Whether you’re writing a screenplay or novel, this is the magical mystery ingredient that is oft overlooked by newbies. Looking back on my recent writing, I was surprised at how subtext simply flowed out when I wrote it, how easily this process happened compared to the struggle I had when I was just learning. I mean, when the heck did that happen? Read on as I sort out my musings and possibly give you a swift kick in the trousers in the process depending on your technical skill level.
But it’s overwhelming, having to get into everybody’s head, including the readers’, some of you may whine, It’s just too complicated!
It can be. I won’t lie, it’s still irritating to keep track of when I’m writing something with a long, complicated plot line and/or many characters at once. But to all of you whiners and avoiders, I say, tough shit. It’s got to be learned if you want your writing to improve. And foisting it off on your beta or proofreader doesn’t count.
What is this subtext thingy? It’s the unspoken dialogue that goes on between characters, things left unsaid in an individual person’s movements or actions that motivate the actual dialogue and action. Think about it. You don’t always say what’s running through your head, do you? Same goes for your characters. Is your villain really going to tell their plot to the hero? Well, maybe they are, maybe they aren’t, maybe they’ll lie or tell a half truth. It all depends on what’s driving them. It’s this subtle expression of human nature that gives dimension to your characters and story.
If the above paragraph wasn’t straightforward enough, it all comes down to one word: motivation. If you have no idea what your character wants in a scene or overall, it just ain’t gonna work. Your writing will come off very flat - all characters will sound the same, have the same actions. Like smirking, for instance. Those fan fiction writers guilty of this travesty, which are many, shame on you.
But really, it’s become one of the standard jokes in fan fiction that certain actions and words are used over and over. Why is that? Well, those writers are moving their characters through the plot like a piece on a chessboard. They’re following the template of the show or book or movie and when they do deviate, they have no clue what to do with the character, how they should act, what they should say, which is determined by motivation.
Oh, god, now I have to figure out this motivation thingy?!
Yeah, you do. But really, it comes down to one thing: in a single sentence, what is driving your character to do the things they’re doing? What do they want? Oh, and, side note, this drive can be caused by factors internal or external. There’s the big M motivation, which generally applies to what they want in the overall scheme of things. This is easier for screenwriters than others, at least in my opinion, because the motivation drives the drama in a cleaner way. You have three act structure, scenes, etc. to plot your motivation through and often, a single motivator is the reason for the entire darn thing.
The good news is, Doctor Who often states the Doctor’s main motivation for the viewer: he runs because he’s scared. It’s such a brilliantly simple premise for a tv show. The Doctor doesn’t want to go back to Gallifrey, face his destiny. That’s it. This is the big M and beyond. It’s what compels him on a basic level, what defines the main action and all that comes from it. He’s a coward, at least when it comes to his feelings, his duties, his future, and that’s behind all his adventuring, lying, etc. This simple, clean big M motivation is generally what’s encouraged when you write, since it defines the action clearly.
You also have little M motivation, which drives the character in smaller ways, in smaller instances. Here’s an example: in the new Fantastic Beasts movie, Newt Scamander’s traveling to America to deliver a beast back to its home. It’s a solid goal. All of Newt’s other actions are driven by this fact, all the drama that ensues is started and ended by his motivation. But in one really cool scene he goes into the case to check on his beasts because he’s worried about them. That’s a little M motivation. It drives the immediate action, and, while it can, and usually is, it might not necessarily be connected to the big M motivation.
There’s sort of a middle ground within motivation, which are the types of things that drive stuff like single episodes in a tv series, or story arcs in a movie or book. A good example is shown in the Save the Cat Doctor Who Beat Sheet. It can be separate from a theme, which is the point or concept the author wants the story to get across. But that’s a concept for another post, eh?
And then, there’s an even more abstract version of motivation: what drives your character, not in the story, but in life. This is the mother of all challenges for a writer, since there are so many things that influence a character to live. Morals, childhood experiences, traumatic experiences, preferences, personality. Really, I could go on and on. But this all comes together to form the tics and odd pauses and ways they talk, etc. It determines how they react to and tackle big M and little M motivation.
To give you an example of how hard this is, right now I’m writing a fan fiction with the Doctor from Doctor Who as a main character. He’s lived for over a thousand years, changes personalities, is an alien with an alien perspective and experiences and formative years. Oh yeah, and he also happens to be inconceivably smart from a human perspective. We just don’t have the ability to understand how genius the guy really is. There’s years and years of footage, showing this, adding to his history. And I have to cram all of this in my brain and pop out a believable character! Good lord, is that man tough to write.
So tying motivation back in to subtext, subtext’s really the invisible top layer of motivation happening in a scene. It’s the words not said out loud but are going on in someone’s head, the actions that don’t really sync up to the dialogue because they’re driven by something internal. Or it could be something that a character’s not even aware of that fights its way to the surface. It can be caused by little M or big M or the abstract life M. And you, as the writer, have to keep all of this in your head as you go, using it to mold what’s going on on multiple levels of action and character interaction into something believable and coherent.
Ha, ha, ha.
