Wednesday, February 6, 2013

THE 5 WHY CHARACTER ANALYSIS

THE 5 WHY CHARACTER ANALYSIS (C) 2013 Jerlyn Stone
As a Quality System Coordinator for a large manufacturing plant I use THE 5 WHY ANALYSIS to identify the root cause and corrective actions for all nonconformances.
You have a defect. You ask yourself WHY this defect happened. When you answer that question, you ask yourself again. WHY? When you get to the 5th WHY, most likely you will have your true root cause. Then, develop your corrective action from that.
I’ve realized I can use this in my writing to build my characters. Each of my characters will have a conflict (defect)they must overcome(corrective action). Before they can solve the conflict, they must realize WHY they have the conflict. (Root Cause)
Below is a sample of THE 5 WHY CHARACTER ANALYSIS I used on my main character in my upcoming novel Taunting Tara. Tara is a Detective for the NYPD. A gruesome murder has occurred and this specific case hit her hard mentally. WHY?
You’ll want to do this for every minor or major conflict and how it affects each character. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but detailed enough to lead you to knowing what actions is required to solve the conflict. Note: Some WHYS may have two or more root causes and each must be answered.

 
Conflict
Why 1
Why 2
Why 3
Why 4
Why 5
Corrective Action
TARA -Latest gruesome murder hits her harder than most cases
The deep slashes. Innocent victim. The blood.
Flashbacks from when she was 10 years old returns.
Her parents were murdered.
A drug dealer stabbed them to death.
Over a picture incriminating him in the murder of a young girl.
Instead of fighting the flashbacks,  let the knowledge she gained from her experience help her find the killer in this case.
Detective Dobbs- His partner’s determination to solve this case may put their jobs on the line.
Do the same with each character.





Victim’s Mistress – She’s accused of murder.














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