Working within the 3-Act Structure, the writer has to be aware of many structural plot points that work cohesively to craft a great story. The Main Character/Hero/Protagonist will start off in most genres with “A Running Start,” as opposed to a “Community Start” (characters dancing at a wedding, etc.), or a “Slow Start” (a narrator […]
The “Running Start” Read More »
Or Do You Just Need to Take Another Shower? The brain and the heart combine with our collective conscience in the shower of all places. It’s happened so many times, and my screenwriting students have reported this phenomenon so many times that I now believe it to be the answer/solution to: Writer’s Block. But Writer’s
Do You Have Writer’s Block? Read More »
When doing a character bio the trickiest thing to do is to create an area of misunderstanding or misguided belief in your protagonist and in your opponents (the characters who obstruct, impede, challenge, love, hate, annoy and generally impact the hero). It means you have to know the difference between what they actually need, and
The Character Bio Can Be Tricky Read More »
After you have decided on the genre of your story, or concurrent with deciding on the genre, you must decide on who your protagonist/hero will be. You need to decide on what your character’s goal/desire is in this story. Without the goal, the audience is left “hanging,” confused, irritated, and wondering why they paid their
Character Development – How to Get to the End Goal Read More »
The term, Inciting Incident, although employed by Aristotle three-thousand years ago, was coined by the famous Syd Field. He was an innovator in the industry and today, all screenplay formats are based on his 3-Act Paradigm. However, the 3-Act Paradigm is considered to be a “very basic” approach to the organic process of crafting a
The Inciting Incident in film, stage play, and novel Read More »
One of the many challenges of writing for film, novel, or stage play is remembering the mantra, “Show, don’t tell.” A visual statement requires a great deal of thought and imagination on the part of the writer. Underlying this challenge is a reminder that action in story should have a moral impact. In One Flew
“Show, Don’t Tell” in Storytelling Read More »
The Hidden Opponent is the person who can relentlessly attack the Hero’s flaws, but remain hidden until the Climax/Battle. Whether the genre is Drama, Action, Romance, Thriller, etc., it is the writer’s job to craft a Hero who fights (physically, emotionally, psychologically) against the Opponent to reach his Goal. This Punch-Counterpunch of Hero and Opponents
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Problems with your story are not something you’ll solve in a day… But no way will you have “writer’s block” if you follow the 7 Revision Checkpoints. Instead, you will have exhaustion and sleepless nights because you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and work! Eat, work, sleep. Revision Checkpoint 1. Look at your Character
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A Story Beat = A major story event Step 1. Back Story and Ghost Step 2. Psychological and Moral Flaws and Need Step 3. Story World Step 4. Inciting Incident Step 5. Desire/Goal/Want Step 6. Opponent Step 7. Plan Step 8. Training Step 9. Obsessive Drive Step 10. Apparent Defeat Step 11. Throw Down the
Steps to Craft 15 Story Beats Read More »
The Hero and the Opponent(s) are competing for the same goal. When Opponents put pressure on the Hero, she will be forced to change or think up new ways to take action against the Opponent. The pressure keeps building until the Climax/Battle Sequence 11, in Act 3. A Web of Oppositions will give the story
Create Opposition to Increase Conflict Read More »
