When I left my staff editor job to become a freelance editor in 2018, I got really into self-development and productivity. I read books, watched videos, and took workshops all in the name of bettering myself. One thing I kept thinking throughout this whole process was: “this is such good storytelling and character development advice.”

Today we’re talking about the best tool I discovered through this process. And it all starts with the word “why”.

Let’s roll.

What’s your why?

Stop looking for a course of action and instead become obsessed with understanding the cause of action. - Simon Sinek, author

In his books “Start With Why” and “Find your WHY”, author Simon Sinek breaks down what he calls the Golden Circle, which consists of three layers:

• Why – The purpose, cause, or belief that drives a person.
• How – The process or principles that bring the Why to life.
• What – The actions you take to bring your Why to life.

This is also a great way to think about your characters.

The average director focuses on What their characters do and How they do it, but the most successful ones start with Why.

If you don’t know your character’s why you risk telling a story that becomes plot driven rather than character driven. This often feels flat, generic, and disconnected. When you know a character’s why, , you can change the how and what and still stay true to who the character is at a fundamental level.

Depth is the key here.

You want to know your characters like you know your best friend. When you break down your script, or create your characters, you have to go beyond the surface and get to the core of who they are.

To do that, you need a process.

Finding your character’s why

There’s a good chance your character starts the film having already lived and gathered experiences that have shaped them into who they are.

I’ve found two ways of discovering a character’s why that work the best.

The first way is called “stacking your whys,” or as I like to call it “Toddler Mode.” This process starts by asking, “What does the character want?” and then following up with, “Why do they want that?”

When you have an answer, you keep asking why of that answer until you get to an answer that feels like the true reason why they are doing what they are doing.

Five whys is a popular level of depth that gets referenced a lot (I think it was invented by leaders at Toyota, but don’t quote me on that). But I’ve found there is no real science here. Five is a good starting point, but don’t be afraid to go deeper if you need to.

The most important thing is to find a why that rings true to you about who the character is at their core.

The second way of finding a character’s why relies more on backstory. Try to identify defining moments in the character’s life that turned them into who they are. For most of us, our whys are fully formed by our late teens. So look for experiences that shaped the character’s beliefs and morals from an early age. Look for patterns that shape their identity.

You can also always combine the method and contrast and compare your results.

At the end of the process, state the character’s why in a clear, actionable statement that captures their purpose. In Simon Sinek’s book he uses the formula “To [contribution] so that [impact].” For example: “To inspire people to do the things that inspire them so that, together, we can change our world.”

But there’s a twist

So you’ve found your character’s why. Now what?

The why represents the best version of your character. They are living their purpose when their what and how align with their why. At the beginning of your story, this alignment is most likely totally out of whack.

The reason for this misalignment is often called a flaw, but I prefer how Lisa Cron puts it in “Story Genius”: a wrongly held belief.

At some point in the character’s life something happened that drove them away from living true to their purpose. And as that belief grew stronger through repeated events , the character completely lost sight of their “why”.

This is where writing and directing get super fun.

Because we get to be really mean to our characters. We force them to go on this grueling journey to break down their false belief and reclaim their why. Or not if you’re into tragedies, which is totally cool.

The backstory method for finding a character’s why is a great way to also find the moments and experience that broke the character’s connection to their why.

Armed with the character’s why, you have a solid foundation. You can experiment, change things up and solve problems without breaking your story and always staying true to your characters.

And cut!

That does it for this week. Here are the key takeaways I want you to bring with you into your directing career from today:

• A character’s why is their true purpose.
• Finding your character’s why gives you a solid foundation for staying true to your character even when the how and what of your story change.
• A character is often blocked from living their true purpose by a false belief that they must break down.

As always, thanks for reading.

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