Character Development

By Limor Shiponi

There are many ways to help storytellers develop characters in stories. Most of those ways involve using characteristics – physical, vocal, props, costumes. What I search for within a character is its character – as in true nature. The true nature of a character is not determined only by its characteristics but through revealing the way the character meets crisis, surprise, difficulty, overwhelming joy – any kind of event within the story that is not usual to the character’s everyday life when the story begins, a challenge.

Challenge the characters and you will find the way to perform them without having to become a character. This way characters pass through the storyteller in a split second by means of attitude and it is easier to shift between characters without needing to move an inch. Just find and carry the characters nature. They will appear through you but you will not need to become one.