Q&A: KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Q: Having recently completed the first draft of my screenplay, I find the 2nd act is a real drag. The movie is about a person told from three distinct memories.
Q&A: The Ethics of Fabricated Stories
Q: I’m an internet marketer, and during your recent webinar with Andre Chaperon, I heard you say that it’s OK to make things up in a speech or a story.
MISDEMEANOR: Introducing Characters All At Once
Have you ever been the last to arrive at a party and the host introduces you, one at a time, to everyone there? So how many of those names are you able to remember?
THE KEY TO CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: VIVID, REVEALING DETAILS
Your job as a storyteller is to create IMAGES. This is true not just for screenwriters, but for anyone presenting a story to a reader or an audience.
DIALOGUE vs. ACTION: Tell Don’t Show
Writing and storytelling are filled with rules and maxims that are presented as unbreakable commandments – but which should occasionally be challenged.
STORY STRUCTURE: Superior Position, Foreshadowing and Ticking Clocks in AVATAR
James Cameron’s screenplay Avatar is an outstanding example of using many structural tools and devices successfully in one script.
Arenas and Finish Lines: AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER
I find it fascinating that Avatar and The Hurt Locker – the two movies that duked it out for the 2009 Best Picture Oscar® – have so many common plot elements.
STORY STRUCTURE: The 5 Key Turning Points of All Successful Screenplays
Though writing a successful Hollywood movie is certainly not easy, the stories for mainstream Hollywood films are all built on only three basic components: character, desire and conflict.
STORY STRUCTURE: 10 Simple Keys to Effective Plot Structure
Structure is something that every agent, editor, publisher, Hollywood executive, public speaker, marketer and story teller talks about, to the point that it can seem complicated.
DESIRE: The Driving Force of All Successful Stories
In other articles I discuss everything from story structure and adaptation to pitching and marketing your story. But here I want to cover something much more basic.