April 3, 2020– Before I became an entrepreneur and author, I studied marketing and advertising among other areas of interest. In marketing, we are taught Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs pretty early on in the course in order for us to identify where our potential clients are, and where our products would fit in their lives. It’s important for us to remember that this is the way that our characters will experience their lives throughout our book.
For example, a character cannot be self-actualizing if they are worried about food and shelter. I urge you to review your manuscript to ensure that your character is following the hierarchy, not only does it lend to your credibility as a writer, it will speak to your reader on a very personal level as this is all of humanity’s experience.
Maslow’s hierarchy will help develop your characters fully and will let your reader know what motivates them to do what they do and be who they are. Please remember that none of these levels in the pyramid can be skipped, they can be stretched however, but only slightly. Also be aware that there is a expanded version of this hierarchy. If you do happen to skip a level, your reader will question the believability of your work. This entire theory of the hierarchy is that humans have a series of needs, some of which must be met before they can turn their attention towards others.
A homeless character would be focused on food and shelter, the first level of the hierarchy rather than the stock market. Of course, in Hollywood especially, there are always exceptions to the rule. I hope that you will use the resource below to make your characters as real as possible. If you’re interested in developing your characters fully, please email us for more information on our upcoming Character Development course at pandapublishing8@gmail.com Happy writing, friends! X LLB
