One thing I learned from Acting school is that what I considered “melodramatic acting” isn’t really “bad acting” when modern TV / Film directors are looking for realism/understated performances. Gone are the days of “melodramatic” acting such as Marlon Brando, James Dean, or Jack Nicholson’s, in favor of the more subtle, understated chops of, say, Steven Yeun. For a while I didn’t understand why Dean was so good (so is Yeun) but they are so different.

But I learned that what I considered “melodramatic” is really just bad acting and why is it bad? We wouldn’t say Brando or Dean was bad, even though they gave heightened performances that were larger than life. Larger than life isn’t inherently bad, when it is… HONEST. I just learned that term, even after all these years of dabbling: Honesty.

I watch for honesty now in performances, whether it is drama or comedy. I admire actors who are honest, whether it is the understated stillness of Amy Adams in Arrival or Meryl Streep’s over the top delivery in Don’t Look Up. They are good, regardless of the materials, because they are honest portrayals in service of the stories and characters.

Bad acting in general (whether it’s over the top or underwhelming or somewhere in between) is “acting” without truth. It is not aligned with the scene, the inner and outer lives of the characters, and the circumstances. Or even the tone. It is an “act” and we as humans instinctively recognize it as false, even though logically we understand everything we see on screen is fake. We instinctively understand why Dean in Rebel Without a Cause was true, or when a performance is “fake.”

So what does this have to do with writing? I think part of the reasons why some stories, even when they were badly written, resonated with the readers because the characters represented the truth. They act and react like real human beings instead of just fictional constructs. The reverse is true when a great plot is marred by unrealized and “fake” characters. As writers, we need to be true to the characters we create, and they need to be real to the story even when the story is a fantasy. A dream is made believable because of the characters who are in it, and our only reference is humanity itself. When we are honest, when our characters are honest, our story will carry itself. Bad writing is like bad acting, because there is no truth in it.

I believe every writer should take at least a few acting classes. It is super important and wonderful and useful to be able to create a character that has an inner life. It is useful to be able to break down a scene and understand the emotional beats and actions (or stillness) of the characters. It is useful to play — or let our characters play, to figure out what they want and how to get what they want. In reaching that honesty on behalf of the characters, we will make the story much more relevant, potent, emotional and real, even if it is set in a galaxy far far away a long long time ago.