Playwriting - Part 4D - Character Biographies, Place in the Community

If you use character biographies, another important way that a character is perceived by others is by the character's place in the community. People perceive others by a variety of ways. It depends on how those relationships are formed with each other. By putting down everything you have created about your character, you can determine how other characters and even how your audience, perceives the character's place in the community.

Things that you are going to want to include are the occupation (including how long in the field), education (quality and up to what type of degree), political affilaitions if there are any, any religious affliations, organizational memberships, and the general status in the community.

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I don't know if Ernest Thompson worked this way when writing On Golden Pond, but I can imagine some of the things he may have put for Charlie. The following are my guesses. You can do this exercise with characters in plays you know, too. Go back and see what you think the playwright might have put in a character biography and then think of what you would want for your characters.

• Occupation: Mailman for 30 years
• Education: High school and probably didn't do very well, a C and D student with a few Bs
• Political Affiliations: Independent
• Religious Affiliations: Whatever little local church is in the area, no real "affliliation"
• Organizational Memberships: National Assoiciation of Letter Carriers, BoatUS
• General Status in the Community: Respected as a hard working mailman, but not seen as a leader or somebody with a high status

You can see how this gives more depth to Charlie rather than just "Charlie, the goofy mailman."