characters

The twiddling of thumbs is strictly prohibited

Maximum Z action, characters, conflict, dialogue, plot, scenes, screenwriting, script, story, The Simpsons, writing

How often have you read a scene with several characters in it, but the focus is only on two of them? Makes you wonder why exactly those others are there, doesn’t it?

The last thing you want is to have characters just standing around. Give them something to do!

Each scene has to move the plot forward, and every character, no matter how big or small their role, plays an important part in making that happen.  If there’s no purpose for them to be there, then they don’t need to be there.

Countless opportunities abound for what characters can be doing in addition to exchanging dialogue, thereby avoid the dreaded “talking heads” scenario. The important thing is to keep it relevant to the scene, and not just something random.

Maybe it’s providing (or at least contributing to) the conflict for that scene, or showing the latest development of the main character’s arc.

If you’re not sure what the characters should be doing, try to come up with several alternative versions that reach the same conclusion.

You know what the point of the scene is and what kind characters they are, so take the time to figure out the best way all of you can work together to get the best possible result.

Putting the characters first

Maximum Z characters, feedback, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, script, spec, story, subplot, westerns, writing ,
No, no. After you. I insist.
No, no. After you. I insist.

The end of the latest polish of the western spec is at hand, with just the last few pages needing some work.

Various subplots are being wrapped up, and I know what happens with the characters involved, but all of my attention now is focused on what may be the most important scene in the whole story: the main character makes a literal life-changing decision.

Notes from a few trusted colleagues indicated the decision as it stands now seems out of character. I’d known since starting this project that this was how I wanted this storyline to end. Changing it was out of the question.

Bonus points for those who’ve probably already figured out what happened next.

Their suggestion kept making more and more sense. My main character would not choose this, despite me wanting her to. But the story’s not about what I want. This change had to be made.

Now that I’ve opted to take things in this new direction, I’m working out a real heart-wrenching scene that depicts the character in the process of making this decision and the toll it takes on her. Conflict, character development, moving the story forward – all based on her.

It’s often been said that your characters will let you know how things are supposed to go.

It’s too easy to have a character do something because that’s what you would do. The challenge is to have them do something you wouldn’t, but you have them do it because that’s the kind of character they are.

The story behind the story

Maximum Z antagonist, backstory, Black List, characters, conflict, guidelines, loglines, monsters, outlines, plot, protagonist, rewrite, screenwriting, script, setup, Star Wars, story, storytelling, structure, writing
Figure out how it works before you start, or things could get messy
Step 1: Figure out how it all works

A slightly altered holiday work schedule has resulted in more hours on the air, which is always nice, but less time cranking out pages, which isn’t.

So I make the most of the handful of minutes between reports with the always-reliable working on an outline. This time – the monster script.

Despite knowing the general playing-out of the story, there was something that wasn’t clicking. Most of the items on my mental checklist had been checked off.

Most. Not all.  What was missing?

It took the constant back-and-forth between the opening sequences of the two previous outlines to make me realize what it was: I’d never fully established what happened before the story started.

Not knowing how everything came about was preventing me from moving forward. I had to create this world before I could write about it.

Think of the opening crawl in STAR WARS (“It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, etc. etc…”). It establishes what we need to know. Without it, we’d be too busy trying to figure things out.

Using that as an example, I worked out my own version of the opening crawl. It won’t be in the actual script, but it’s a pretty solid foundation for setting things up – a better realization of how this world works, what the antagonist wants and how that can be accomplished, the challenges the protagonist faces, just to name a few.

The work on this is far from being over, but developing this really helped. Some important blanks have been filled in and I’ve got a firmer grasp of how the story works.

Time now to start the latest version of the outline and see how it goes.

-Regarding the recent release of this year’s Black List. There appear to be a handful that sound pretty good, but the rest don’t really do much for me.

No doubt they’re all extremely well-written (why else would they be on the list?), but a majority don’t have that “Read me!” vibe. It probably doesn’t help that the writers are not the ones providing the loglines. I suspect that would make quite a difference.

Seeking the feng shui-ness of your script

Maximum Z characters, editing, feedback, outlines, plot, problem-solving, proofreading, reading, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, script, spec, story, storytelling, structure, westerns, writing
A place for everything, and everything in its place
A place for everything, and everything in its place

Got some great notes for my western spec. Some of the suggestions involve significant moments I hadn’t considered – now I have to figure out where these should take place. A daunting task indeed, but also not too challenging.

It’s one thing to plot out a story, but knowing how to do it effectively is a little more complicated.

You can’t just throw stuff in there and hope it sticks. Information has to be doled out appropriately so it not only fleshes out the characters, strengthens and advances the story and the plot, and most importantly, keeps the reader/audience interested.

If you’ve put together a solid outline (as you should before moving on to pages), all the help you need is right there in front of you. Take a look at how your story develops. Do things happen the way you want them to, and do they happen when you want them to?

As you work your way forward, are you seeing potential opportunities for where something could be added or possibly changed? Would that scene from way back near the beginning work better somewhere later on?

Once you find somewhere that scene could go, is it a good fit within the flow of how the story’s developing? Does it keep that forward momentum going while providing us with some kind of necessary information?

Take the time to figure these kinds of things out. It may be frustrating now, but once you work your way through it, you’ll have a better script and wonder what it was you were so worried about.

Find a tone and stick with it

Maximum Z characters, comedy, creativity, feedback, jokes, mystery, outlines, protagonist, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, script, story, storytelling, tone, writing
Something in this seems a little out of place
Something in this seems a little out of place

I used to dread getting feedback. It always meant having to go back and rewrite something.

Fortunately, I’m well past that and now appreciate how necessary both feedback and rewriting are.

Feedback makes you learn to value the necessity of hearing how somebody else interprets your work, and more importantly, how to be objective when it comes to really understanding what they have to say.

While working on the outline of my mystery rewrite, I looked for opportunities to put in an occasional joke (read: cheap laugh).

The problem, according to my top feedback-provider, was that the jokes, while understandable for their intent, were totally wrong for this kind of story. They make my protagonist come across as an idiot and the action comes to a screeching halt each time. And since this is more mystery than comedy, they shouldn’t be drawing attention to themselves like that.

There were other notes besides this one, but this one really struck a nerve – in a good way. I’ve been working on rewriting the jokes to make them a better fit within the context of the story, rather than have them be glaringly obvious and out of place.

As you create the world of your story, you have to make sure all the elements combine to make a believable scenario. This goes way beyond the story and the characters – take everything into account.  If something seems out of place, fix it or get rid of it.

And if you’re not sure, that’s what feedback is for.