HOW I USED HEART, MIND AND BALLS TO IMPROVE MY STORIES AND SO CAN YOU

Or The Art Of Character Creation in Singaporean series Fighting Spiders

FIGHTING SPIDERS was a local Singaporean series that was honored by a Special Prize in the 2009 Seoul International Drama Awards. It was an unforgettable night for this writer who bought a tux and stood on a red carpet in front of a gallery of photographers. As light bulbs popped and flashed, a small voice pipped up in the back of my mind.

How did a show made in Singapore, ended up with an award in Korea?

It began with….

A Novel

By the time I came to work on Fighting Spiders, I had already written several dramas, comedies, and telemovies. Made some clunkers, but made some shows that were moderately successful. I’ve dipped my toes in the waters of comedy, horror, thriller, romance, and straight up drama. I felt I was ready to take on a project that would make use of every storytelling techniques I had learnt till then. That project came in the form of a novel by Ming Cher, titled Spider Boys.

I had to read and learn about…..

Adapting A Novel.

Those who were grownups in sixties Singapore knew it was an exciting time. Political parties were duking it out for dominance over the hearts of the people. It was the wild west of gangsters, mama-sans, nightclubs, and rock and roll. For the youngsters trembling on the cusp of boyhood, the 60’s were a far simpler time. With no Pokémon, Netflix, or mobile games to while away their hours, young boys worked off their energies by climbing trees, playing hide and seek, and catching spiders in the forest, all for the chance of pitting one fierce spider against another. Fighting spiders became a rite of passage for a young man growing up in sixties Singapore. The network executive had wanted me to write a show that revolved around this nostalgic activity which featured heavily in Spider Boys, the novel. However, the novel had other raw and edgy elements. Mama-San characters, profanity, gangsters, ladies of the night, and descriptions of blood periods coinciding with the feeding of spiders. The concoction was just too heady for a channel that was big on family values. So I decided to keep only the activity of fighting spiders. Everything else had to be invented from scratch.

And that’s what I did.

But first I had to work on….

Coming Up With The Theme

The activity of Fighting Spiders was always something you did with your friends. No boy catches an aggressive spider just for the pleasure of watching it scurry within the confines of a matchbox. There would be bets. There would be cheers. And groups of friends egging on rival spiders. It was natural that for any story that was going to revolve around fighting spiders, I would need a group of boys who were friends. Great friends. Thus, the theme for the entire series would be about the bonds of friendship. That felt good and right. Something that anyone can relate. But now I had a problem. The same problem that assails every writer before he pens a story.

Which is….

Who Are The Characters?

I decided to have three main characters who were friends in the show. Why three? Because three is the minimum you need to create conflict for any situation. And Drama needs conflict. But how do I make them unique? I spent a lot of time pacing, even standing in the shower for hours, hoping for some kind of divine inspiration to whack me on the head.

One day, it did.

While idly flipping through a book of famous quotes, I came across something that was said by Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th American president.

If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

IDEA FLASH! A bulb exploded in my head. And out popped a revelation.

Every character and personality is essentially a combination of heart, mind, and genitals.

I decided I would split myself into 3 parts.

And each character would represent a part of myself.

Heart.

Mind.

Balls.

And in doing so, I recognize that…

Every Human Is Made Up Of A 3-Part Harmony Between Heart Mind Balls

The plump Chinese boy, Charlie, in the show, represented heart. Innocence. Joy. The skinny, good looking Chinese Boy, Soon Lee would represent Balls. Impetuous. Rebellious. Courageous.

And the Boy who would represent the Mind, would be an English Boy, named Peter. He would be wise beyond his years, logical, a reader with a love for language. Peter was my way of channeling everything I loved about the English language. I could write witticisms, sharp retorts, quote epigrams and it would have sounded just fine from the mouth of a British boy.

A character in any story must have one dominant trait. This is the trait that the character would express in any situation. It would also determine the kind of words each character would use.

I now had three boys with three distinct traits.

We found three fresh actors to play them. Three boys who won the hearts of the audience and charmed themselves into local television history. I’ve not seen them for many years but from my heart, I thank them.

Gentle Reminder

The next time you create character, decide which aspect your character embodies the most.

Heart, mind, or balls.