Christopher Rice has a an interesting article on 4-dimensional character development and cross media screenwriting on the Culture Hacker site:
Pick up any writing book and you’ll read about the importance of 3D characters. A 3D character isn’t merely someone with realistic professional, personal, and private aspects to their life, but someone who reacts to conflict with these aspects of their life in mind. In other words, they jump off the page with realism.As if 3D isn’t hard enough, the rise of cross-media storytelling has created the opportunity for curious screenwriters to create a fourth dimension … a dimension of sound; a dimension of sight; a dimension of mind. And like the Twilight Zone, you unlock this door with the key of your imagination.
Welcome to the fourth dimension; It’s called time.
Consider the trilogy approach. It’s just an idea, but it’s one that might just work! When creating the story and its characters, consider developing your work not merely on a three-act structural design, but on a nine-act paradigm rather. This might be called 3×3x3 or the trilogy structure, but it’s basically an expansion of what you already know: the three act structure, or beginning, middle, and end if you’d like. It’s been working well with audiences for a bazillion years!The reason 3×3x3 is necessary when amplifying your character’s dimension is because it not only adds detail to the past and future of the character and world of story, where a traditional backstory might suffice, it also provides a fully developed backstory and future story that will be directly related and linked to the story in focus (the middle of the three acts). By developing a three-act past for your character, including anything from their journey through the space academy, their near-death experience due to an addiction, or what ever might have shaped them into the character we experience in the story in focus, you’ll create an extensive world of story and character dimension your audience will be able to discover when searching for more about the story in focus … the main attraction – assuming you write a compelling story and character your audience is tempted to learn more about.Consider the trilogy approach. It’s just an idea, but it’s one that might just work! When creating the story and its characters, consider developing your work not merely on a three-act structural design, but on a nine-act paradigm rather. This might be called 3×3x3 or the trilogy structure, but it’s basically an expansion of what you already know: the three act structure, or beginning, middle, and end if you’d like. It’s been working well with audiences for a bazillion years!
It’s no longer just about minor details that shape a character; it’s about time. And time can only be revealed through character past and future. Whether you’re writing a screenplay to produce or writing one on spec, it’s important to consider cross-media storytelling when creating your work.
Check out the rest of the piece on Culture Hacker . And while you're there, listen to JT Petty's interview on writing for film and games on Culture Hacker Radio.
