It is pretty much common sense in writing that a story needs unique and compelling characters to succeed. It shouldn´t be just talking heads, they should have depth, backstory and at the same time you don´t want to punch the audience in the face with the depth (”Look at that person and his great and compelling backstory”).

While there may exist some genius writers who don´t have to outline or structure their notes for the characters, most writers certainly do. And the common practice for a structured plot is good outlining and character development sheets.

Those character development sheets are pretty much like music, everyone has got a different taste. I love to have an insight in techniques of other writers (thank god many writers blog).

For my personal character development sheet i simply merged two existing sheets from Mystery Man and Clive and added my personal approach and structure.

I thought because i just love to have an insight in different techniques probably i´d share my sheet as well, who knows if it could be of use for any other writer.

Because just a sheet is probably not too meaningful i compiled a document with explanations on how to use that sheet. The document grew to 17 pages since i copied the description to each topic from Mystery Man and Clive. I really want to thank both of them for their excellent work!

So why would i compile a document when a simple list of links to the source websites would be
sufficient? I´ll provide the links anyway, the thought behind it is to have one document to print out and not have to search the web for every point here.

So here is my character development sheet with the “how to” document in english and german (the explanation is only in english but included in both downloads). I provide two documents, for the Apple users in a Pages document, for the Microsoft users in Word.

» Character Development Sheet - English
» Character Development Sheet - German
All copyrights belong to the original authors Mystery Man, Clive and Wikipedia.

I hope this sheet can be of help for you, it would be nice if you drop me some lines if so.

While it really sucked to wait a month for the movie to start in Austria, i finally saw it. As you may have read a hundred times by now, the movie is great, it is epic and it is Heath Ledgers legacy (and yes, i´m going to watch it a second time).

The thing i enjoyed most in the first place are not the amazing action scenes, it´s the story. It´s not important if that movie is about a super-hero, it´s an epic story and every single detail of the movie fits. And just to mention it again, Heath Ledger plays an incredible Joker.

Now that i saw the movie i finally was ready to read Dark Knight´s Screenwriting Lesson by Mystery Man (and even when i have posted it before, when you´re at it you should read 10 Reasons Why I Loved The Dark Knight as well).

One key element why the story is that fascinating are the inner conflicts of the characters (not only of the protagonist but of all the characters). Mystery Man wrote down the inner conflicts of the most important characters in his post, here is a quote:

Bruce: Reveal himself to Gotham or endure the terror? And that’s a conflict rooted in his origin story, too. Because we understand now his dark, inner needs to put fear into the hearts of the criminals. I think he knew the truth about his unlikely future with Rachel, too, but he couldn’t face it. And there’s also Harvey Dent. Should he fight or support him? He’s a good guy, yet he’d love to knock his teeth in. Later, should he save Rachel or Harvey? Well, that wasn’t much of a conflict. He told Gordon he was going to save Rachel, but the Joker had switched the addresses. There were conflicts about Bruce’s limits, too, his physical and moral limitations as Batman. And we also sense that he was conflicted about his one rule – should he kill the Joker?

Rachel: Bruce or Harvey? Accept the proposal or not?

Harvey: Should he work with or against the Batman? Should he arrest him? He, too, faced his own inner conflicts about staying within the ethical limits of his power. Remember that scene where he tried to interrogate one of Joker’s minions? He wanted to go too far and Batman stopped him. And later in the third act, shoot or not?

Gordon: Should he work with or against Harvey Dent?

Alfred: Share or destroy Rachel’s letter?

Lucius: Help eavesdrop on the city in a way he doesn’t approve?

Lau: Cooperate with Harvey or face the Joker?

Salvatore Maroni: Work with or turn in the Joker?

People on ferries: Turn the pins or not?

I don´t really understand why the plot lacks or completely sucks in so many high budget action movies. The Dark Knight not only features ground-breaking action scenes and IMAX shots, there are so many little details in the story that are just ingenious.

Take just one little example: for the second time the Joker tells about how he got his scars - it´s a different story than the first. So what do we learn about the Joker in this moment? He lies. You can´t trust him.
It would have been a very easy exposition if someone talked about the Joker and told us “He lies. Don´t trust him.”. Yeah, great exposition, but what the screenwriters have done here is stick to one key principle of screenwriting: Show, don´t tell (and still so many high budget movies do it over and over again). Thanks to Amanda for that little article that says so much.

I think it´s pretty amazing how any setting or genre can make a great movie wheter it´s “in” or not. Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan proved that a movie works in any genre, time or structure. They have told a story backwards (Memento), showed two rivalling magicians (The Prestige) and made two super-hero movies (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight).

These movies don´t have a lot in common, except the amazingly constructed plots coupled with a solid (in some cases even overwhelming) execution.

It´s all about the story.

Finally the most interesting posts from July:

10 Reasons why i loved The Dark Knight by Peter Sciretta

Since we poor Europeans have to wait until August 21st, reading the stunning reviews and watching the trailer over and over again is the only thing we can do so far.

If you pay peanuts, you get monkies by Film Industry Bloggers

One big issue of the movie business (or probably business at all) is that everybody tries to pay you less.

The Rouge Wave mailbag by Julie Gray

May “we” use the term “we see” in the script?

How to make a good script great by Julie Gray

Five great tips on how to improve your screenplay.

Nolan on scripting The Dark Knight by Mystery Man

Christopher Nolan talks about the screenplay of The Dark Knight.

Simple is better than accurate by John August

Sometimes it´s better to describe difficult topics simple than scientifically accurate - don´t bore the reader.

Mastering the pitch by Jill Golick

Some advices for a sucessful pitch.

Voice: What does that even mean? by Julie Gray

How to write with a unique “voice” like John August, Diablo Cody or Quentin Tarantino do.

The central question by Unk

What is the central question of a screenplay and how to develop it.

How to write a spectacular pilot: Step 3 by Jane

Jane continues her series about writing a pilot, this time the topics are heroes and villians.

12 things all amateur screenwriters should know by Mystery Man

A very amusing list of 12 things every beginner should know.

Handling a characters POV shot by John August

How to describe a POV shot?