what's important.

I can't answer your question. I'm the shallowest person I know. My characters reflect this. They're naturally passive, say the most uninteresting things, and only stir when something happens that requires a reaction. They lack motivation. They lack ambition. They lack drive. Just like me! You think you have problems? Try being me for a day and see how sizzling your writing doesn't become.

I hope you'll sell your script for a lot more than $10.

The Euthenics, German techno-experamentalist band from the early '80s, everyone remembers Dissect Your Funky Chicken.

-Derek
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The practice of art isn't to make a living. It's to make your soul grow. ~The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (Kurt Vonnegut)

Pstudios,

Go back to your phone conversation.

What was so interesting about it?
What were you saying that others would have found juicy?
What was your POV or frame of reference about the story?

Recall that conversation and then try to capture those same thoughts and ideas.

Perhaps you are trying too hard to force your story into screenplay format.
You might need to just let it flow on it's own at first. Then you can go back and reformat it.

I don't know if this is what you ar running into, but there is only so much backstory to a character that is relevant. You could be excited about the life of your characters that exists outside the script and should be, but I think it would be wise not to stress about craming in all of that backstory. You only need to write in what is relevent to the plot of the narrative. People don't want to see a character do or say something that is irreleveant to the story. If you are trying to add depth to the character by putting in dialouge or action that does not help the story along in anyway than you are wasting pages.

Secondly, it seems like you are trying to characterize your characters through dialouge, that your dialouge is missing something. Perhaps you would be better off characterizing them with actions. Actions are left open to greater interpertation than explict dialouge and could bring a depth to a semmingly flat character. Give a character some silent time where they act in a way that is intriguing.

I also think you should look critically at your scrpit scene by scene. Figure out the purpose of that scene and the conflict held within it. Look at all the characters invloved. Think of how their backstory would cause them to react to the conflict. Think of the characters wants within the scene. What are they trying to accomplish? The way they go about dealing with conflict and trying to get their wants is very telling of their personality.

Lastly, a complex character is one who defeats our expectations at times, and changes throughout the script. The character cannot defeat expectations or change unless they are put in situations where they need to react. And to react there needs to be action. You cannot learn the depth of a character without actions. You will not learn the depth of a character by letting them sit around and jabber on about themselves, about their likes and dislikes, their new ipod, or how they have seasonal allergies. Before you can talk you have to act.

That could all be pure BS though.

So, "eutheric" is like the poor man's "ethereal?"