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BONE STRUCTURE
"Your movie people have sociological, psychological, and physiological characteristics."
—David Trottier
Character development includes knowing more about these people than will ever appear or be made known on screen. They all have backgrounds, social status, weird habits, and much more.
The history of these things may or may not make it into the actual screenplay. But it's your responsibility as the writer to know them inside and out.
The biggest of these is a want. What does each character want? Why?
Now you've got the beginnings of story.
Let's talk about characters as icebergs.
You know the drill – most of the ice sits below the waterline. Same goes for your characters. The snappy dialogue and cool scenes your audience gets? That's just the shiny part above water. The real meat of your character – their soul, if you want to get fancy about it – that's the massive chunk underneath.
"Character is the internal part of a person which makes him unique."
— Robert McGee
And he's right. Your characters become who they are through years of stuff happening to them – good, bad, weird, mundane. All of it matters.
Take Michael Corleone.
War hero to cold-blooded mob boss isn't exactly a typical career path. But here's the thing – Coppola and Puzo knew everything about this character. They knew what he thought and felt. They knew exactly how he felt about each of his siblings. We don't see all that in the movie, but it's there, informing every single choice he makes.
So what makes up this invisible backbone of a character? Let's break it down:
1. The Physical Stuff
Your character wakes up every morning in their body, and that body affects everything. Maybe they tower over everyone else in the room. Maybe they're dealing with chronic pain. Maybe they've got a slight limp from an old sports injury that acts up when they're stressed.
"The physical life of your character is the foundation of their psychology."
—Uta Hagen
Walter White is a favorite character of mine.
His cancer isn't just a plot device to kick off the story – it fundamentally changes how he sees himself, his mortality, his masculinity. It's a physical reality that ripples through every aspect of his character.
2. The Social Stuff
Nobody exists in a bubble.
Your characters are products of every dinner table conversation they've ever had, every school they attended or dropped out of, every neighborhood they grew up in. What kind of music did their parents play in the car? Did they grow up counting pennies or spending them freely?
Watch Fleabag.
Her inappropriate jokes and messy relationships don't come out of nowhere – they're rooted in her posh British upbringing, her complicated sister dynamics, and the ghost of her dead best friend.
That's not backstory – that's bone structure.
3. The Head Space
This is where it gets juicy. Tennessee Williams called it the "secret life" of characters, and that's perfect.
What keeps your character up at 3 AM? What do they want so badly they can barely admit it to themselves? What's the lie they tell themselves every morning to get out of bed?
"The fundamental difference between mere action and true character is inner conflict."
—John Truby
Look at Lady Bird.
She wants out of Sacramento so bad she can taste it, but leaving means admitting her mom might be right about some things. She wants to be sophisticated and worldly, but her authentic self keeps busting through the facade.
That's not character complexity for its own sake – that's human nature in action.
So how do you build this stuff?
Here's what works for me:
Write Their Life Story
Not the boring, resume version – the real stuff.
What was their first heartbreak? Who was the first person who really believed in them? What's their biggest regret? When did they last feel truly, completely happy?
"Biography is destiny."
— Eugene O’Neill
The stuff that happened to your character before page one shapes everything that comes after.
How does your character move through their world?
Are they the person who always overtips because they worked service jobs? Do they avoid phone calls because their dad used to give bad news that way? These little details aren't trivial – they're character in action.
Embrace the Weird Stuff
Real people are walking contradictions, and your characters should be too.
Maybe your hardened detective cries at cat videos. Maybe your free-spirited artist is weirdly obsessed with organizing their sock drawer. These aren't quirks for quirks' sake – they're the stuff that makes characters feel real.
"The more specific you make your characters, the more universal they become."
—James Cameron
Sounds backwards, right?
But it's true.
The more detailed and weird and specific you make your character's bone structure, the more likely your audience is to see themselves in it.
Here's the thing about really knowing your characters: at some point, they start surprising you.
You'll be writing a scene, and suddenly you'll realize – no, she wouldn't say that. Not after what happened with her sister. Not with what I know about her.
That's when you know you've built the bone structure right.
"The better you know your characters, the more you will find that they, not you, are determining the course of your story."
— Lajos Egri
Your job isn't just to know what cool stuff your characters do – it's to know why they do it.
That's where bone structure comes in.
It's the invisible architecture that makes every visible choice feel true.
Build them from the inside out. Give them substance. Make them real.
Your story (and audience) will thank you for it.
-Keep writing!
Check out other character development ideas and other tips HERE
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Other Sources:
My Short Stories FREE Logline Creation Guide Online Screenwriting Course