How the hell do I write that? It’s simple. And complicated as Moriarty’s head games. Because it all depends on the person and their method of creating their characters and writing their story. I approach it like a method actor, and yeah, isn’t that a generalization? But I become my characters. Their ticks, their way of speaking, their history; I obsess over it, I internalize it, so much so that I almost don’t have to think about it, and then put it onto the page. The only drawback is that I have to drag myself from one character to another, often switching gears multiple times during a scene, mentally donning a new perspective. Ah, if only I were an extrovert, I would kill as an actor.
Others might write note cards or just write notes about what to keep in mind when trying to figure out what each character does. Or use their own experiences or motivations. The point is, you have to get to know your characters, dissect them until you are intimately familiar with their lives and loves and what makes them tick. There’s no shortcut or hack or trick. I’m sure there’re a bunch of ways to do this, all of which get the end result of a story with layered conversation and multifaceted characters. And plenty of good old subtext.
So why bother? After all this, I just want to write, have fun. To hell with technique! Learning about motivation and subtext and knowing how to identify them is one of those invaluable skills for both a writer and a member of the audience. Understanding how characters work, what’s happening beneath the surface and what’s not being said opens up an amazing level of depth in a story, especially the good ones. It clues you in to and makes sense of plot points or actions or dialogue that might go over the head of a casual viewer or author. I challenge you Whovians to go watch Midnight or Hell Bent and read between the lines.
It’s astounding, humbling, exciting, how accurately and powerfully a writer can capture a character between the lines, in the shadows and the echoes.
BREAKING NEWS! “It (the new series of #DoctorWho will be my last… I feel it’s time to move on,” says actor Peter Capaldi. Peter confirms he’ll be stepping down in Xmas 2017, but “I’m still Doctor Who! We’re doing epic stuff! I’m not done yet!”
Mr Capaldi shocked fans by making the announcement during a BBC Radio 2 show with presenter Jo Whiley. He said he will leave Doctor Who at the end of the year. “I feel it’s time to move on,” he said.
The 58-year-old Glasgow-born star became the 12th actor to play the Doctor in 2013.
It was a rocky start, a love-hate relationship for the longest time, but now I find that I really don’t want Twelve to go. Here’s to your last series in the TARDIS, Capaldi, and may it be absolutely, heartbreakingly epic.
Doctor Who returns Saturday, April 15 at 9/8c followed by Spin-Off Series Class at 10/9c.
Peter will be joined in season 10 by new companion Pearl Mackie (Bill), and Matt Lucas (Nardole) with guest appearances to come from David Suchet and Michelle Gomez. He has starred alongside Jenna Coleman as his companion Clara Oswald, Alex Kingston as River Song, Ingrid Oliver as Osgood, as well as Keeley Hawes, Tom Riley, Frank Skinner, Maisie Williams, Joivan Wade and many more. Peter’s Doctor has fought Daleks and Davros, Cybermen, Zygons, new monsters like the Veil and old foes the Time Lords.
Capaldi will return in the next season for 12 episodes in April, followed by the Christmas Special when the regeneration will take place.
BBC America’s new Doctor Who spin-off, Class, comes from award-winning YA writer and executive producer, Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls), and is executive produced by Moffat and Minchin.
Following the season 10 premiere, the new eight-part series will follow four Coal Hill School students who have hidden secrets and desires, navigate a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow – and possibly the end of existence. Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. Time travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow. The program stars Greg Austin as Charlie; Fady Elsayed as Ram; Sophie Hopkins as April; Vivian Oparah as Tanya and Katherine Kelly as Miss Quill.
To read the full article, head over to Anglophenia or click here.
Maybe a crack appeared and wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey-d it. Or then again, maybe they’re just messing with us and it’s part of a grand scheme for the next (possible) season the likes of which will make this Eurus plot pale in comparison.
Honestly, I was hooked at How. I knew I was gonna pull an all-nighter as soon as he started in on the different characters. They certainly got the right guy to narrate this thing!
So, has anyone else noticed this? Or has anything been said about this and I somehow missed it? Because there’s a link for EACH version. I don’t know if this is just a confusing way to explain overall features or a sign for me to start panicking.
It takes some stretching of the lyrics to apply to my fic, but oh my god, I was in hysterics when I swapped Charming for Eleven right after Devi ran. Feel free to imagine Rapunzel’s prince as Twelve.
TWELVE: A maiden running from the Doctor? None would run from us!
One of the highlights of my theatre training was the very brief introduction I got to stage combat. It was exhilarating and challenging, fake-dragging someone from one end of the stage to the other by their hair and nailing the knap during a punch. My beef is, why is this insanely fun and athletic art so freakin hard to find outside the theatrical community or a university? I can hear the grumbles: it’s built for the stage, so if you take it out of that setting what’re you really left with? An educated and involved audience, that’s what!
I mean, knife fights! Broadsword lessons! This really should become a thing, like the geek equivalent of kickboxing or Zumba. Because I would religiously forsake my nerdy pursuits and avoidance of working out to go swashbuckle.
kaledo-art
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