The Crocodile, the Goat, and the Unicorn: Unique Approaches to Character Development by Unifying Karpman's Drama Triangle, Evolutionary Astrology, and Stanislavski's Method Acting
There I am, like you, and so many writers, sitting at my computer and starting a new writing project. I'm drawing up characters because this story has been running through mind for years and it's finally ready to go onto a page. Since I already have a working idea of who my main character is and her antagonist, I now need to weigh her against Karpman's drama triangle. What is her good, bad, and ugly? This is how I've drawn multidimensional characters for over 10 years. But then two other creative forms changed my approach: Evolutionary astrology and Stanislavski's method acting.
Those of you who have been following my blog for some time know that I'm a capricorn and if you follow my Twitter as well you'll see posts from time to time about being capricorn. I've followed astrology closely for about two years. I'm writing a character for another novel, or another novel that's rolling around in my mind right now, and astrology started as research for that character. Then I started to become more and more intrigued by it.So I'm a capricorn rising, capricorn sun, and libra moon in Western astrology, which is also called evolutionary astrology, and commonly practiced in North America and Europe. In Vedic astrology, which is the most commonly used form in Asia, I'm a capricorn rising, sagittarius sun, and virgo moon, with my moon nakshatra in uttra phalguni. If you follow astrology closely, you'll know what each of those mean, but if you don't it's how the stars were aligned the moment I was born and determines my personality, my ambitions, and my obstacles.So in both forms of astrology, I'm a capricorn, which isn't always the case because each measures birth timeframes differently. I'll not go into those details. But being a capricorn has always resonated with me.
"In the end, you will find yourself with a long list of accomplishments and overcomes challenges that will mark your name, and these things you have done should bring you joy in the later years of your life because you decided that you would never quit." -- Bellatuscana
For most of the last two years, I had been only aware of the capricorn sign symbolized by a climbing mountain goat. Then as I went deeper into researching astrology I discovered ancient astrology also symbolized the sign with a crocodile and a unicorn. So the cycle goes like this: the sign starts as a crocodile moves into a goat and then ends as a unicorn. So in it's lowest form, capricorns had strong crocodilian traits and were once viewed singularly as this reptile. Then at some point in human history, capricorn people evolved and started to act more like the mountain goat or a mythological sea goat. This is how the sign is currently symbolized. And so in the future, capricorn people, in their highest form of evolution, will start to take on traits of a mythological unicorn. The two horns of the goat fuse and turn into one, which symbolizes the spiritual use of the third eye.So how does all this pertain to Karpman's drama triangle and Stanislavski's method acting?Stephen Karpman developed a victim, rescuer, and persecutor psychotherapy model in 1961 for transactional analysis. In story writing terms, we writers modified this into a model for creating complex characters and applied the terms of victim, hero, and villain. So each character, aside from static characters, should have personality traits showing each of the three. This will reflect on the page as a real person to the reader, because, as Karpman pointed out in his model, people revolve between victim, rescuer, and persecutor in social situations. So if real folks do this, then so should your characters.
Now in my own writing, I tend to be pretty good about making my main characters into villains. I'm not sure why. Many writers will be protective of their main characters and make them so saintly they don't appear to be real people. I must be real crocodilian in my approach to character development, lol. I tend to want to throw my characters under the bus and have them appear to be unlikable. I am a big fan of the unlikable narrator, so that probably plays a part in it. Because I tend to lean heavily on the villain side of character development, I've used the drama triangle to make sure my characters also play hero and victim. This has saved me on a number of occasions by giving my character multiple dimensions.So there I am learning how capricorn in ancient astrology has these evolutionary patterns, and I'm a writer (the drama triangle is always floating around somewhere in the back of my mind). Suddenly, I think to myself, "What if I applied ancient astrology's approach with capricorn symbols to Karpman's model?" Then the villain becomes the crocodile, and the victim becomes the goat, and the hero becomes the unicorn. I've been gifted, aka cursed, with an overactive mind and imagination (great for storytelling but bad for peace of mind), so I suddenly start thinking in terms of "method acting."
