Time to Write

The key to great characters is "why"

You always hear about how important it is for your protagonist to have a goal. That's true, but equally important is the "why" behind their goal. You'll create a better-defined and more compelling character if you also spent time coming up with the most powerful motive for their actions. 

Let's say that both Adam and Gary have the goal of completing a marathon.

Adam wants to do it to raise money for a charity. Not a bad reason.  It suggests that Adam is a good guy, willing to go out of his way to benefit others.

Gary wants to do it because his daughter is running and he wants to show her that he can actually follow through doing something together--which he never did when she was growing up. He hopes she'll give him a chance to be a better father.

Which character do you think you would care about more? 

I think it would be Gary because his goal is personal and emotional. If we've ever let anybody down or have ever hoped for a second chance in any relationship, we may identify with him at least a little. 

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

The other difference is that if the charity doesn't get the money one participant hoped to raise it probably won't be a huge blow. But if Gary doesn't finish, or at least make a massive effort, his daughter will feel he hasn't changed and there's no reason to trust him now. We can imagine how painful that would be for both of them.

The more your protagonist has at stake, the more we will care about their goal. What's at stake doesn't have to be objectively huge. Sure, in many stories it's a matter of life and death; however, you can get equal drama from a story in which what's at stake is whether a young girl is able to earn $20 to buy her ailing mother a Mother's Day gift. Her "why" is that she wants to show her mother how much she loves her.

THE "HOW" CAN CHANGE, THE "WHY" USUALLY STAYS THE SAME

Sometimes in the course of the story, the protagonist realizes the "how" they have chosen is not actually going to deliver the result they want. For instance, Adam might start off thinking he can buy his daughter's forgiveness with presents. But then he realizes he will have to give of himself instead, and that's when he signs up for the marathon.

Likewise, maybe the little girl comes to understand that something she makes herself will mean more to her mother than anything she could buy.

Thinking about the different ways that your characters try to fulfill their "why" can be a rich source of incidents and turning points for your plot.

DON'T FORGET THE ANTAGONIST

Antagonists have their own "why" as well--or at least they should. If they don't, they won't seem three-dimensional. An antagonist who does evil things just for the sake of being evil comes across like a cartoon character. An antagonist who does evil things for a reason we can understand is much more realistic. 

REVEALING THE "WHY" IS PART OF THE AUDIENCE ARC

The character arc refers to the transformation your protagonist undergoes as a result of the events of the story. There can also be an audience arc. By that, I mean a change in how the audience sees your character. Let's look at an example:

Recently I saw a reality show in which a restaurant owner was hostile to customers who asked for any minor change in a dish (like 'no onions'). Why? It turned out that when she was a child she was constantly criticized for not being able to do anything right and told she would never amount to anything. When a customer asked for a change in an item, the restaurant owner heard it as another insult and she responded angrily. When that was revealed it changed the way I regarded her.

A movie that has an audience arc is "As Good As It Gets," in which the Jack Nicholson character was mean and seemed to try hard to make sure nobody would like him. As the story goes on, though, we come to understand how he got that way, and it changes how we regard him. He also has a character arc, but our feelings about him change before he does.

The shift in an audience's perceptions is one of many ways of keeping them involved in your story.

HINTS MAY BE ENOUGH

If understanding the 'why" is crucial to your story, you may want to go into some detail and maybe even use flashbacks to reveal it. However, that's not always necessary. Often giving the audience some hints is enough to have them become more invested in your story. 

A great starting point: What do you want your readers to feel?

Halloween stories and horror movies are always about making people feel scared, but every kind of writing has the goal of making the reader or viewer feel something. Deciding what that is can help you develop your plot and characters.

Ads provide a good model. Some companies create new things to fear. When I was young there was a campaign with the slogan “No more ring around the collar!” in which people spotted that a man’s inside collar had a ring around it (due to poor washing powder) and were repulsed. “Ring around the collar” was sung in a kids’ mocking way and implied that people would think you were dirty. The way to avoid this humiliation was to use Wisk laundry detergent.

EMOTIONS ARE THE GATEWAY TO YOUR STORY

To bring the reader into the world of your story, it helps to have four elements:

• A protagonist with whom they can identify on an emotional level. If you introduce us to a character who yearns for love, for instance, it doesn't matter whether it's a prince or pauper, an innocent young girl or a lonely widow, a little mouse or the last dinosaur on earth. It's the emotion that is the basis of the reader's or viewer's bond with the character. 
  
  
• A tangible goal the protagonist pursues. While we may identify with the character's emotional state, our interest will wane if they don't soon start doing something to try to get whatever they need or think they need. Sometimes we become aware quickly that they are taking the wrong route to get their need met, and that will make us curious whether they'll recognize their error and do something else. 
  
