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artsApr 18, 202550:09pending

Character Breakdowns That Jump Off the Page

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Sarah and Lindsay explore how to craft character breakdowns that genuinely serve audio drama production, focusing on vocal qualities and core characteristics rather than irrelevant physical attributes and other animals. 

• Character breakdowns serve many key purposes including concisely guiding actors/casting directors, showing character relationships, and informing technical production choices if deftly employed.
• Effective breakdowns include vocal qualities, status, relationships, and intentions rather than physical appearance
• Consider what "singing voice part" might match your character (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) or orchestral instrument a character might be to instantly convey vocal quality
• Script clues like sentence length, punctuation, vocabulary choices, and verbal tics help create distinctive character voices
• Characters are distinguished by what they want and how they pursue it— objectives - some are direct "blunt instruments," others subtle and calculating
• Great characters may have internal conflicts between their public and private selves
• A character web showing relationships and conflicts helps visualize how characters interact 
• Focus on what drives characters, their objectives, and the barriers they face

Links for ADWIT EP 303

John Yorke Into the woods - a five act journey into story

Hamlet to Hamilton - Emily C A Snyder

WASTELAND - The Dex Legacy

TUMBLR page - F**k yeah character development - worksheets a plenty

Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid - oxygen food shelter sleep...

Join our Discord community! Find the link in the show notes. Write to us at [email protected] with your thoughts and examples of effective character breakdowns.

Get the scoop on audio drama news, opportunities, creative resources and more with The Fiction Podcast Weekly newsletter. For more info, visit The Podcast Host's Fiction Podcast Weekly

 
Want to get in touch? You can send us a text message with the link at the top, email us at [email protected], join our Discord server, or visit our website at adwit.org

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Sarah and Lindsay


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Character Breakdowns That Jump Off the Page

ADWIT: The Audio Drama Writers' Independent Toolkit

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