“Our demands are simple, normal, and therefore they are difficult to satisfy. All we ask is that an actor on the stage live in accordance with natural laws.” --
Konstantin Stanislavski begun the practice of method acting back in the early 1900s. The basic concept of the form is to "take on" traits of someone else or something else. This could mean an actor studying historical figures to such an intense degree that they "become" the person in behavior and thinking, like Kate Winslet in her portrayal of a former Nazi guard in The Reader. It also can mean an actor use the behavior of an animal to portray a specific depth, like Anthony Hopkins using traits of a lizard for his portrayal of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.In the rapidity of an overactive imagination, I put the three together and started to make my drama triangle "character specific." So if my main character in my novel was like a spider in his villainy, then I asked myself: What animal would his victim and hero personas become? Or in astrological terms, what symbols would carry him through an evolutionary arch? If a crocodile can become a goat and then a unicorn, then a spider can become a bird and then a dragon.
What's important to take away from this exercise is the freedom you obtain by marrying all three of these forms: drama triangle, evolutionary astrology, and method acting. By developing a "character specific" drama triangle, we as writers have a powerful tool to manifest complex characters out of thin air, like magicians mimicking the tools of a god. With the slight of hand, pencil and paper, screen and keyboard, we can hypnotize our audiences to feel as though they are participating in the lives of real people.
(Images were borrowed from pxfuel.com, maxpixel.com, flickr, and wikimedia commons)
#WritersLife: When Writers Dream of Characters in Their Novel
#WritersLife was the first thought I had when I woke. But I couldn't shake the deep depression taking control of me. I felt an immense sadness. It felt like I was so inadequate that I didn't matter to anyone. My life was so pointless and meaningless that no one would ever want to connect with me enough to care about my life. My mind kept circling around about how shitty a human being I was and how it didn't matter what I thought or felt. My chest was heavy, shoulders sunken, and I could feel the length of my jaw pulling downward. I had little energy. Just enough to zombie through the last two days.
And it started with a vivid dream about a character, Jimena, in my novel, Unsettled Between.I've never had a reaction like this before. I've dreamt about characters and scenes and concepts for novels or short stories before (often in the waking moment between sleep and full consciousness), but I've never had such an emotional reaction. It's really odd and I'm still feeling remnants of it now. Yesterday was the worst of it.I'm not an emotional person. I get sad, but I don't tend to linger in it to a point I would call depression. I've been depressed before, but I tend to force myself into tasks that help alleviate those feelings. So when this feeling grabbed me over the last two days it was very alien, like someone else had stepped inside my body and had taken over.
The dream was about me interacting with a character, Jimena. She's not a major character in my novel but she's important to certain stories in the collection.In the dream, Jimena lead me from one place to another but it was almost like I was floating around her as opposed to her leading me. It was like I took on her energy so she could act "normal" or front like she was okay. I watched as she displayed happiness and confidence to people around her, but I carried her sadness. That's weird, isn't it? How could I carry sadness for her?Another odd occurrence happened when I woke. There was a lightening flash that lit up my bedroom. It was so bright I thought it was storming outside. We had rain the day before so I thought maybe storms had come in overnight. But when I looked outside it was overcast but no storms. The flash was like a strobe coming from inside my room--not outside.Now I've carried this unbearable sadness with me for two days. The depression is so harsh that I haven't gotten on social media in the last two days. I'm a junkie or have bouts of social media binges so going two days with no interest in social media is odd. This is likely the case for many of us.
Initially, I tried to work this out as some residual part of my past, like something Jungian I hadn't addressed. But then suddenly I realized the character goes through something in the novel that was emotionally challenging for her. But I didn't give it the emotional weight. Meaning, maybe I wasn't honest enough about how much she hurt. I wish I could tell you what specifically I'm talking about in the novel, but I'm going to have to wait until it's released before I can put the two together.Ultimately, I feel like I didn't do her character justice and she came to me in my dream to show me how she felt. That sounds odd, I know. But I can't make sense of why I'd have these emotions associated to that dream about this specific character. It's the only conclusion I can draw.In fact, I had to write my agent, who received my most recent draft a couple weeks ago. I told her about the dream, and she gave me the green light to go back into the novel and revise Jimena's portion. I do feel better now that I can revise to Jimena's liking. But what an interesting emotional ride. As a writer, I sometimes feel like I know how to pull details from my psyche to write about. But this is a first.Have you dreamed about a character in one of your story lines? If so, what was your experience? A part of me is desperately searching for kindred spirits. I hope I'm not alone in this. I'm hoping this is one of those #WritersLife hashtag moments.