  
• An antagonist who gets in the way.  This could be a love rival, for instance, or a person who has some kind of power over them. As you may have noticed as you've gone through life, a person can also be their own worst enemy. When that's the case, we want to get at least some clues as to why they are sabotaging themselves. Things like the weather, an accident, or a coincidence can also serve as an antagonist. In the case of coincidences, remember that it's fine to use one to get your character into trouble, but not out of trouble (that will feel like you're cheating).
  
  
• A variety of emotions for the protagonist to experience. As the story progresses, it will be emotions that keep us tied to the character. We will feel their shifting responses as they move forward or experience setbacks. If the protagonist stays in any one emotional state for too long we will get bored. 

I've linked these points to the protagonist, but in more sophisticated stories they apply to the antagonist as well. It's easy to boo a villain, but if the antagonist also has needs and goals with which we identify, the story will be richer. It may raise some conflicting emotions in us as we follow the story. For instance, let's say the person opposing a young woman's relationship with a poor young man is her mother, who truly believes she's doing the right thing, maybe because she suffered from poverty when she was young. We still feel the mother is doing the wrong thing, but we understand that her actions come from love for her daughter. It involves our intellect as well as our emotions and thereby enriches the story.

START WITH WHAT YOU WANT THE AUDIENCE TO FEEL

Knowing what emotions you want to evoke before you start writing can help you construct a good story and design the characters.

It can be helpful to have a map of the emotions you want your protagonist to go through on their journey. When you write the script or the novel you can check to make sure that each major scene or chapter is evoking the desired emotion. Even in a horror film, for instance, you need some variety because nobody can be scared 100% of the time, You need some moments when your protagonist (falsely) believes that now they are safe, before the monster or the ghost reappears. This need for variety is true for every genre.

You also can decide what you want the audience to feel as they leave the cinema or theater or read the last page of your novel. If, for example, you want the reader or audience to feel repulsion at the destructive power of greed you can choose to have the character realize it before it's too late, or you can have them remain blind to it and suffer the terrible consequences. 

OVER TO YOU

What is the central emotion you want your audience to feel? Try using that starting point, and let me know whether it helps you develop involving plots and characters.

 

You've got to tell the world how to treat you

The other day I ran across this quote from James Baldwin:

"You've got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble."

It reminded me of an email I received recently from an aspiring writer who was doubting herself because she hadn't sold anything yet. "Am I even a writer?" she asked. 

She was letting the world--or one part of the world--define her.

I told her, "You write, therefore you are a writer. If tomorrow a publisher accepts your novel, are you a different person? If a publisher never accepts your novel, are you a different person?"

Yes, of course, most of us want our work to reach and affect others.

We can decide whether to submit our work to publishers or producers, and we can decide not to be discouraged (for long) when it takes time to find somebody who wants to buy what we've written.

We have the option of publishing it ourselves or, admittedly with greater difficulty, making a film ourselves.

But, most of all, it's our decision whether or not we are writers, not anybody else's. When we are confident and proceed with boldness, the world tends to pay attention--sooner or later. 

Having doubts is natural--probably like you, I have days when I lose heart. On those days it's good to remember James Baldwin's words and get back to our desks and do what we were born to do.

Telling a small story to tell a bigger one

"Six Minutes to Midnight" is a thriller movie starring and co-written by Eddie Izzard that tells the story of a girls' school in the period leading up to World War II. It's a great example of using a small world to tell the story of a larger one

In this video, the director and a couple of others reveal how they approached the story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClKwK-ExlGI

 

How to find your screenwriting voice

Are screenwriters allowed to have a voice or style? 

I say yes, and here's how to find yours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOLHBFi6ExA

That's a link to a 13-minute video that guides you through the whole process--by the end, you'll know what your style is--or could be.

At the end, I mention an advanced screenwriting course that I'm teaching for four consecutive Mondays, starting on July 19. The hours are 7 pm to 9.30 pm London time, that's 11 am to 1:30 pm Pacific, or 2 pm to 4:30 pm Eastern. It's on Zoom, so you can join us from wherever you are.

How to get more conflict into your story

"The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the Dog's mat is a story." - John LeCarre

Most stories have a central conflict. They have the cat and the dog fighting over the mat. But especially in a longer format like a novel or screenplay, sticking to one strand of conflict isn't enough. Halfway through, your readers lose interest because the conflict seems predictable or repetitive.

In that case, you need to zoom out and see what else could be happening.

In the case of our dog and cat, how does their owner respond to the conflict over the mat?

