The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe

Let’s Get Crazy! How the Truest Character is Revealed Through Extreme Behavior

March 02, 2023 Zena Dell Lowe Season 3 Episode 15
The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe
Let’s Get Crazy! How the Truest Character is Revealed Through Extreme Behavior
Show Notes Transcript

EPISODE DESCRIPTION – Negotiations between characters help to raise the stakes in your scenes, but how else can you use this technique in your story? Learn how to use this technique to help reveal true character and objectives in ways that have maximum impact with your audience. You'll learn how these revelations can be taken to extremes once they are realized in order to facilitate an emotional connection between your characters and your audience. Join Zena this week for great writing tips and a comical real-life experience demonstrating how extremes can be revealing, entertaining, and engaging for your audience. 

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THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE
S3_E15: Let’s Get Crazy! How the Truest Character is Revealed Through Extreme Behavior
PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
 

Published March 2, 2023

00:00
INTRO: Hello, and welcome to The Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, a podcast for artists and storytellers about changing the world for the better through story. 

00:10
RECAP: So for the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about negotiations, and how every single character encounter or character engagement with another character in your story is ultimately a power struggle. It's a negotiation. One person has an objective that they are trying to achieve, and the other person has an objective that they are trying to achieve. And one of them is going to prevail, or they are both going to prevail, or they're both going to lose. And so it's an interesting thing because this is a tool that we can use in our stories. 

00:49
TOPIC INTRODUCTION: But what I want to talk about now is simply how when we use this technique—the potential, the possibilities, what can we do with it? What can we do that makes this amazing? And what I'm really arguing is that when we use this particular tool, when characters argue or when they negotiate over different things, whether it be an object, other people, ideas—whatever it is—space, whatever it is that they're arguing or negotiating over, it is the thing that reveals who they really are and what they really want. 

01:32
PRESENTATION: And in fact, it's this particular issue that is so interesting because sometimes what will happen is a character who is purporting to want a certain thing, or that that's the only thing they care about, when it comes down to it, they can't go through with a particular action, which reveals something to themselves and sometimes to others about who they really are. 

01:57
So for example, I'm currently reading a book series called Red Rising. And what recently happened in this particular book is there's this character named Ephraim. Now, Ephraim is a thief. In fact, he's such a good thief that the syndicate has hired him to do an ultimate thieving situation where he's supposed to steal, or abduct, the sovereign's or the president's—or whatever you want to call, you know, that's the equivalent of—child. And so he's been hired to somehow be able to abduct this child basically underneath the noses of the powers that be. And so he's a very clever thief. He's probably the only guy in the universe who can pull this off. 

02:44
But to do it, he has to find a person that works in a particular aspect within the sovereign's realm who can be given a gift that is ultimately going to be the thing that cinches their demise. And so he finds this gal named Lyria, befriends her under false pretenses, gives her a necklace that she thinks is a symbol of their friendship, but ultimately, which possesses an EMP. When it goes off it will deaden their spaceship, because this is in the future, and therefore the spaceship will fall. They'll get them in the Grav Well. They'll be able to get the kids. 

03:24
Alright, so Ephraim is doing all this, his master plan is working. And the problem is, is that Lyria, who is his target, who is basically just a target—he's a con artist. He won her over for this purpose. When they get into the actual abduction part of it, and he gets into the ship to get the boy and another girl that he's there to abduct, the point or the goal for him is to shoot Lyria because he can't give Lyria a chance to give any intelligence to them that they could maybe find Ephraim. So she might already—even though he was in disguise the whole time they met and all that, she might have some relevant information that could help them track him. So the logical thing is for him to kill her. 

04:16
Plus, in his own mind, he realizes she will be implicated as a betrayer or a collaborator. He knows how these people think. They'll think that Lyria intended to set off that bomb, and therefore it's actually an act of mercy for him to kill her because they're going to do far worse things to her if they think that she had any part in this. 

04:40
So the plan again, is for him to kill her. But when it comes down to it, and he holds that gun out, and he's trying to pull the trigger, his hand is shaking, and by God, he cannot pull it. And then finally he forces himself to pull it. And guess what. It doesn't work. He's got the safety on or something. I can't remember, but it doesn't work. 

05:06
So he actually even does—he pops this pill that makes him kind of go numb so that he can go through with it. And once he's tried and failed, he can't go through with it again. So at that point, he deviates from the plan. And he scoops Lyria up and actually takes her with even though she is—and she's paralyzed from the agent that they put in the air. I mean, you know, sci-fi. So everyone's paralyzed which is why he's able to work unobstructed in that environment. 

05:39
But her eyes are working. And you can see Lyria knows she's been used. Lyria knows he is false. Lyria knows that the only friend that she thought she had has betrayed her. And she hates Ephraim. And yet Ephraim scoops her up and rescues her. 

05:56
Now, what's fascinating about this is that he didn't even know his own true feelings until that moment. And it also reveals to us, the audience, that somewhere deep down, as cold as a killer, and as mean as Ephraim seems, he really isn't. There is still a gooey, good part of him, even though he's working for the bad guys. 

06:18
So there's something about him. He used to have a noble cause. But now he's disillusioned. But somewhere, he can't be the cold bastard that he even wants to be. Because he wants to shut down. He doesn't want to feel. He doesn't want to care about his team. He doesn't want to, but he can't help it. Because deep down he does. 

06:39
It is this contradiction, it is this revelation that ends up exposing the truth about the inner character, sometimes to their detriment. Right? Because sometimes the character is purporting to be one type of person. Maybe they're undercover. And now they're supposed to shoot somebody else, right? We see this all the time. It's kind of a cliche situation. 

07:07
Okay, you came out of nowhere. You say that you're with this lesion or whatever, and you're on our side. Let's go ahead and give you a gun. Put a bullet in this guy's head and we'll believe you. And now the person has to perform a task that unless he really is who he purports to be, he won't do. And that's how they'll find them out. 

07:29
Or the character has to cleverly come out of that situation. Or sometimes it actually exposes. They're put in a position where they finally have to reveal who they are because they can't go through with something. And now it's revealed. And sometimes it's in that moment when they just can't follow through, like in this situation with Ephraim. 

07:50
So understanding this negotiation situation, and creating scenarios where the characters then are revealing who they really are because of how they're negotiating in that scene, is a wonderful technique that can be used by you. 

08:14
Characters will negotiate over anything to which they attach meaning. Anything that is important to them. So inanimate objects? Absolutely. People, space, ideas. And when they do, it's an opportunity for you to reveal to them or to others who they really are. Because they will behave in accordance with their true core character. 

08:44
But it will also reveal their objectives. And so this can be a tool to expose characters to themselves or others in either one of those situations. So you're using this technique, then, to really do what we're called to do the whole time, which is to show the audience who your characters really are. That's what they're interested in. And whenever you give your character traits that are in contradiction—apparent contradiction—to their true inner emotional state or their core being, it automatically generates interest and empathy on the part of the reader or the viewer because now they are three-dimensional. 

09:32
The other thing that you can do with this is show that our characters—when they're engaged in these types of activities, the most interesting and memorable characters are the ones who will go to great lengths. They will go to extreme behavior once those revelations come out. 

09:54
So again, going back to the example of Ephraim. When he's in that situation, not only can he not kill Lyria, but he ends up rescuing her, which ultimately ends up sealing his own fate. Because he can't let her die. He can't follow through on the thing that he thought that he was. And it actually then reveals to himself that he isn't the monster that he has tried to be. And so then he is set on a path of redemption. 

10:27
It's the Lyria issue that actually is the trigger that sets him on that path. Actually, it's not just Lyria. It's also another character, Volga. But the combination of those two reveals to him that he is not the tyrant even that he thought he was. He is not as cold as he even wants to be. And therefore he must now go on a path of redemption, where he redeems the bad actions that he's had. He goes and he tries to rescue these kids from the syndicate. And I won't spoil it for you because you should read these books for yourself. 

11:00
But the point is they engage now in extreme behavior that is in keeping with the behavior they reveal themselves truly to be, whatever that might be. So if a character exposes—who doesn't even previously know that they even feel a certain way. See, this is the thing that's so interesting. A lot of times, we ourselves don't even realize why we feel or what we feel until those moments when we're triggered, and it exposes it to ourselves because of our reaction. 

11:33
And so maybe a character realizes that they're in love with another character. And by God at the moment of revelation, they now have to engage in dramatic action that is in keeping with that. And the best characters engage in extreme behaviors. They'll go to extreme lengths as a result of what they've revealed. 

11:55
Most of us, when we reveal these things about ourselves, we try not to engage in extreme behavior because it's scary to us. I had an incident happen recently. That is kind of funny, in hindsight, but at the time, it was probably a little crazy—I'm gonna admit that to you—where I ended up being triggered by this guy at a parking garage that was the gatekeeper who wasn't letting the arm come up on my thing because he said I owed another $16 and some change. 

