Deducing a Character's Schticks

The Mask/The Public Schtick

The Mask is the identity the character wears and displays in public. If someone went right up to them, and asked, "Who are you?", they'd give their Mask as the answer.

The Shadow/The Dark Side

The Shadow is the part of you that you don't want people to see. Most people don't like their Shadow, otherwise they wouldn't mind people seeing it. Shadows are generally antisocial, naughty, and anything else people hide, even from their loved ones.

Shadows come out under stress. For Public Shadows, this is obvious stress, usually physical, like war. For Private Shadows, this is social stress, like the death of a loved one.

The "Real" You/The Private Schtick

The "Real" You is what your character acts like behind closed doors and with intimate friends. If you can't do it in public, but still feel okay doing it among friends, it's probably the "real' part of you.

Sample Schtick Analysis: Xander Harris

Mask

Xander's the happy-go-lucky clown. He's terrible in school, and not very popular. He tends to chase after any good-looking female around. Keywords: The teenage misfit

Shadows

Publicly, Xander avoids violence. But he can be very violent protecting his friends -- he'd kill and die for them. Keywords: The protective friend

Privately, Xander avoids seriousness. We've never seen him openly down among his friends -- but he does get sad, and when he does, he isolates himself. Keywords: The sad loner

Real

Privately, Xander's still silly and immature in the childlike and childish senses. He's deeply loyal, though, and tries very hard to be everything his friends want, so they will love him. Keywords: The loyal child

So the final product looks like this:
 
 

	Normal	Shadow	Progressive	Regressive
Public	teenage misfit	protective friend	teenage friend	protective misfit
Private	loyal child	sad loner	loyal loner	sad child

Other writing resources:

Awards Page
Character Breakdowns & Analysis
Fun With Profiling:Buffy the Vampire Slayer
How to Write
Motivations by Age Type
More on Schticks Page
My Attempt to Figure Out Relationships Page
Palaskar's Primer on Emotions for Char