Does she buy an additional mat--over which the dog and cat fight as well?

Does she take away the original mat--so now the dog and cat fight over something else? 

OK, that metaphor goes only so far, and I may already have exceeded that distance, but you get the idea: look at the conflict in expanding circles of impact.

Who besides your protagonist and antagonist is affected?

How do they respond?

What knock-on effects does the conflict have?

Who else could get involved?

If one side tries to de-escalate, how could the other side take advantage?

What's the least likely development? How can you make it plausible that such a surprising thing could happen?

If you apply questions like these to your central conflict, you'll have plenty of material to keep your reader or viewer interested.

All About Fake Business Names for Your Screenplay or Novel

If you ever need a made-up business name for your screenplay or novel (e.g., the company for whom your protagonist works), try using the Oberlo Business Name Generator (it's free). All you have to do is type in one word you want included in the business name. For instance, let's say that I want my protagonist to run a barbershop. Here are some of the names the generator came up with:

Galactic Barbershop

Paramount Barbershop

BlueRibbon Barbershop

Deuce Barbershop

Mainline Barbershop

Barbershop Island

Luxury Barbershop

GoodLife Barbershop

Freestyle Barbershop

Perfection Barbershop

Brilliant Barbershop

Progressive Barbershop

LET THE NAME MATCH THE SETTING OR TONE OF YOUR STORY

Once you have a good selection, narrow the choice by considering which ones best match the setting or tone of the story. A sci-fi story might feature a "Galactic Barbershop," while a noir-type story would be better served by "Deuce Barbershop" and a comedy might find material in the difference between the aspiration suggested by "Perfection Barbershop" and the lack of that perfection in actuality.

CAN YOU USE AN ACTUAL BUSINESS NAME?

When you find one you like (examples below), Google it to check whether it actually exists.

It's OK to use a business name that is common--for instance, I'm sure there are plenty of "Curl Up and Dye" salons. But avoid that if you have set your story in a real location and that business name is in use in that location.

Be especially careful if your fictional business is dishonest or disreputable!

 

Your first ten pages of your screenplay or novel -- how things have changed

It used to be acceptable to start your screenplay or novel with an extended introduction to the normal life of your protagonist before getting the actual story started.

In the 19th Century, a lot of books started with the entire lineage of the protagonist or a detailed description of the weather and/or the building. Plays began with a couple of the servants chatting at length about the history of the family and recent events.

In 1979, Syd Field wrote the influential book, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, in which he said the first act should establish the normal life of your protagonist. That meant the inciting incident could occur around page 30.

In the 90's, most screenwriting teachers and books suggested that the "normal" period should take up no more than 20 pages. 

More recently, that was shortened to 15.

Not any more.

It may be a reflection of our ever-shortening attention spans or the ever-increasing competition for it, but these days the audience doesn't want to wait for the story to start. That means you have to immerse your protagonist--and the audience--in the story immediately. 

"But wait!" I hear somebody saying, "if I'm going to plunge my protagonist into a new set of circumstances, how will the audience know that it's new?"

You'll have to reveal that as you go along.

It's not actually a new concept at all. Shakespeare knew how to do this.

He could have started Hamlet by showing Prince Hamlet's ordinary life, his relationship to his mother and stepfather, his attraction to Ophelia, and then, one page 20 or 30, have him see the ghost of his father who tells him that he was killed by his own brother, who is now married to his widow. That's the inciting incident, the thing that sets the story in motion.

Instead, the first thing that happens to Prince Hamlet is hearing this from the ghost.  It's true the ghost first appears to some guards and Horatio, who then take Hamlet to see him; this may have been to give the groundlings at the Globe theater time to settle down.

Shakespeare immerses Hamlet (and us) in the story immediately and then lets us discover along the way what Hamlet is like and what obstacles this creates for his search for the truth and revenge.

Sometimes, writing some pages about what happens before the story kicks in helps you to get into the flow.  That's fine for the first draft. When you're ready to write the second draft, consider axing those pages, and figure out how to layer in the bits that are really important for the audience to know, as the story goes along.

Lies salespeople tell (screenwriting software department)

I just saw an ad for new screenwriting software that says, “Did you know that a typo or an incorrectly formatted montage can make a script reader put your script down?”

Uh, no.

I was a script reader for a production company and I’ve known others, including one who read for Disney and another who read for 20th Century Fox. None of us put a script down because it had a typo or a minor variation in formatting a montage.

Sure, a script riddled with typos or one written by someone who clearly has never figured out how a script is formatted would be rejected. But a minor error or two in a good script wouldn’t cause it to be rejected.

