Short Story and Character tips

Was excavating at the now dead Animwatch Forums and ran across this thought from Lucas Martell

"characters have so much depth and backstory that they even change personalities based on their moods and who they're talking to. ... When you feel like you thoroughly know and understand all sides of a character, you resonate with them and they become more like an old friend than someone you're watching through a camera. A stranger might elicit an emotional response if they happen to hit on a shared experience, but if you're best friend goes through an emotional experience, you go through it with them."

also got linked over to an article on Short Story writing that had some tips that work for short film:
A short story:

* Gets off to a fast start.
* Generally has a limited number of characters and scenes.
* Starts as close to the conclusion as possible.
* Frequently deals with only one problem.
* Uses only the detail necessary for understanding the situation.
* Usually covers just a short time period.

Explosion or "Hook." A thrilling, gripping, stirring event or problem that grabs the reader's attention right away.


And here's a few posts by Jenny Lerew a storyboard artist who writes the The Blackwing Diaries (really I'm searching for a blogpost someone wrote maybe a year back about the fact that character's don't have to have an arc in a story, the story could be just "man vs nature" instead of always the character's having to grow during. anyone know the blogger I'm talking about?)
Why jerks are no fun

Character Trumping plot