A Simple Writing Technique to Get Your Characters Talking to You … and Win Free Beer!

I’m not kidding. An anecdote from my days as a grad student at Yale.

I am currently teaching my Core III: Character course, a one-week online class. In it, I provide a series of character development tools. One of them, which I feature in my book The Protagonist’s Journey, is the Interview.

This is a form of direct engagement with your characters. How? You ‘sit down’ with each of your characters and ‘interview’ them. I like to do this while I’m at my computer, but if you feel like you can get more comfortable with a pad of paper and pen, by all means use that approach.

A recent comment I made in a thread discussing this technique.

Here’s a simple tip to facilitate the interview process. In fact, let me share an anecdote from my time as a student in the M.Div. program at Yale University. I took a counseling class and in it, I learned this technique: You ask a question. When the person you’re counseling responds, you reshape what they’ve said into another question. You continue to do that throughout the session. Why? Because it does two things: (1) By repeating what they’ve said, that communicates to them you have heard them. This is a big deal. If a person feels like you’ve heard them, they are more inclined to share what they are thinking and feeling. (2) By posing questions, you creates moments where they are obliged to answer.

Using this technique is how I used to get free beer while I was a “starving student” at Yale. Here’s how.

My third and final year, I lived in a house on Willow Street with four other grad students. It just so happened to be three doors down from a venerable bar called Archie Moore’s.

At the time, the area was very much a blue collar neighborhood. I would saunter into the bar around 4PM where I could order the smallest glass of beer on tap for forty cents.

Around 4:15, some of the local guys would show up after their work shift ended. They’d hunker down at the bar and order a “beer and a bump” (a draft beer and a shot of whiskey). I’d either turn to my left or right and begin a conversation.

Me: Hey, Bill. How’s it going?
Bill: Eh, awright, I guess.
Me: Things are just all right?
Bill: Well, if you gotta know, it’s my boss.
Me: Oh, your boss is giving you a problem?
Bill: Yeah, the bastard busts my chops for comin’ into work six minutes late. 
Me: Six minutes?
Bill: Yeah, six minutes. Can you believe it?
Me: He wouldn’t even cut you some slack?
Bill: No, the asshole. And me havin’ to haul the kids to school, and they’re always messin’ around in the mornin’, like herding God damn cats to get ’em into the car.
Me: So the kids aren’t helping you, are they?
Bill: Yeah, and that’s why I’m six minutes late.
Me: I think you got reason to be frustrated, don’t you?
Bill: Damn straight. (motions to bartender) Hey, barkeep. Another round. And one for my friend.

And that’s how I used to get free beer: using a counseling technique on the locals. I figured I deserved it. After all, I was helping these big hulking dudes process their feelings and hopefully bringing a better mood home with them.

So, when you interview a character, every time the character says something, rephrase it as a question.

You’d be amazed how well that technique works!

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of immersing yourself in the lives of your characters: Questionnaire, Biography, Free Scene, Interview, Monologue, Stream of Consciousness. These are six character development and brainstorming techniques my undergraduate and graduate students use. Engage your characters. After all, it’s their story.

My book The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling is an Amazon #1 Best Seller in Film and Television. Endorsed by over thirty professional screenwriters, novelists, and academics, you may purchase it here. If you want an autographed copy, go here.

For information on courses I teach at Screenwriting Master Class, go here.