In the Matrix Trilogy, Neo was not ready to know the truth until he understood one important thing… himself. In many ways this was foreshadowed above the Oracles door with the sign that read, “Temet Nosce.”
We are writers. We take the world and remold it into our stories. We take world events or established stories, and recraft them. Even if the story is entirely original, some aspect of life can be gleamed from your work. Especially that of your characters. Readers need to be able to see themselves and those they know in the characters we write… but how do we do that?
The answer is simple: Profiling.
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I’m sure that is a dirty word for many of you. Profiling can be used in a number of ways, and yes, it can be used the wrong way in the wrong hands. But profiling is being able to understand people at their core, how they function and why. I’m sure many of you have picked apart characters to try to understand them better, and some of you have done that with friends. All good to do (just don’t tell your friends you’re doing this).
I tell my students that when it comes to profiling, the first step is profiling yourself. That is very hard to do. Why? Because we are liars. Most people lie to themselves as a way to feel better about ourselves, to believe there is nothing wrong with ourselves and the whole world is the problem. It’s called Self-Serving Bias.
When it comes to profiling yourself, you have to ask yourself the really hard questions, and you have to really search for the answer. The answer is hardly simple, and most likely more complex than the question itself. Why do we do the things that we do? Why do push people away, or are so clingy? Why do we insult other, or insult ourselves? Why are we introverts, or extroverts?
The first step is accepting that you are not perfect. You are flawed. The second step is accepting that through your imperfections, that doesn’t make you a bad person automatically. Eventually, once you start learning more of yourself, you will come to the realization that some things you can alter about yourself and something you can’t. Maybe you want to, maybe you don’t.
I learned that I used to be overly sarcastic (more than I am now). It pushed people away. So I changed it.
I also learned that I’m overly analytical. I prefer complexity over simplicity. For many, they would view this as a bad quality. I don’t. I like that I do. I like that I notice small details, even in a cartoon that isn’t supposed to make sense. It helps me be a better writer. The world looks so beautiful in a very complex way… why blind myself to that?
This is something that can take years, but it is one of things that you cannot judge others unless you judge yourself first, and really throw yourself through the ringer. You can’t be in other people’s minds, but you are in your own. And don’t be afraid to ask for help either. And I’m sure the prospect is scary, and so I urge you, only go as far as your comfortable with. And don’t be afraid to get a mentor (like I am with my students) or a therapist to help you along the path. Nothing wrong with getting help, only wrong if you outright refuse it.
An exercise I recently did (as you never stop learning), was to name my top 20 films of all time. Of course, being overly analytical as I am, I instead did 150. Why? It just made sense to me. Below is a list of the order of the 150 films I like. Each one of those I can tell you why I like it, and what I feel it says about me as a person for liking them. You may not like my choices, and that’s OK. We are different people, and this world is open for many different individuals. Some movies have a deep layer for me in which I love them, and others are simply guilty pleasures (I’m surprised how high in the list Waterboy is).
Putting them in order from favorite to least was the hard part. How do you decide that? I at first did it based on, which would I want to see more, but that got hard after awhile, so I stead chose it by which would I watch more if it were in the middle of the film (as in, I turned on the TV and it is playing). A lot of this list is highly dependent on my mood at the time of, so it will fluctuate. I can only guarantee the order of the top 20.
I challenge you to do the same. You don’t have to do 150 like me (I’m a freak), but try to pick out your top 20 favorite films of all time, and really ask yourself why do you like these films, and in what order. Mayhaps this opens up an avenue about yourself that you never truly thought about before.
NOTE: My true list of favorite films is likely closer to 2000, so this list doesn’t even represent 10% of what I truly love. So you might think it wrong of me that some movies appear so low in my rankings, but it is higher than all the other films I didn’t list. I had to stop somewhere.
If you do this challenge, please link it down below, I would love to see what your favorite movie is.
