Film Courage: What's the difference between the main character's wound and flaw?
Jen Grisanti, Speaker/Story/Career Consultant, Author: They're interconnected,
they're the wound and the flaw is interconnected. Something that
I recognize the story was the flaw is the story of the wound and with that recognition I
saw how strategy wise a lot of stories are starting with the flaw in its shining glory
the value in starting with the flaw is that you are curious about the wound you don't have the
answer to what the wound is but you are curious why is the character the way they are and then by
the climax we're getting a fuller view of the wound so the difference is the wound is what
happens to the character that creates the void the flaw is how we see it come out how the character
is escaping the wound through distraction through destructive behavior with the flaw
right because if I think back to Emily The Criminal she talked about living with her
grandmother yes so it hints like something she wasn't raised by her parents yes so we knew
right yes so we don't totally know yes but we're wondering why did she have these series of events
that happened and then I think it doesn't come out right away so again your it keeps you hooked it's
the puzzle and knowing how to strategize the puzzle is everything and and writers need to
recognize that it's all a journey the same thing like when you think about the transformation with
falling in love how when we first fall in love we don't know enough about romantic love to know
how to be to know exactly what and we're in this continuous learning process and and it is the same
thing with the idea of this transformation where we are you don't just know what to do with story
you don't just know oh this is how I'm going to break it up and this is what the strategy
is the more that you study story the more that you live story the more that you feel stored
worry your mind starts to see it in a depth that you never knew was possible until you get there
and what's great is when you talk about falling in love so many characters I'm just thinking back to
like swingers or any Christmas movie where it's like someone's been jilted or they've been quote
unquote abandoned no one's calling yes and in obsessing over that person they then meet someone
new yes who then later on it pays off where that abandoner calls and they don't need them anymore
exactly interesting that's exactly right it is all in the transformation and when we look at
our life and like in my own personal arc I look at when I went through two defining moments that
sold my book storyline finding gold in your life story and change your story change your life it
had to do with a long relationship that ended in a short marriage early on in life and then
a career trajectory that was interrupted and in looking at if those two moments hadn't happened
I wouldn't have found what I view as the love of my life for the last nine years I wouldn't have
met him unless those two negative things happened in my life so I think the the object of story is
to teach people when bad things happen there is a greater purpose as it links to the healing of
the earlier wound and as it links to the overall growth in the life process and because so many
of us in life when we're in the heat of our “All Is Lost” moments aren't ready for that awareness
story is continuously making us conscious of that awareness and do you think that in a good
story that that always lost moment has to then resurface slated on down the line once things are
quote unquote better for the character to really test them I don't think always I think it works
tremendously if it's done well I think always would make story too formulaic and too predictable
so I think if it's done in a creative way where we see the dilemma in a different light now
that the character has done the emotional work through the action obstacle stake sequence and
at the climax you're at a place of did they or didn't they come into the transformation
through the recognition of the flaw then yes so looking at that does every protagonist need a goal
absolutely if there's one thing in story you just nailed the most important thing in story the goal
is everything the the external goal as well as the internal goal the understanding of the want
versus the need and the recognition that often the character wants something externally that isn't in
the transformed thinking of the mindset things that we talked about with the idea of survival
mindset intuitive mindset and intellectual mindset so the goal is the goal is your if you don't know
what the character wants the story doesn't work and knowing that is the character going
to get what they want externally or are they going to get it internally is what keeps the
audience interested in the story do you ever say to writers I feel like the goal for your character
the stakes need to be risen it's not it's not not important enough but it's just it doesn't
seem like it would would be sensible for most people all the time stakes is something the dream
is an aha moment that I had in my study of story when you set the dream up at the beginning the
dream sets up the stakes when we know what the character wants and why they want it through the
dream then we get a glimpse of the internal and the external stakes so the dream is a
pivotal tool in the setup that can make all the difference in the world with feeling the stakes
so is that something that you see sometimes with new writers that their goal it's too small of a
goal you need to really like up the ante yes and that goes into the idea of what a question
I ask all the time is what is the worst that can happen if the goal is not achieved and that means
that if the answer is they could miss going on a date or they could something so small that in the
bigger scheme of things doesn't feel like a life and death type of scenario then it's not working
do you ever recommend people do like a Q & A with their character yes I do in Story Therapy that's
interesting you ask that question excellent question the in Story Therapy I have a whole
set of questions that I give writers that is the idea of understanding the character's awareness of
what's holding them back of what happened in the past of what do they want and getting to know your
character by having this type of interview with your character and then two it seems like then the
characters would really come out more if you're if you're doing this like interview yeah with your
character it seems like almost you would you would it would become more and more real to you oh yeah
that I think the writer knowing the character and feeling the character from the inside is
so important with how the audience is going to experience the character
something I recognize that a lot of writers do is they give the wound to the wrong character
so we'll end up knowing more about a supporting character than we will about the central character
and when that happens then we're going what do we know about the central character why
don't we feel the same type of poem we start to go why isn't it the other character's story
since the other character has more to lose with the stakes because we know their wound another
thing that I'm seeing a lot of stories do which is fantastic is they are developing the wound for
the antagonist in more depth than they have and as long as the protagonists we feel their wound
in at a high level and you parallel so you have a strategy with the wound of the antagonist then
it can work really well is there a danger in the writer identifying too much with the protagonist
because it's like too precious to them if they if the lines are blurred and it's like
well essentially this is really me yeah is there a danger in that yes because of exactly what you
might think when the character is too much like them and they feel like I wouldn't do that yet
dramatically it doesn't work in the story and that that has to do with like writers who are telling
story from an autobiographical angle versus an angle of emotional truth when they're telling a
story from an autobiographical angle they get stuck on the idea of well that didn't happen
well that didn't happen without recognizing that life doesn't happen in dramatic structure.