That was one of the more popular shirts at San Diego Comic-Con in recent years.

If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it should. He’s kind of been in the news lately. You might have heard of a little movie called The Avengers. Or maybe The Cabin in the Woods? Two of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies released in the last month. He co-wrote and produced Cabin and co-wrote and directed The Avengers, and in between production and post-production on that one, in his spare time, he gathered a few friends and filmed an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing.

Let me repeat that…. in his spare time…

He’s only been responsible for some of the most culturally influential genre works in the last 15 years.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Angel. Firefly and Serenity. Dollhouse. When he premiered his online musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, demand was so high that servers crashed and critics accused him of breaking the internet. And then, it went on to win a People’s Choice Award, a Hugo, seven Streamy Awards, an Emmy, and was named one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Inventions of 2008.

And, until now, he’s been one of Hollywood’s best-kept open secrets. They knew what he could do and seemed hell-bent through either incompetence or malicious intent (because nobody could be that willingly stupid, could they?) on keeping him from doing what he does best. But, after the last few months, the world knows just what he is capable of.

So, why am I going on about this guy on a blog that’s supposed to be about writing? Simple.

Because he knows what he’s doing. And, he’s doing it very well. Joss Whedon may be a cruel, sadistic bastard who delights in making you care for his characters then dropping them into a meat grinder with a side order of big-eyed puppies and fluffy baby ducks, but that’s only because he’s so good at what he does.

Joss Whedon makes you care about his characters. And, none of them are perfect. In fact, far from it. They are well rounded, deep, and fundamentally flawed. Because Joss Whedon knows that in order to make a story good, you need three things:

   – A flawed character who wants something.

   – Someone who is preventing them from getting it.

   – And, a mudpit/arena/battlefield for them in which to fight to the death.

Everything else is just window dressing and budget size. In the 200-million dollar epic The Avengers, the team must prevent Loki from unleashing an alien army on the earth. In the micro-budgeted Dr. Horrible, the doc must overcome his nemesis, Captain Hammer, in order to join the Evil League of Evil. In the multi-season TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy must embrace her destiny to be the Slayer, the Chosen One of her generation.

What do these have in common? They are all damaged characters. They all have deep, internal flaws they need to overcome in order to defeat the external force opposing them. The thing inside them preventing them from achieving their goal is as powerful as the external force.



The Avengers are all individuals who must learn to come together as a team. Dr. Horrible wants to be more evil than he actually is. Buffy wants to have a typical, normal life and boyfriend. In some of these examples, they make a choice. In some, the choice is made for them.

But, all of them come at a cost, as most good internal conflicts do. Because, if what your character wants isn’t the most important thing in the world to them, then it won’t be to a viewer or reader. And, if the lengths to which they go to achieve it (either willingly or unwillingly) aren’t comparable to the ends of the earth for them, then your audience has changed the channel or gone out for popcorn or put down the book and picked up the latest part of the Twilight saga instead.

If you aren’t willing to have your character give up everything they have to get what they want, then they don’t want it very much.

And, no, the stakes don’t have to be world-shattering. The fate of the entire universe doesn’t have to hang in the balance for everyone in the universe. It can be as simple as a new bike for a ten-year-old boy, or a Brownie’s desire to sell the most Girl Scout cookies. Pretty inconsequential to the average person on the street.

But, to that boy and girl? Let’s take it deeper…

Let’s say that boy is the only healthy child of a mother with tuberculosis, who’s been abandoned by her husband, with a younger sibling in need of an operation, and the only way they can afford heat in this worst winter in a hundred years is if he can complete his paper route. But, to do that, he needs a new bike.

And, our little Brownie? She was the darling only child of her parents…until her new little sister was born. And now, the only attention she gets is from the Girl Scout troop that her parents made her join to get her out of the house, so they could spend more time with the new baby. So, she believes that if she sells enough cookies, she’ll prove her worth and her parents will love her again.

A bike. A Girl Scout cookie sale. The loss of family, the loss of love. It’s a matter of life and death.

Last year, an interviewer asked Joss why he writes such strong female characters. His answer? “Because you still ask questions like that.”

See, he knows it’s not about male or female, gay or straight, black, white, or green, or even human.

It’s about character. What does your character want? What’s keeping them from getting it? What are they willing to give up to get it?

If you can quickly and compellingly answer those three questions, then you have a successful career awaiting you in Hollywood.

But, don’t tell anyone. Because it’s a secret. Like Joss Whedon’s omnipotence.

Shhhhhhh…

Oh yeah, if you want more of Joss’ wisdom on writing, check out his top ten writing tips here, originally published on BBC’s channel 4 Talent Magazine.