True Character

TRUE CHARACTER can only be expressed through choice in a dilemma. How the person chooses to act under pressure is who he is -- the greater the pressure, the truer and deeper the choice to character.

The key to True Character is desire. In life, if we feel stifled, the fastest way to get unstuck is to ask, "What do I want?," listen to the honest answer, then find the will to pursue that desire. Problems still remain, but now we're in motion with the chance of solving them. What's true of life is true of fiction. A character comes to life the moment we glimpse a clear understanding of his desire -- not only the conscious, but in a complex role, the unconscious desire as well.

Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting