I was stuck at my doctor’s today for half an hour, and a soap opera was on the television. It immediately struck me that most spec features are written exactly this way. Talking. Doing massive exposition. No visuals, just people saying “dramatic” things. Explaining things to each other. Watch a soap opera for an hour….
Read moreME LISTENING TO CONVOLUTED BACKSTORY
Convoluted backstory feels right to the writer, but it’s bad. Good backstory is concise, gaspworthy gossip. Not then-he-said, but-she-thought stuff that could barely keep a therapist awake.
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