Q&A: Increasing the Emotion in Your Stories
You may have noticed the message at the bottom of my previous article, inviting you to submit any story questions you’d like me to answer.
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.
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.
Clothes Make the Girl: WORKING GIRL
Brief, vivid descriptions of the characters and settings in your screenplay, novel or presentation create a vivid movie in the mind of your reader or audience.
LOVE STORIES: The 4 Rules of Romantic Triangles
When the hero or heroine of your love story or romantic comedy is choosing between two lovers, you must be careful not to lose sympathy for your hero.
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.
LOVE STORIES: The 6 Categories of Romantic Comedy
Romantic comedies – especially Hollywood Romantic comedies – are among the most formulaic of genres, with elements that have consistently contributed to these scripts’ and films’ success.
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.
THE PROLOGUE OPENING
The first 10% of your screenplay is what I term the SETUP, during which you must transport the reader from the real world into the world you’ve created.