Character Type: Visionary

“They can see into the future… or think they can. They perceive possibilities when others see only walls. Often the power of their perceptions are matched by their zeal.”

Those of you who have followed my blog for some time or taken courses with me through Screenwriting Master Class know how fascinated I am with character archetypes, specifically how there are five — Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster — which recur in movies over and over and over.

Some might see archetypes as a sort of reductionist approach to writing when in my experience, it is precisely the opposite.

By working with these five Primary Character Archetypes, we can identify the core narrative function of every key character, then use that knowledge as a guide as we build them out in a limitless number of ways.

One approach is to use an extensive array of Character Types available to us. So this month, I am running a series in which we will explore 20 Character Types, and consider how writers can use them to create unique, compelling figures in our stories.

Today: Visionary.

They can see into the future… or think they can. They perceive possibilities when others see only walls. Often the power of their perceptions are matched by their zeal. These are Visionaries and they represent a character type we see often in movies.

There are actual seers such as Oracle in The Matrix (1999) and Blind Seer in O Brother, Where Are Thou? (2000)…