annerocious: If I had one single piece of advice, it would be: spend way more time developing layered, interesting characters than you think is necessary and less on plot. When you develop your characters properly, serious conflicts suggest themselves very naturally and your plot will follow obligingly along. Also follow writerlyn, lifeascaty, thisoldbitch and freelance-anthem…
Read moreHelpful Hint From the Comment Section
annerocious: Protags are easier to write when they are not a slightly blurred version of the writer. If you read a comment section on an “issue” piece of any kind, you can identify the characters represented there as if the usernames were “DelusionalMRA”, “MyFeelingsAreFacts” and “YouFoolishPeasants”. You understand everything about those people immediately. You know…
Read moreSo I’ve started my intro. to screenwriting class in college a couple weeks ago. Any pointers you would like to shell out to this newb?
annerocious: If I had one single piece of advice, it would be: spend way more time developing layered, interesting characters than you think is necessary and less on plot. When you develop your characters properly, serious conflicts suggest themselves very naturally and your plot will follow obligingly along. Also follow writerlyn, lifeascaty, thisoldbitch and freelance-anthem…
Read moreNotes from a Screenreader: Bad Contractors Build Great Characters
nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. Like badly built houses, when your characters suffer from faults in their very foundation they can get by just fine with good weather. But when conditions turn ugly, their weaknesses begin to show and the drama starts to happen. To make a really great character, think like a…
Read moreOCCAM’S RAZOR AND YOUR SCREENPLAY
Here’s a valuable tip for building your story. You have a guy, in a plot, and he sleeps with his friend’s girlfriend. That is legit story. Things will happen because of that. That will turn into other things. Conflict, confrontation, crisis. Yay! What is not particularly important is that he did it because in fifth…
Read moreTHE GUY THINGS HAPPEN TO
I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s a clone trait in a bad script, so be vigilant in your art. This person, ostensibly the center of the script, whose story it is, is no one special, has a job, some friends, family, things they like to do. And then something happens, and the…
Read moreThe characters write the plot. Their natures do. Norman Rush (via theparisreview)
Read moreTHE NICK CARRAWAY PROBLEM
I just read the Hannibal pilot, available here, and then watched it (streaming on Amazon). It was written by Bryan Fuller, based on characters created by Thomas Harris, and it reminded me of The Nick Carraway problem, because Fuller and Harris don’t have it. Psychopaths are interesting, in a clinical way, because they look like…
Read moreTHE OTHER KIND OF PROTAG
Sorry. Every gif is Tom Hiddleston for some reason. Not every single story is driven by overcoming the protag’s serious personality problem to effect/fail to effect a change. Those are mostly about Indiana Jones, though. So. Yes. It is true. Don’t kill yourself trying to drive your swashbuckler with a flaw. But give that protag…
Read moreWhat makes a great character?
What makes a great character? kidinvent: Posted November 21, 2013 by Catherine & filed under News. By Jesse As some of you will know we are very driven by great characters here at Wildseed Studios. As you can imagine we are being sent every kind of idea imaginable – and we have found that at…
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