Why Most Writers Build Characters Completely Wrong with Steven Pressfield
"Sometimes you write a character that asserts himself—something you didn't plan. It's like he wanted to come back, and he brought his own story with him. It was kind of my job as a writer to ask myself what that story was."
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Steven Pressfield is your favorite writer's favorite writer.
And in this episode, Rain sits down with him in person in Los Angeles to talk about the craft behind The Arcadian, the new novel in his Telamon series.
What starts as a conversation about a centuries-spanning warrior with a karmic curse quickly becomes a writing advice masterclass in how great fiction actually gets made: through instinct, detail, observation, and a willingness to follow a character wherever he leads.
Steven breaks down how he discovered Telamon's immortality only after writing him across multiple books, why physical and historical details are what make the impossible believable, and how a 2500-year-old quote from an ancient Greek philosopher became the seed of an entire novel.
If you write anything—novels, screenplays, brand stories, or scripts—this conversation will change how you think about finding and following a story.
In this episode, you will learn how to:
Trust instinct over planning in your writing and follow your characters even when you don't understand where they're going
Use specific physical details to earn the reader's trust before asking them to believe the extraordinary
Find story seeds in quotes, lyrics, and observations, and let them percolate until the full shape emerges
Get the story first and research second to avoid using research as a form of Resistance
Move the camera inside your prose, shifting perspective the way a cinematographer would, to write vivid, immersive scenes
“Sometimes you write a character that asserts himself—something you didn't plan. It's like he wanted to come back, and he brought his own story with him. It was kind of my job as a writer to ask myself what that story was.”
- Steven Pressfield
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Some of the highlights of the episode:
00:00 — In Person in LA With Steven Pressfield
01:56 — Who Is Telamon?
04:07 — When Characters Assert Themselves
05:53 — How Much of the Writer Lives in the Work
07:34 — How Steven Chooses the Era for Each Story
10:26 — Why Physical Detail Makes the Impossible Believable
12:43 — Making Up Details That Have to Be True
14:49 — When Telamon's Immortality Was Finally Revealed
15:31 — The Constellation of Characters Who Travel With Him
18:42 — The 40-Year-Old Quote That Became a Novel
22:33 — Observation as a Writer's Superpower
23:54 — The Dinosaur Bone Theory of Finding Your Story
25:49 — Writing Visually: From Screenplays to Novels
27:52 — Moving the Camera Inside the Prose
29:32 — Research First or Story First?
31:46 — When Research Becomes Resistance
32:22 — What's Next: The Prequel Before Atlantis
As always, I hope you enjoy the episode!
Rain
🔗 Follow Steven on:
Website → https://www.stevenpressfield.com
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/steven_pressfield/
Book → The Arcadian by Steven Pressfield (out May 2025) https://amzn.to/4dA7yFJ
Book → A Man at Arms by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4uvYojv
Book → Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4nVT5aT
Book → The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/4tXWiYM
Book → The War of Art by Steven Pressfield https://amzn.to/43wWTWn
Film Referenced → Past Lives directed by Celine Song
For more storytelling tips and strategies,
Visit my website rainbennett.com, or
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