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.
Kristan Higgins & Michael Hauge Analyze her Best Selling Novel
Award winning author Kristan Higgins joins Michael during his Story Mastery event for the Connecticut chapter of the RWA to discuss her best selling novel The Next Best Thing.
Q&A: LOVE STORIES AND OUTER MOTIVATION
Q: I’m writing a love story and have already developed the hero’s inner motivation and inner conflict, but I’m worried about her visible goal.
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: Structuring TV Episodes
Many of you have asked how effective the elements of my 6 Stage approach to plot structure are when applied to one-hour dramatic television series.
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: Novel Structure vs. Screenplay Structure
The term ‘Story Structure’ simply refers to the sequence of events in a story. A writer’s or filmmaker’s goal has to be to create an emotional experience for the reader or the audience.
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.