# What does Baker (1919, Ch. VII) say about motivation and how a character relates to the plot, including what to do when a scene will not come?

- id: art_01M5MVEBB8CE6Q14BTWAP7QGEF
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- updated: 2026-10-23T17:02:54.818Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5MVEBB8CE6Q14BTWAP7QGEF

Baker's own claims: for ultimate convincingness no play rises above its characterization; a situation either grows out of the characters in it or the characters must be remodelled and everything before and after reworked. He adopts Galsworthy's phrase that character is situation, and says to unblock a scene one should study the people in it and, if needed, write their previous history (Pailleron drafted three or four times the material used). Motivation, he says, must be clear, plausible naturally or made so, in keeping with the character's earlier acts and speech, and not stressed so as to distract; plausibility and clearness go together and depend on audience, period and national convention. Lifelike characters remove impossible incidents, and Baker links well-motivated characterization to the move from melodrama to story-play and tragedy. He also warns that over-detailed characterization makes plays sag.

Baker's own claims: for ultimate convincingness no play rises above its characterization; a situation either grows out of the characters in it or the characters must be remodelled and everything before and after reworked. He adopts Galsworthy's phrase that character is situation, and says to unblock a scene one should study the people in it and, if needed, write their previous history (Pailleron drafted three or four times the material used). Motivation, he says, must be clear, plausible naturally or made so, in keeping with the character's earlier acts and speech, and not stressed so as to distract; plausibility and clearness go together and depend on audience, period and national convention. Lifelike characters remove impossible incidents, and Baker links well-motivated characterization to the move from melodrama to story-play and tragedy. He also warns that over-detailed characterization makes plays sag.

Curator qualifications: Galsworthy phrase correctly marked as quoted; previous-history technique is Baker's own advice.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36580/pg36580.txt",
      "note": "Ch. VII joined offset ~12501, ~18049"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Baker's own claims: for ultimate convincingness no play rises above its characterization; a situation either grows out of the characters in it or the characters must be remodelled and everything before and after reworked. He adopts Galsworthy's phrase that character is situation, and says to unblock a scene one should study the people in it and, if needed, write their previous history (Pailleron drafted three or four times the material used). Motivation, he says, must be clear, plausible naturally or made so, in keeping with the character's earlier acts and speech, and not stressed so as to distract; plausibility and clearness go together and depend on audience, period and national convention. Lifelike characters remove impossible incidents, and Baker links well-motivated characterization to the move from melodrama to story-play and tragedy. He also warns that over-detailed characterization makes plays sag. · locator: Ch. VII joined offset ~12501, ~18049 · source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36580/pg36580.txt

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