12:33
And I said, "No, I don't owe that. I'm not going to pay that." And he kept insisting and I actually lost my temper. And I said, "I am not going to pay that." And I dropped a bad word. And I said, "Get your manager. I'm not paying that." And he started dialing his manager. 

12:54
And then I started to try to apologize. And I said, "Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper. I'm just very frustrated. This is an unfair situation." And I started to say, "I know it's not your fault." And he interrupted me and said, "I can't stand people like you who have a bad attitude and are cheap," or something to that effect. At which point, I lost it. 

13:20
And I said, "Screw you!" But I didn't use the nice word. I said, "I am not paying this. Open this garage right now." You know, I lost my stuff. I'm—so you know—you can think what you want about me. Like I'm being very vulnerable and exposing my own ails to you. 

13:39
Now, the truth of the matter is, he also engaged in dramatic behavior because at that point, he went around the front of my car, outside where the bar was, and started closing the gate. And he started screaming expletives at me, "You will to pay this you—" bad name. And you know, all these things. And now he's closing the gate. 

14:02
And so I'm a little nervous. All of a sudden, I'm like, "Oh, boy. This escalated quickly. I'm kind of in a dangerous situation." And so I call 911 because I'm like, "I'm a little threatened here." 

14:14
In the meantime, another car comes out. And I'm—by the way, I mean, I'm honking my horn. I mean, I'm not letting up even though I'm calling 911. I am honking my horn and saying, "I'm not gonna pay this. I'm just gonna sit here until you let me out." Like I have not given up. I am fighting. I am fighting. And so then another car comes up and he motions it into the entrance thing so he can let them out through there. And I see this and I jump out of my car and dash in front of that car and I say, "Uh-uh. If I'm not getting out, no one is getting out!" I mean, I'm kind of being crazy. Okay, I'm engaged in extreme behavior. 

14:56
Now, by the way, there's also this part of me this whole time this was happening that's a little outside my body going, "Wow, this is a really great scene someday. I'll have to write this." Because I could see the scene. It's crazy. 

15:10
And that isn't me, right? It's not me. I'm not a person that goes around trying to get into fights with people at the gate. I'm just not. I'm not that kind of a person. And yet something about this incident really brought it out of me. And I went a little crazy. Like, it triggered me. And I'm telling you, I reacted. 

15:32
So after, he let me out because he hated me for that. And he did. He went to the gate. He yanked up the thing so hard to be able to poke in the code to let me out that he broke that cover and then kicked it. And he was screaming all sorts of obscenities at me and said, "You're a crazy—"you know what. "And don't you ever come back here." And blah, blah, blah. And I'm like to the 911 operator, "Oh, it looks like he's letting me out. Okay, thank you. Sorry." 

16:02
All right. So I mean, this is kind of funny. I hope you don't think less of me. Anyway, the point is that upon reflection, after I got out of that situation, and I'm driving away, I started laughing at myself because I'm like, "How did that happen? How did I engage in that extreme behavior?" It is the kind of thing that a beloved character that you would see in the movies would do because they engage in extreme behavior. But in real life, we try not to do that. In real life, we try not to let things escalate to that point. And yet here I am, like, enacting a crazy scene from a movie. 

16:46
And so I'm laughing. And I'm talking out loud to God. I'm like, "Uh, sorry. Gosh, I really didn't handle that very good. And what do you think that was?" And so I started trying to understand myself because I wasn't even sure at that point what it was tapping into. And I think, I'm still sort of, you know—I'm not sure that I'll ever fully understand it. 

17:09
But I think what it was, is that it was first the injustice of it. Because it was an unjust thing that they were trying to do. And that was where I was like, "No, I'm not paying that." Because I'm a person that calls people on their poor behavior. I can't help it. I can't keep my mouth shut. Usually, it's when somebody else is being impacted. But it's like, I just can't stand injustice. So that was the first part, I had to speak up against injustice. 

17:35
But the other part of that was when it was that moment when I was trying to de-escalate. I was trying to apologize because I had lost my temper. And where I felt that he turned around and started trying to bully me and posture. And it was this thing where it was like he was going to dominate me. And that's when I lost it. I was not going to do that. 

