Establish Emotional Connection With Characters

Writing creative stories can stimulate our minds to feel a dopamine rush--the high level of excitement capable of multiplying our interest tenfold. For example, people who are addicted to social media undergo an adrenaline rush whenever likes and comments arrive after posts and captions are uploaded. They measure their self-worth based on acceptance, attention and positive encouragement. In contrast, sharing the truth is somehow viewed as negative criticism aimed at hurting other people. Honest people fail to establish emotional connections, so being reserved and concealing the truth will make someone a mystery.  

Mostly all followers leave positive compliments and overpraise page owners to stroke egos and attract attention. Sadly, some of these people become desperate, needy and clingy to feel self-important. They want their online friends and/or crushes to consider them as someone special, someone important, someone worthwhile. Just think about the real motivation behind people giving so much of their attention to strangers and what they expect in return. Believe it or not; there is usually a big want attached to compliments, attention and praises.  

What mostly gets lost is learning the truth. We may keep repeating the same actions to waste time, ruin opportunities, make excuses and self-sabotage following mistakes. Overly kind people may hurt our chances to grow our dream. We must hear the truth to make something better. Expecting positive feedback will keep us in the dark and block our personal growth. What we felt comfortable doing before is now an afterthought. We can learn life lessons to stop acting weak-minded, out of control and out of touch. injecting real life emotions into our movie characters can/will create strong connections among the reader(s) and moviegoer(s). Establishing emotional connections humanize characters to strengthen bonds.        

Nevertheless, our purpose in life and dreams are shaped with time and effort. If we take the right steps, we should be confident taking risks and making sacrifices. We must always remember that we control our own luck. Activating our creativity will help us  find solace telling compelling stories with powerful themes. If we create conflicting characters that resemble real life situations, people will feel emotionally connected because the subject matter hits close to home. As a result of this, humanizing characters uncover truths that inject originality into our screenplays. 

Watch end-of-the-world movies and pay close attention to character development. Writers begin with conflict, influence characters to respond and resolve their problems in the end. In the Knowing movie, Nicholas Cage's character loses his wife in a hotel fire. He refuses to believe in God but a chain of events reveal the truth. Opening his mind and heart to see past coincidences as random events renews his trust. 

Delve further into building an emotional structure that humanizes your characters. The closer the connection, the better the reception. 

Happy Screenwriting! 

5 characters and one location create suspense: Hush

On Netflix, there is movie called Hush. It only features 5 characters but executes suspense extremely well, considering it's shot in one location and never leaves this scene at any point during filming.

A female lead character plays the protagonist, who happens to be deaf/mute. She had a bout with meningitis at age 13, which caused her to go deaf and also damaged her voice box.

Interestingly, this protagonist plays a best-selling author. She lives alone in the woods. Her home is constructed with plenty of glass windows, empowering the natural lighting to enhance her mood.  

This disability sets up the conflict. We see a murder take place. A serial killer is on the loose, standing right outside of the protagonist's patio while he is killing his victim. Our protagonist can't help this victim because she is unable to hear her scream. Plus, this protagonist is a female with a disability. It is obvious she lacks in strength, unable to go toe-to-toe with this psychotic antagonist.

Hush is clever in execution, as a normal person experiencing this terror would be at a major disadvantage. Out in the middle of the woods, there is nobody capable of helping this deaf/mute woman in time. We know of her neighbor, a couple who befriended this protagonist.

The female neighbor is a friend who visits regularly to check on the well-being of this protagonist. On the opposing side, the plot thickens and we watch through the eyes of the protagonist how terror feels when a person is faced with many obstacles to stay alive. It's during this time, the protagonist is confronted with many challenges to keep ahead of the game.

Although this storyline has limitations, possibly due to budget constraints, the screenwriters keep the suspense high. Only 5 characters are featured in this movie, one of which is seen on computer Facetime for less than a few minutes. We have a protagonist, an antagonist, a sister, and a nearby couple. It doesn't require multiple settings and several characters to inject thrills into a movie plot.  

Definitely watch Hush, a clever home invasion movie that will put you on the edge of your chair. It creates that Strangers and No Good Deed movie feel.