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(Images were borrowed from wikimedia, wikipedia, and flikr)
Tuning into the Nuances of the Void
There are two things most dangerous: apathy and stagnation. For me? The former leads to the latter. It's a cycle of violence I've always struggled to overcome. It's like when I'm gourd dancing with my family, and I'm trying to predict by cadence and rhythm the switching of the beat so I can anticipate the appropriate next move--a move which keeps me in sync with my community but ultimately with my choices.
So that's a blend of artistry and pseudo-intellectualism to say something very simple: I get bored easily. I'll save the deep psychological reading of this behavior to my haters. They're likely more in tune with its nuances anyway.There are times in my life where I live in life and throw myself into passions deep and plentiful and I'm so deep in the subconscious I don't even have to breath. I've mutated, growing gills to pick up words and metaphors and I twist them into a story. Story gives me life.
Then there are times in my life where the void has no echo and the sound of my voice carries only inches from my mouth. If I screamed it would carry further, but I don't scream anyway so that doesn't matter. When the stagnation grows up my feet and grabs my ankles, through my veins and into my throat, my voice is lost. In desperation I can see apathy moving toward me like dark matter carrying a wave of asteroids ready to crush me. And you say the void has no noise. But it's loud. Louder than me, which is loud enough, and is the only decibel of importance.Then by sheer willpower, I lift my head, look at the computer screen, and write.
Struggling Artists Unite!
So I'm about to rant. I know...you're saying to yourself, "Oscar, you always rant." But this is going to be a special kind of rant. I'm going to unburden myself with all the reasons why artists need to be supported. In every way, emotionally and financially. We don't live in an age of benefactors! If artists are going to be the voice for the under-heard and disadvantaged, then we need fuel for the fire, we need people surrounding us and giving us the energy to keep fighting.So first off, if you want me to give you a freebee then come at me with a genuine curiosity about my literature. I'm happy to share under those circumstances and have emailed free copies of my stories to many of my followers on this blog. Because many of my followers are artists themselves and understand where I'm coming from. I support them as much as they support me. It's called reciprocity. But don't come at me like a privileged little shit and expect me to give you a freebee because you're an over righteous douche bag. Don't approach me like I've violated you because I've attached a meager 99 cent price tag on a short story. I'm sorry you have to walk all the way to your car in the driveway and dig out 99 cents from your console.
Second, I went to college for six years to obtain the degrees I hang on my walls, to write provocative stories that are meant to help you grow as a human being as much as entertain you with my tribal culture. I'm not an ethnographer. I'm an artist. I'm not here to get rich, but it'd be nice to eat more than just ramen noodle soup sometimes. I'm sure my kids would appreciate that as well. I'm not working out of a multi-millionaire's purse. I don't have a benefactor paying my bills. I work fulltime. I'm a fulltime, single father. And I write fiction. My drive to realize the benevolence of this literary profession is the reason I write. I believe in the literary field's ability to transform people to better understand each other, like I believe in America's will to give people the freedom to figure out how to live cohesively. All of that faith and effort takes time and energy.Lastly, if there is any spirit left in this mass consumption society, we, the artists, possess it, and remind you with every word and every painting and every sculpture that you too have spirit and you need to go seek it out and find it. There is a reason people are drawn toward literature, paintings, sculptures, music, etc., etc. When you hear that song, when the words in a story make you pause, when a painting makes your mind quickly move from confusion to problem solving it's complexity, you are remembering your own spirit and connecting to your own spirit. Once you have that feeling you want to find it again. We, the artists, give you opportunity to engage with your own spirit.So please don't come at me like I'm a brutish millionaire sucking the pennies from your pocket. I've somehow, through symbolism, packaged a piece of my spirit for you to consume.
Support a Native owned Etsy shop, Allies United, where I offer unique merch for allies of social justice movements, like MMIW, Native Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter. Take a look inside my Etsy shop here: etsy.com/shop/AlliesUnited.