Personality

Creating a personality for a character from scratch can be one of the hardest parts of writing as not only does the writer have to come up with a personality, but also that the personality needs to match up with the background of the character. This is where television shows and movies come in as these allow the writer to observe other characters who have a personality similar to their desired character, with reactions based on their background in different situations. When observing other characters for personality inspiration, the writer will also need to consider if the show or movie did a realistic job of taking the character’s personality and background into account when they decided how their character would react in different situations. For example, some television shows and movies have a character that is an abused child suddenly becoming a child hero with no time for healing and not showing any signs of trauma from their abuse; and that is not a realistic reaction for a character with a background of abuse.

Character Connection

“I think connecting to a character is like connecting to any human being - either you like them or you don't…it's just something that you feel - a connection, an understanding, or a curiosity that makes you want to get to know them.” (Katherine Waterston)

Writers can also use movies and television shows to gain a better understanding of the types of people most likely to connect with or sympathize with their character, based on the writer’s own reactions to the movie or show as well as from online forums, reviews, and reactions from critics to the characters. This can allow the writer to truly understand what types of appearance, background, and personality they should choose for their character in order to get their intended audience to react to the character the way that the writer wants. For example, if the writer wants the audience to see the villain of their story as the ultimate bad person, then they would not want to give their villain a background or personality that would cause their audience to feel sympathetic towards the villain. In order to achieve this aim, the writer would want to avoid giving the villain a background of abuse or any personality traits that might make the villain seem justified in his or her actions during the writer’s story.

Avoiding Plagiarism

While it is great to use movies and television shows for character inspiration, writers need to take care that they are in fact using the movies and television shows as inspiration and not copying someone else’s character. An easy way to avoid this is for the writer to take their inspiration for their character’s appearance, background, and personality each from a different source. In this way, if the writer ends up a bit too close to the character they are drawing inspiration from, it would not be an exact copy because the writer would only be taking inspiration from one aspect of the character.