Pixar Challenge: Rule #6

Pixar’s Rule #6

What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

The most beloved characters are not boring.  Conflict is how you sculpt and build personality.  It is the things that happen to us in life that make us into the adults we become.  If we go through life easy breezy, how fun is that?  You don’t grow.  You don’t learn.  You don’t stretch your mind you just remain one dimensional.  No fun. People tend to resent people who have life just a little too easy. The challenges thrown at people make them into who they are in the end of the story.  If they walk down a straight path and just wind up at the end, you are not allowed to watch as the character evolves. 

A protagonist has to make you want to cheer for them.  If they just waltz through life, everything is easy, and nothing learned they can’t become anything more.  The road traveled is too easy.  The path is too straight.  Remember this should be the person you want to be, you want to date, or you want to be their best friend.  Give us a reason to want these things.

An antagonist has to make you hate them, but you have to understand why they are part of the story.  They may have started out normal, enduring, lovely, but they switch and become something more, something different, and something evil.  You enjoy seeing them suffer for their crimes or even die.  Or they can start out extremely evil and through their struggle they learn a lesson.  They become someone better.  You actually hate to see them die or suffer.  You almost feel sorry for them.

Do your characters have depth?  Are they one dimensional?

Also, all of you should check out the posts from my blogging friends who are doing this challenge with me! The first posts go up today. Links to Kate Brauning, Talynn Lynn, Mary Pat, and Alex Yuschik’s blogs are located on the side bar. 

We’d love to see comments on our post and share anything you enjoy.  Thank you for reading!