awhclint: stop killing female characters to further the hero’s manpain 2k14 file under: reasonable goals

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Notes from a Screenreader: The Same but What Now?

nywift: Photo via Go Into the Story. “The same but different” is the magic formula for a winning script. Does it mean anything or is it double speak for “I know it when I see it?” Patterns not formulas: Create familiar emotional patterns in new situations. The same is a recognizable tone with a recognizable build…

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YOU CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS

OK. So you want to amp up your drama, your conflicts, your stakes. There’s this one thing you should stop doing: Justifying your protag’s bad behavior and letting him off the hook for it. Spec scripts have this incredible enabling parent mode towards their protagonists, and there are different reasons for it, but they’re all…

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JUST FOR THE GENTLEMEN WRITERS

You don’t need to know how to write good female characters. You write interesting characters who are motivated by different, relatable things and all that will fall right into place. I totally get that it’s not always easy to pick how you’re going to write a character who is unlike you. So here’s a quick…

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