Relate > Reflect > Want > Change

imagine: simple, minimal, risograph, cartoon, narrative experiment

This is really multiple skills that Narrative Experiment also explores in other ways. But if someone was to ask, "What is the main difference between an improv show where it feels like something really happened, and an improv show where it feels like a lot of people talked but not much happened?" I would answer, "It's just about having one or more real character arcs."

I'm sure most improvisers are familiar with what a character arc is (how a character changes over the course of a story), but how do we reliably pull it off when we're making it up? This is one possible approach:

First, establish some basic labels for how your character relates to other characters. (Mom, dad, uncle, niece, lover, enemy, casual work acquaintance?)
Once you've got some information on who you're sharing the story with, then you can reflect on who your character might be under the surface. What makes them tick?
As you're thinking about who you are, you'll start driving your brain toward the question: What do I want? What is my objective in this story?"
And once we know that, all you have to do is get ready to change. Depending on the story, not all of us will need to. But we should all get ready, because at least one of us has to. (Hint: if you seem like the main character, it's definitely you.)

Keeping the general shape of how we build a character in mind is fundamental to getting longer stories on their feet. It's kind of like how, when you're in the weight room, you have to be able to lift the bar itself before you can worry about putting weight on the sides.

You might also ask, "Why do I need to relate to other characters before I figure out who my character is?" My main reasoning in suggesting this order is that we have to build this story with other performers, and we would like it to seem like we're all working in perfect sync, and all of these characters seem like they belong in this story. If we each independently plan our intended characters, we might wind up with some pretty disparate people who feel like an awkward fit with each other. My suspicion is that it will be easier to mesh if we focus on scoping out each other first, before we pay too much attention to ourselves.