M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: Batman Begins & Character Development 03/06/15

Awesome happened last night, but it didn’t happen while I worked on edits for chapter two. It happened while I was watching Batman Begins. I realize this first Batman movie by Christopher Nolan wasn’t as big a hit as The Dark Knight. I believe it really shows Nolan’s genius, however, and part of this movie reminded me about some of the important parts of developing character.

Picture the scene. Young Bruce Wayne, sitting in the police station. His parents have just been killed in an alley. The police and detectives are talking around him instead of to him. He is alone in a room full of people. Suddenly, a policeman with the last name of Gordon walks up to little Bruce, puts his jacket around the boy’s shoulders, and talks with him.

Everything we need to know about the character of Commissioner Gordon we get in that scene. Thirty seconds. That’s it. And we all know who Gordon is on the inside.

That’s what I need to remember to do when I’m writing this novella (and any other story as well). It’s the little things. Those tiny, quick, two sentence things that can totally bring a character to life.

How about you? Have you ever seen a movie or read a book and gone, “That’s how to write”?

Toodles!