I used to read my writing and get really discouraged for reasons I couldn't put my finger on. Okay I was only nine or ten when I started but, even then, I instinctively knew that something was lacking, I couldn't understand, my scripts had amazing action sequences, original macguffins, exotic locations. They looked great in my head but something was definitely missing. In fact, the missing element would elude me for many more years to come.
What my scripts were missing were 'credible characters' and 'character development'. Eek! No, don't run away! I know they're expressions used by artsy-fartsy film critics and tutors who have never written a thing in their lives, I know they're the titles of the chapters in the 'How To Write...' textbooks that we all skip. Too often the terms are used to mystify the process of writing by people who want to make themselves seem clever - I am not here to do that. I am here to demystify.
Credible Characters
Imagine this as an alternative ending to Jaws: After Brody has just watched Quint being devoured by the shark, we hold on his face welling with anger. Then, as the stricken boat slowly capsizes around him, he climbs onto the top deck - the side that isn't immersed in water - gingerly balances, spreads his arms then dives into the water.
We cut to Hooper, who is still hiding behind rocks after his failed attempt to poison the shark with the strychnine filled spear he dropped. As Hooper sees Brody enter the water, he edges his way towards him. Suddenly, he spots the shark turning in his direction. Hooper reacts, swimming frantically towards the sinking boat.
The shark closes, picking up speed.
Hooper reaches the surface. He grabs the rigging and tries to hoist himself out of the water, but the boat has sunk too far and pushes him back down. He pushes himself away from the boat and treads water, removing his mask.
The shark glides on the surface, its jaws opening wide.
Hooper gasps.
Brody bursts from the water beside Hooper, spear in hand.
Brody: "Smile, you sonofabitch."
The spear impales the roof of the shark's mouth then whump! Brody and Hooper are propelled through the water in opposite directions. They come to the surface in time to see that dorsal fin circle back on them.
Brody shakes his head in disbelief as the shark heads for him.
Then, within a few yards of him, it slows. Stopping dead in the water, the shark rolls over onto its back and sinks to the dark depths of the ocean.
When they say "That wouldn't happen" what they mean is "That character wouldn't do that." We learned earlier in the film that Brody was afraid of the water (hydrophobic) so he certainly wouldn't dive like an Olympian off the top deck. And Hooper is an Oceanographer who knows "Sharks are attracted to the exact kind of swimming and activity that occurs whenever human beings go in swimming," thus he would know better than to thrash towards the surface. So both these actions are inconsistent with the characters that have been set up which would make the characters incredible rather than credible.
Understand that credibility, when it comes to writing, has nothing to do with reality. No-one is saying you can't have your characters leap tall buildings in a single bound, so long as you set up pretty early on that he is from the planet Krypton and therefore has a denser molecular structure the audience will suspend their disbelief.
In summary: Credible characters are characters who behave consistently according to the traits and qualities you have bestowed upon them. Credibility has nothing to do with reality, it is a system of rules that you set up that you cannot betray without your character becoming unbelievable. The audience will struggle to suspend their disbelief if your character is inconsistent.
Unless, of course, they change.
Character Development
When characters change within a story we call this 'character development'. When characters are the same at the outset of the story as they are at the beginning, we call this 'crap writing'.
I'm sure somebody will point out some rare exception to the rule but, if your characters don't learn anything despite all that you put them through in the story, not only do they lack credibility but their journey (the story) has been entirely without a point. I know what you're thinking - people don't care about that, they just want to see kick-ass explosions, mind-boggling effects and the hero getting the girl at the end - after all you're writing the next Hollywood blockbuster action picture not Shakespeare.
Okay, well let us take a such a picture as an example. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) introduced Indiana Jones as a character who doesn't "...believe in magic, a lot of superstitious hocus-pocus." By the end, when the Ark is opened, he's telling Marion to shut her eyes and not look. An act of faith prompted by a new found belief in and respect for the power of the Ark. That is a development.
Another, more complex example, can be found in The Godfather (1972). At the outset, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) wants nothing to do with the family business. By the end, he is running the family business as the new Godfather. It is important to note that this radical about face did not just spontaneously happen, his character did not wake up one morning and change his mind because he felt like it. Rather it was the product of the events in the story (the attempts on his father's life, the death of his father and his brother) that prompted his reassessment of his role in life and challenged his loyalty to the family thus bringing about the change.
In Summary
Characters need to be consistent with the rules that you have set up for them to be credible. Credibility has nothing to do with reality, just consistency.
Characters can change (develop) so long as there is a reason for it.
The change in the character is the story. Without character development, there is no story.
