Note: I promised last week a discussion of techniques in developing characters, however were I to append such a discourse to the material I have posted below I would turn this blog post into a small novel. Therefore, I shall touch upon the subject briefly, but leave an in-depth discussion for a later post.

Last week we scratched the surface on the subject of characters in stories—why, from an audience's standpoint, they are essential to any tale. But from the writer's standpoint, there is much more to be said on the subject, and what there is to say is far more interesting.

A number of films have come out recently that have had varying degrees of visual excellence, but have skimped on storytelling. Some of these movies I was inclined to like, such as the animated feature 9 and James Cameron’s Avatar, while others, such as J.J. Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek, have earned my distaste. All of these movies go wrong in the story department at some point, and much of it has to do with their use and development of their characters.