Getting Into Character

A couple of weeks ago, at Open Studio, we sat down with actors Kyle Cassie and Emilie Ullerup to pick their brains about 'Getting into Character'. I mean, who better to ask than people who make a living stepping into and out of roles. What an eye opener!

First, a tribute to actors. I never realized how hard they have to work to take on a persona. I sort of assumed the ability to act is something you're born with. Sure, you have to study theatre to bring out your talent, but in the same way that watering a rose results in a rose every time.

Kyle and Emilie set us straight on that score. They work hard. They meditate on character. They walk through the world in their characters' shoes. They look for settings and experiences to immerse themselves in. One of the techniques they talked about was method acting, a process of absorbing the feelings of your character so you can express them realistically.

A few points they made:

• There's always a bit of 'you' in the character;
• The motives of characters are either 'power' or 'love';
• If a scene is not necessary to move the action forward in a script, cut it.

While I still have some chewing to do on what we learned, the session exhilarated me. It definitely gave me some new approaches to developing character. Most importantly, their techniques for exploring new roles can be used by me to break out of what I will refer to as my character set. If I read my stories, I find the same characters emerging over and over. I know these characters and have become comfortable working with them. Which is not a bad thing. But it would also be good to stretch as a writer and a human being, and get inside the skin of some new characters.