Have you ever heard your heart say one thing and your mind say another? Of course you have! Which one does your character listen to? Which one gets your character into the most trouble? Whatever the answer is, it’s the flaw that needs to change by the end of your story.
I call it Internal “Duologue”…the latter term I borrowed from actor Michael York in his book A SHAKESPEAREAN ACTOR PREPARES, a fascinating resource for writers and actors that taught me how to write brilliant dialogue that shapes compelling character arcs and storylines.
Like the girl who tells a friend about a boy she met: Her heart says “I don’t love him. Never will”. Her mind says “but I’m always thinking about him. He’s so cute” and secretly hopes, perhaps, the boy will hear.
In GLADIATOR, Marcus Aurelius says with his mind of Senator Gracchus: “I would have silenced him decades ago” and finishes with his heart: “but I like him too much”.
It’s the character arguing with him/herself.
As an audience, we should hear and feel the internal dilemmas that must ultimately be resolved.
Will the character ever find an internal truce? Only when the heart or the mind changes, gives in or wins the argument. And one must change, the flaw. When that happens, the rest of the character’s story, in action and dialogue, will be propelled by the winner of the Internal Duologue.
Just speaking my mind…through my heart.
