5 THE POWER OF EMPATHY
The most essential ingredient to great storytelling is empathy.
How does a writer foster empathy? Through character vulnerability. First, let’s clarify the term:
- Empathy is defined by identification, “walking in another’s shoes.”
- Sympathy is the pity we feel for another’s pain and suffering.
The only reason we return for more episodes of a given TV series is because we become invested in the characters’ journeys. Their problems become our problems. Their victories become our wins, too. We worry about them via empathy and are compelled to care.
For viewers to develop a relationship with a character over many episodes, there must be such a level of complexity in their character that ...
Get The TV Showrunner's Roadmap, 2nd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