A while back I read a blog post in which a writing instructor said that if your script is even one page over or under the normal range, it won’t be considered. That’s wrong, too. Again, if it’s way off—like 60 or 200 pages long—that would do it, but if it’s 94 or 121 pages long that will not be the reason for rejection.

I guess it’s in the interests of people selling software or classes to make you think that without their product or service you are doomed, but I wouldn’t spend my money on products hyped with such misinformation and scare tactics.

Secrets sell books and screenplays

I noticed a pattern today in the "free reads" books featured by Amazon Prime this month. Here are the log lines of a few of them:

"A novel of secrets, memory, family, and forgiveness..."

"A chilling story of a woman with a forgotten past and a town with dark secrets."

"A double homicide and a missing woman lead a detective to unearth disturbing secrets in this gripping thriller..."

"A woman unlocks the mystery of her father's wartime past in a moving novel about secrets, sacrifice, and the power of love..."

THE SELLING POWER OF (SUPPOSED) SECRETS

The theme of secrets shows up a lot in messages from people trying to sell us stuff, too.

They' offer us the secrets of writing a great novel, or having hair that shines, or getting a promotion.

Some of them add a conspiratorial dimension by adding that these are the secrets some "they" don't want you to know.

It seems corny but it must work or else copywriters wouldn't keep using it. We keep falling for it despite repeated disappointments. I've yet to find a book or course that has revealed actual secrets that the Illuminati or anyone else is actively trying to keep me from finding out. 

DON'T KEEP YOUR SECRET A SECRET

In fiction, a big secret in the story suggests that something unexpected will be revealed. We do love to be surprised and in that sense, a plot twist is a kind of secret from the reader or viewer.

Beyond that, being able to incorporate the notion of a secret in your logline may help your project sell.

Obviously it has to fit the story you are telling, but if it is a feature or you can make it one without affecting the integrity of the story, be sure to point it out when you're writing your logline and your query letters.

Useful tips for rewriting your screenplay or novel

One of the most common questions I get is "Do you have any tips for rewriting?" That's because when we've written a screenplay or novel it's really hard to be objective about it.

I've written about this before, but I thought I'd add a few tips offered by the late copywriting great, Ted Nicholas.

He was referring to writing copy, but I've added notes for how these tips can be just as helpful with fiction:

• Outline what you want to say before writing a word. [I don't necessarily believe you have to know the entire story, but I think it's really helpful to know where you're headed with it.]
   
• Write your first draft as quickly as possible without worrying about being perfect.
  
  
• Start strong.  Finish strong.  Rewrite your first sentence and last paragraph.  They are crucially important. [For scripts and novels, I'd change this to your first scene and your last scene.]
  
  
• Vary the paragraph length.  Similar length paragraphs and sentences can bore the reader. Sprinkle in a few one-word paragraphs. [For fiction writers, I advise checking that your dialogue includes the kinds of variations in length and tone that make it realistic. Also, see whether you have used subtext effectively--after all, what a character doesn't say often is as revealing as what they do say.]
  
  
• Let your work breathe between rewrites.

The Joy of Writing an Articulate Character

I love the old screwball comedies like "Bringing Up Baby." The characters in those typically were fast-talking, witty, and playful. 

Even if your script or novel isn't populated with those kinds of characters, often it's easy and fun to slip in at least one. 

If you'd like to be inspired in terms of their dialogue, a great resource is the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is easy to access online here:

websters1913.com

A conventional character might call someone a crook.

One who expresses himself or herself in the screwball tradition, however, might say, "You, Sir, are knavish, fraudulent, and unjust. You have made a U-turn on the path of rectitude."

Even if there's no room for such a character in your project, spending 30 minutes randomly browsing 1913 definitions will give you more joy than an equivalent period on Facebook!

Dealing with being stuck writing a scene

I happened across a question someone asked on Reddit about what to do when you get stuck in the course of writing a screenplay. The following answer is by "Hotspur Jr", a member of the Writers Guild of America (I'd credit him or her with their real name, but I don't know it):

This is what they do when they get stuck on how to write a particular scene:

"Write down what you know.

I need the scene to do X, Y, and Z. I need the scene to do blah. I'd like these three characters to be in the scene. The scene needs to feel like this. I'd love it if she said a line like "this". It can't happen at the beach house because of X. It needs to feel different from the car scene. The scene is difficult because of Z.

Just keeping writing down everything that you know about the scene. I do this in an open OmniOutliner document.

And at certain points, I'll just start sketching the scene out in an outline document. What would THIS version of the scene look like? I rough it out, and then look at what I roughed out.

