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.
ADAPTATION: Michael Hauge’s 4 Rules of Adaptation
All film making, and all storytelling, has one primary objective: to elicit emotion in the audience. This objective is achieved with only three basic elements, which form the foundation of all story.
STORY ESSENTIALS #9: Transformation
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” CHINATOWN, screenplay by Robert Towne. This final line, from one of the greatest scripts ever written for Hollywood.
STORY ESSENTIALS #5: A Goal
Great stories are driven by desire. The hero of the story wants something, and the story is about the actions that character takes to achieve it.
STORY ESSENTIALS #4: Opportunity/Crisis/Tipping Point
Great stories are driven by desire. The hero wants something, and the pursuit of that goal keeps readers and audiences emotionally invested in its outcome.
STORY ESSENTIALS #3: Empathy
As soon as you introduce the hero of your story, you must begin creating empathy with that character. Empathy is an absolutely critical component of drawing readers and audiences.
STORY ESSENTIALS #1: A Hero
Your successful story must have a hero – a protagonist that your readers and audiences will be captivated by, identify with, and root for as he or she strives to achieve some compelling desire.
Embracing Extreme Heroes
To add depth to the hero of your screenplay, novel, speech or marketing tool you must give that hero some fear to be confronted and overcome.