If you’re a fiction writer, learn astrology. Astrology is a powerful tool that can be used to create and develop characters for screenplays, stories, and movies of any genre. The astrological elements and principles associated with a character’s birth chart will describe and outline a character that is realistic and relatable (if that’s what you’re looking to achieve), but also a character that has room for growth and character development. The birth chart will serve as the character’s dictionary and blueprint.
The birth chart will serve as the source from which you, the author can conduct a character analysis. You will be able to observe the good and bad personality qualities, as well as, their strengths and weaknesses. You can gain insight into the factors and experiences that caused your character to form in the way they did, as well as, learn about the relationships (friends, parental, intimate, etc.) between the character and other potential actors in their life.
The birth chart describes 12 major areas in your character’s life. These areas include:
- Personality, Identity, Physical Features & Body
- Finances, Movable Assets, Values
- Siblings, Neighborhood, Skills, & Communication
- Home, Father, Land, Inheritance, Domestic Affairs
- Entertainment, Speculation, Romance, Children
- Work, Employees, Hospitality, Pets
- Relationships, Marriage, Business Partnerships, lawsuits
- Debt, Taxes, Wills, Humiliation
- Higher Education, Religion & Spiritual Views, Foreign Travel
- Public Image, Achievements, Career, Fame, Mother
- Friends, Social Groups, Hopes & Wishes
- Self Undoing, Secrets, Secret Enemies, Research, Exile
The astrological method to character development works best when you’re starting from scratch and when you don’t have a story already in mind. Use this particular character as your story’s genesis. This character will be the primary element that the story is crafted and molded around. Think of this character as a rock that is dropped into a pond. The rock represents the main character and the ripples created around the rock’s entry point into the pond is the story growing outward in all directions.
To create the character’s birth chart, select a birthdate, location (city & state), and birth time for when the character was birthed into their fictional world. You can always use a random birthdate generator if there is no specific birthdate, time, and location in mind. Next, visit a birth chart calculator website and enter the birth data.
Most birth chart calculator websites come with a free astrology report that describes the person/character. Keep in mind these reports can be general, but they are good starting point for those who are not familiar or acquainted with astrology and its complexities. This is a great start if you simply want to try this method as a creative exercise. It would be costly to pay for an astrologer to do a birth chart reading on a fictional character.
After reading your astrology report, revisit the 12 areas of life at the beginning of this article and create and answer questions related to those 12 areas from your character’s point of view. How does the character relate to the matters in those 12 areas? For example, how does the character relate to their own physical appearance based on what you’ve learned from their astrology report.
Next, try answering questions related to the matters in those 12 areas from the narrator’s point of view. How might other characters relate to the character’s physical appearance?
In all, the astrological method to character development will expand your mind and creativity to the potential directions the character’s life can go. This method is meant to liberate you as a writer and to help you create better characters and stories. Give it a try.
