Screenwriting : Writing a Character Before Time Exists by Amir Sadeghi

niceeeeeeee!!!!!!! very cool

I've never written that kind of character, Amir Sadeghi, but I'd develop the character like I do other characters. Come up with a personality, backstory, strengths, goals, etc.

Hi Amir,

That’s a great question.

In my own work (Fractured Skies Chronicles), I found that writing beings who exist before time works best when you don’t begin with emotion at all. Before time, and before self, there can’t really be loneliness. There is only alignment.

For me, emotional depth emerged at the moment of self-awareness. The first question wasn’t why am I alone? but what am I?

From that single fracture, separation becomes possible. And with separation comes curiosity, divergence and eventually, loneliness.

In cosmic-scale stories, I’ve found that emotion works best as an emergent property of broken perfection, not something imposed from the start. Emotion isn’t present at the beginning; it is born the moment unity fractures.

A short excerpt for context:

“Before the old Earth. Before maybe even the universe itself… there was Ta’aren.

Not a place. Not a machine. Not even a god.

It was the law behind existence…

And even in that stillness, a question emerged: ‘What am I?’”

That question became the fracture that allowed separation and ultimately emotion, to exist.

I hope this helps...

Best,

Milan

Harry Potter DH's Part II - had a great limbo scene that was white ... worth checking out for ideas that may help you.

One idea, is character is a narrator, & their monologues mine their existence, before the visceral world began.

Lindbergh Hollingsworth

Great reference — that King’s Cross limbo scene is a strong visual example.

I like how it used brightness instead of darkness to represent transition.

Do you think “void” feels more unsettling in light or in shadow?

Debbie Croysdale

I love that approach.

Making the character a narrator before physical reality exists is powerful.

It raises an interesting question —

if there’s no world yet, is language already formed?

Or does speech emerge with self-awareness?

Milan Bubalo , this is beautifully articulated.

The idea that emotion emerges from fracture rather than existing at the start resonates deeply.

In your view, does the first question (“What am I?”) create identity —

or does identity create the need for the question?

Thank you Amir,

The question “What am I?” introduces a distinction between observer and observed. That distinction is the first boundary and identity forms along that boundary.

So the question doesn’t describe identity, it creates the conditions for it.

Milan Bubalo

That’s a fascinating way to frame it.

The idea that identity forms at the boundary between observer and observed really resonates.

It makes me wonder —

if the first boundary creates identity, does the longing to dissolve that boundary create connection?

In other words, is loneliness born the moment distinction appears — and is creation an attempt to bridge that separation?

Really appreciate the depth of your perspective.

Thanks again:)

Yes, in my view, loneliness is born the moment distinction appears, but not as suffering at first. Initially, it manifests as distance. An awareness that something is no longer whole, that a piece is no longer part of something greater. So creation isn’t just expansion. It’s a response. A way for existence to speak back to the question that fractured it.

You might want to look into the webcomic Kill Six Billion Demons—a good deal of the atmosphere will almost certainly be different there, as the title suggests. However, the story delves into the backstory of the setting, where the cosmic being YSUN self-shattered to become YS and UN and create the universe, out of tremendous loneliness. Food for thought, I hope.

Timmy Hunter-Kilmer That’s a fascinating reference — I’ll definitely look into it.

The emotional core of loneliness leading to creation seems to echo across many myths, which I find powerful.

Appreciate the suggestion.

Milan Bubalo I love that perspective — creation as a response to fracture rather than an act of power.

That tension between wholeness and separation is exactly what I’m exploring in God’s Snap.

Appreciate you going that deep.

Listen to classical music.