Why does this not work? It doesn't work because of X and Y. What if I changed X to Z?

Rough it out again.

Repeat as necessary.

There are two things this does.

The first is that it takes that vague feeling of "This isn't working," and it breaks into concrete problems that I can fix. It takes what's in my subconscious and lets my conscious mind take a crack at it.

And the other thing it does is occupy my conscious mind with concrete tasks so that my subconscious is free to zoom around, put weird ideas together, and come up with aha! out of the box solutions.

It's also a scientifically proven method for trying to solve difficult conceptual problems: don't try to solve the problem. Just talk about the problem without specifically aiming for a solution. In this case, the "talking" is the conversation I'm having with myself by writing stuff down. (Writing it does is important. What you write down is not, but the fact that you're writing it down stops you from going in loops).

Lastly, there's one more step, and it's very important. After I've done that for an hour or two, I go do something else. Play a game of chess. Go for a walk. Pick up my guitar. I mean, why do y'all think I post on reddit so damn much?

Something that takes my conscious mind off the problem entirely. This is, again, a tool that is scientifically proven to work."

Good advice!

Writing: it's a job!

Screenwriter Michael McDowell said this to his potential screenwriting partner:

"If you’re going to work with me, look at it like we’re working in a bank.

We get in at nine, we have a cup of coffee, we say good morning, then we go to work.

And we write until lunch.

We go have our lunch.

We come back. We write again until three o’clock in the afternoon.

We fold up the writing. We return whatever phone calls and whatever business of writing we have to do.

And we do this five, six days a week.

And it’s a job.

It’s not you sitting with a metaphorical beret in a metaphorical loft waiting for inspiration to strike.

It’s a job.'”

I have to admit I have never worked that way. Part of my motivation in becoming a writer was to get away from the 9 to 5 routine. I've always felt more creative in the evenings, so frequently I write until the early hours of the morning and then hit the sack and sleep late.

However, the part of it that is true for all professionals is that you have to have discipline. You have to put in the time, consistently.

Even if you sleep until noon, you have to devote a certain number of hours to writing and to the business aspect of writing. 

FOR PART-TIME WRITERS

Even if you're writing as a sideline, if you want to be productive, setting aside a specific time to write and to do the important writing-related tasks (e.g., finding an agent, learning more about the craft, etc.) is the key to moving forward.

Treat it as a part-time job, even if you're not getting paid at this point. 

GO BIG OR GO SMALL, BUT GO

Which works better for you: finding 30 minutes a day several days a week to write, maybe getting up early or staying up late, or working during your lunch hour; or setting aside a big chunk of time on the weekend?

Use trial and error to discover the way you find easiest to be consistent.

NO BLOCKS ALLOWED

In a regular job you're not allowed to say, "You know, I'm just not feeling it today, so I'm going home. I'll be back in the office when I feel inspired again."

It should be the same with writing.

If you are blocked, you have lots of options. They include:

• working on something else for a bit, then returning to the project
  
  
• trying to work in a different environment (the park, a cafe, etc.)
  
  
• devoting the time for brainstorming sessions on how to move forward
  
  
• pretending your best writing friend has this problem--what would you advise them to do? (Then do it.)
  
  
• if it's a story problem, getting help from a writing group or another writer you respect
  
  
• if it's a problem in the middle of your script or novel, looking for the source of the problem in the earlier sections

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE GOOD--YET

There's at least one point in every project when I convince myself that it's no good and I should just stop and move on to something else. Fortunately, most of the time that's not true, it's just the normal "dip" that happens in the middle. 

The solution is to keep going. Even if it really isn't good you can make it better in the next draft and the one after that.

The work comes first, the payoff comes later--if you're lucky and, even more important, if you're dedicated.

How to be successful in the TV and film industry

I saw two very wise quotes about the film business by director Gina Prince-Bythewood ("The Old Guard"):

"This industry is about overcoming 'no'."

That's true of the publishing industry as well, and probably all of the arts. 

"You need just one yes."

Actually, sometimes you need more than one, but one gets the ball rolling. 

Yes, it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, and that's how the people on the other side see it, too.

Producers are looking for something they consider special and often they don't know it until they see it. They see a lot of scripts that aren't it, and finally one that IS it. 

Sometimes--no, MOST times--your script isn't it. But they're going to keep looking so if you keep writing good scripts and submitting them, it may well be that one of those times it is a match.

If you remember that 'no' is the rule rather than the exception, the process gets a little easier to bear. But Prince-Bythewood says, "But it's hard. There were many days where I was on the floor."

I got to know the floor, too, and sometimes I still find myself on it. If you can deal with that, you're on your way.