Save the cat is probably the most important book I have read on script writing, I always had a focus on character and making their backstories work in ways that develop and encourage their progress and development.
However making what I found helpful was coming up with concepts that I could then wrap a character around. In Save the Cat, Zach Snyder describes defining your characters nature in his introducing i.e. he’s a good caring guy so he saves a cat from a tree. My favourite example of this is the character Renji from what can only be considered a failed masterpiece in Kubo Tite’s Bleach.
Renji in his introduction as an antagonist/rival to the protagonist is shown to be the uncouth yet loyal second to a nobleman who doesn’t respect him. Renji is essentially considered a thug, yet he behaves like a loyal dog to a master who won’t accept him. Furthermore Renji’s character is defined by the proverb of a monkey that in it’s desperation to obtain the moon wades into a lake and drowns. Renji’s ultimate expression of his soul is called Baboon King, that’s the link to the monkey and the woman he is in love with – his master’s adopted sister – is reminiscent of the moon. When they eventually come to blows his Master describes himself as the lake in which Renji will drown. Below I have linked a song that the creator as suggested as the character’s theme titled Stray Dog, and in my opinion despite the lyrics being in Japanese the tone and rhythm of the song does define the character I have described above.
Despite Kubo Tite’s limited ability with story and plot when it comes to characters, he is one of the best. Mixing legend, proverb and music as well as various colloquial slang into his characters he is able to define them with minimal effort and effectively.
This is something I have taken and incorporated into my own writing and I believe it has massively assisted the way I write and improved not only my characters and their development but my ability to craft stories as a whole.
Matt sHERIDAN'S rESEARCH AND eNQUIRY 