18:05
And so I think that was a reaction to the potential of being exploited or to the potential of somebody else trying to control and dominate. And I don't know. It was like, "No, you are not going to treat me like this. You are not going to posture and do all that." I couldn't handle it. I couldn't let him do that. I couldn't let him have dominion over me. And so maybe that goes back to family of origin. Maybe not. I don't know. But I know that that was the moment where I really finally lost it is when he started to bully me. And it was not pretty. 

18:41
But what I revealed to myself about that moment is that in that situation, I did not wither. I was not a wilting flower. I was a fighter. Even though this guy was built like a Samoan. I mean, he was huge. He was probably three of me and probably could have gotten quite violent. And in fact, showed a violent tendency because of the way that he was dealing with me. It was not good. And so even then though, there was a fearlessness, a boldness. Probably because, whether or not it's true, I felt some righteous indignation. Maybe it wasn't even true, but I felt it. And so I felt that I was in the right. And therefore that made me bold. But also, it was beyond me. It was a need to not kowtow to this guy's tactics. And I was going to fight. 

19:39
And I'm actually proud of that point. I was not going to be a victim. I was not going to let somebody treat me like that. And even though in real life, in my core, I like to think that I am a peacekeeper, that I am a peacemaker, that I try very hard to understand, and come from an empathetic point of view. And I try all of these good communication tactics. And I try to own my own stuff. That's all true. And yet, when push comes to shove, I'm a fighter. It's going to come out. That's what I learned, for good or for ill. 

20:20
I'm not sure if this is teaching anything other than to say that when we get in these pressure situations, we're put in these situations where we are negotiating with others. And it is a power struggle. That was absolutely a power struggle, whether or not I was going to pay over that thing, and what was going to happen. And ultimately, it revealed something about our core. 

20:43
For him, I think it revealed that he was a scary person who wanted to have dominion over a woman. And for me, I think it revealed that I was not going to allow it, that I have a strength of character, even if I'm weak in body, and probably also that I have the potential to be a little crazy because it was a little crazy. 

21:05
And I went—we both went to extreme degrees because of what was brought out of us in that moment. We pushed each other to have the extreme reactions that we did. The fact that he marched in front and started blocking the gates so that I couldn't try to drive around the median or do anything like that, it was a demonstration of power. That was extreme. 

21:30
And I think that that's just interesting to examine. And then to try to see characters in those situations, you can picture it. You can picture it, and it reveals who they are on the inside. 

21:42
CONCLUSION: Okay. Again, these are all just tactics. But notice, it still ties to a lot of these things that we're discussing, or that we started the season with discussing in our real personal lives. There's no separation here. In a lot of ways, we are looking at human behavior in both cases and looking at trying to be healthy. And even people that try to be healthy, like myself, engage in those extreme behaviors. 

22:12
But it's all about trying to understand who we really are at our core and what our objectives are. And in that moment, my objective was clear, I wanted to get out of that garage without paying the exorbitant price that they were trying to make me pay that was, in my opinion, wrong. I didn't want to be wronged. I didn't want to be exploited. 

22:34
But really, the clear objective was "Get me out of here. I ain't paying." And his objective was "You are going to pay you spoiled, rich person." I think he thought that. I'm not rich by any means. But I think he was thinking that and that he wasn't going to let me get away with that. And at the end of the day, I did prevail. I prevailed. I can't go back to that garage. But I prevailed. 

23:00
The point is it makes a good example of when these things come up. And that's what we're looking at. We're looking at how to incorporate that into our stories to reveal true character and true objectives. And then what that means for the rest of the story. 

23:18
CALL TO ACTION: Okay, I hope this has been helpful to you and slightly entertaining. And if it has, if you would share it with somebody else, that would be great because, as usual, we're trying to get the word out. Also, as per usual, if you would rate and review the show on the podcast app of your choice, or YouTube, that would be wonderful. And please do subscribe. Believe it or not subscribing to us on YouTube is really, really helpful in terms of the algorithm. The more subscribers we have, the more our videos tend to be recommended to others. 

23:53
Wow. Lulu is just snoring like crazy. And I wish you could see her eyes right now because they are half open, even though she's clearly snoring and deep in snoring. By the way, this might be a negotiation because sometimes I've found she snores louder because she wants my attention. Isn't that funny? Even animals can engage in negotiation. Yeah, I heard you. I heard you. She's looking at me now. 

24:20
OUTRO: All right. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of The Storyteller's Mission with Zena Dell Lowe. And may you go forth inspired to change the world for the better through story.