PARADOXES
This is one of the exercises Will Dunne suggested at the May 1998 meeting (reprinted here with permission from Will).

Interesting characters embody contradictions and paradoxes. These paradoxes of character are simultaneously integrated in the character. One doesn't lead to the other. For example, in Street Car Named Desire, Blanche is simultaneously weak and strong. Blanche uses her weakness to manipulate people. So the paradox of Blanche's character is "Weakness is Strength." Consider these opposites:

Love - Hate
Poverty - Wealth
Truth - Deception
Generosity - Selfishness
Life - Death
Safety - Danger
Frustration - Satisfaction
Creativity - Destruction
Interesting - Boring
Illusion - Reality

Select one of these paradoxes for a character you are working with. Make a short statement using that contradiction, like "Truth is Deception." Now write a scene that embodies that contradiction. Again using Street Car Named Desire, the scene could be Blanche getting a date with Mitch by being weak and helpless.