Find Your Character’s Ghost
Pick one or two questions below and write a few paragraphs about each that help clarify a ghost in your own life, or in the life of someone you know. Fictionalize the person by giving them a different age,, gender, name, or other characteristic that expands the ghost, and moves it away from you (or the person you know).
1. Why does your character believe the Lie?
2. Is there a notable event in his past that has traumatized him?
3. If not, will there be a notable event in the First Act that will traumatize him?
4. Why does the character nourish the Lie?
5. How will he benefit from the Truth?
6. How “big” is your character’s ghost? If you made it bigger, would you end up with a stronger arc?
7. Where will you reveal your character’s ghost? All at once early on? Or piece by piece throughout the story, with big reveal toward the end?
8. Does your story need the ghost to be revealed? Would it work better if you never revealed it?