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Serenity
- Kung Fu Panda
- Deadpool
- Civil War
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Kung Fu Panda 3
- Avengers
- Iron Man
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Star Trek First Contact
- Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Rudy
- Iron Giant
- Blade
- Iron Man 2
- WALL*E
- Cast Away
- Back to the Future
- Martian
- Thor
- Hot Fuzz
- Spaceballs
- Die Hard
- Batman Begins
- Blade 2
- Zombieland
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Crimson Tide
- The Count of Monte Cristo
- Legend of Bagger Vance
- Brian’s Song
- Groundhogs Day
- Shrek II
- Live Free or Die Hard
- Remember the Titans
- Blade Trinity
- Robocop
- Kick Ass II
- Second Hand Lions
- Finding Forrester
- Dragonheart
- Star Trek (2009)
- The Matrix
- Dead Poets Society
- Good Will Hunting
- 10 Things I Hate About You
- Kick Ass
- Hunger Games
- Karate Kid
- The Game
- The Hunt For Red October
- My Cousin Vinny
- Dodgeball
- Space Cowboys
- Tropic Thunder
- Three to Tango
- Galaxy Quest
- The Rock
- xXx
- Dogma
- Demolitions Man
- Mystery Men
- Turner & Hooch
- Running Man
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
- Powder
- Star Trek Generations
- Rain Man
- Tremors
- Event Horizon
- Die Hard II
- Ratatouille
- They Live
- Spiderman
- Journey 2: Mysterious Island
- Shrek
- The Rundown
- Goldeneye
- Minority Report
- Matrix Revolution
- A Knights Tale
- Silverado
- The Worlds End
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Spiderman II
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- Fletch
- A Few Good Men
- Delta Force
- The Incredibles
- Judge Dredd
- The Last Starfighter
- Independence Day
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Bloodsport
- Wargames
- Trading Places
- Transformers
- Total Recall
- The Three Musketeers
- Con Air
- Dark City
- The Mask of Zorro
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day
- Punisher
- Matrix Reloaded
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
- Enemy Mine
- Super Troopers
- Ghostbusters
- Princess Bride
- Airplane
- Miss Congeniality
- Coming to America
- The Waterboy
- The Terminal
- Lethal Weapon IV
- Liar Liar
- Sneakers
- Small Soldiers
- Me, Myself & Irene
- Innerspace
- Footloose
- The Green Mile
- Airplane II
- Gremlins
- Die Hard with a Vengeance
- Apollo 13
- Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome
- Big Trouble in Little China
- Fletch Lives
- Real Genius
- Phenomenon
- Karate Kid Part II
- Breakfast club
- Goonies
- Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
- Johnny Dangerously
- Sphere
- Nine to Five
- Ladyhawke
- Working Girl
- The Abyss
- Kung Fu Hustle
- Clue
- Ruthless People
- Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
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Hi – I’m one of this month’s co-hosts and popped by to say hi. What an interesting post! I’m fascinated with the idea of profiling oneself and think the idea of listing your favorite movies is a fascinating way to go about it. I can be pretty analytical as well and would probably get stuck for hours making an Excel spreadsheet with a detailed criteria and ranking system 🙂 Cheers – Ellen
I never sit down and figure out who my characters are before I start writing. They get fleshed out with each rewrite I do. No doubt this method isn’t for everybody. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
I have found that I can plan things out for my characters into great detail and still learn more about them as I write them, often changing some information I knew prior. More exciting that way. However, as you do each rewrite, having an understanding of your character to a great detail can help make them more human, perhaps even reveal things about them that are not so apparent to the reader, but definitely to the writer.
The movie list with why you like it is an interesting way to view yourself; I think about this with Netflix suggestions and their algorithms. Sometimes Netflix does its best job to rec a show based on what I’ve liked and rated before, and it’s still a miss. I’m fickle. Everything Iike should point to me loving Dr. Who, but I can’t stand Dr. Who. I WANT to like it, but to me the pacing is slow and the effects are too poor and not charming. I love everything else around Dr. Who but not Dr. Who. Poor Netflix, trying to figure us out.
Here’s my August IWSG post on my first novel attempt (note I said ATTEMPT). YA Author Stephanie Scott IWSG August
I normally start with character If I have an idea than I have to figure out the character to write it. I’m all about character driven stories. Those are the kid I like to read and write. They need a good plot and premise too but the character light my inspiration,
Juneta @ Writer’s Gambit
See, this is why writers/readers are more compassionate than your average Joe. I’m constantly picking myself apart and trying to remold aspects that bother me. Lately it’s being anti social, since I used to be such an extrovert. But hey, life chances. We change, eh?
I profile/create dossiers for my characters so that I can know my characters better. And write their stories as only they would. But never profiled myself which I assume is slightly different from self-reflection (done a bit of that). As for listing my favorite movies without actually listing them, I know that at least half or two-thirds of it will be movies from the 80s like Ghostbusters, Goonies, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Willow, Back to the Future, One Crazy Summer, Big Trouble in Little China Town, Flash Savior of the Universe, etc. The rest of the slot will be picked up by more recent films and within the last decade or so. Films like Harry Potter, Ten Things I Hate About You, Galaxy Quest, etc.
Some of my favourite movies are on that list – Kung Fu Panda 3 would be my favourite over #2.
Fascinating post. Tweeted.
http://victoriaadams.blogspot.com
I never really called it profiling, but I like to imagine my characters in full flesh…from favorite color to biggest pet peeve. Until then, they just feel flat.
A good writer knows more about their character than will ever be in a book. You can tell when a writer has done this, as the character flows throughout a story, rather than a writer figuring things out as they write them.