encouragement

From the archives: One scene, three points

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Lots of jumping around between projects this week, but focus has shifted back to the action-comedy. Even though it’s still the first draft, doing what I can to have each scene effectively advance plot, character, and theme.

With that in mind, here’s a post of a similar nature from August 2016.

Enjoy.

After some thorough self-imposed analysis, the revising of the comedy spec is underway. It’s getting easier to spot trouble spots.

There’s one scene in particular that’s giving me some trouble. It’s a pivotal scene involving the main character and offers a revealing glimpse into his backstory. The problem was in figuring out how to best do that.

After much drumming of fingers, rubbing of chin, and a whole lot of attempts, a potential solution may have presented itself. It’s still in the development phase, but for now, quite workable.

One of the first things I learned about screenwriting was what each scene needs to accomplish:  advance the plot, the character, and the theme.

Regarding plot, does the scene move things forward? Does it fall neatly into place in terms of how the overall sequence of events plays out? If you took it out, would it totally mess things up?

I’ve read a lot of scripts where something happens and I don’t know why. Maybe it’ll pay off later? Sometimes it does. Other times, well…

Another handy tip when it comes to advancing the plot in a scene: do it quickly. Get to the point of the scene as fast as you can, then get out. Don’t wait around. Just get out now. Too many times I’ve seen a scene drag on much, much longer than it needs to.

Regarding character, does each scene show them changing a little bit more from when they were first introduced? This doesn’t just apply to the main character. Every character needs to grow/develop. Wouldn’t it be kind of boring to read a story where nobody changes?

And tying it into the advancement of plot, every situation the character experiences should help move their own development along.

Which brings us to theme. The message of your story. This can be a little tricky.

Each scene should tie into the theme, or have it on display in some manner. I recently worked with a writer having trouble tying everything together. We discussed the story and the main character’s internal and external goals. What was the message they wanted to convey? Based on those discussions, we were able to come up with a theme that worked for both the story and as it applied to all of the characters.

One of my favorite examples of a theme in use is BACK TO THE FUTURE. Early on, Marty says “History’s going to change.” And boy, does it. We get a ton of set-up in the first act, and then everything does indeed change in the second act as all of those setups are paid off. Amazing.

Take a look at your latest draft. Does each scene advance the topics in question? If not, do you have a way to fix that so it does? The more you get in the habit of doing this, the easier it’ll get and the faster it’ll become second nature to do it all the time.

Don’t know why it works, but it does

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The last few days have seen some decent progress regarding my action-comedy spec and the rewrite of my fantasy-comedy.

Both are still in the outlining stage, but it’s HOW I’m doing the outlining that seems to be especially helpful.

And also incredibly simple.

I write out the whole story scene by scene, with each scene a brief (i.e. 1-2 very short sentences) description of the scene.

But it goes way beyond what we’re seeing onscreen. Not just what’s happening, but everything below the surface.

This can include, but is not just limited to:

-what’s the conflict?

-does it advance the story, theme, and character?

-is it a good follow-up to the scene before it, and does it effectively lead into the one after it?

-is this where this should happen? (that can be a challenging one)

-does it pay off something that was set up earlier?

Naturally, answering all of these for each scene would take up a lot more space, but since it’s my story, what’s written down acts as a sort of shorthand for me. I know what’s supposed to be there, even if it’s not written out.

Another extremely helpful aspect of all of this is not all the blanks are filled in, so scattered among the scene descriptions are questions to myself in ALL CAPS (makes them easier to spot on a printed version). Most of the time these are seemingly small details but also important to the overall story.

That can be anything from DO THEY HAVE A NAME? to WOULD THIS WORK BETTER IN (EARLIER SCENE)? to TIGHTER!!

Then I print them out and mark them up, making fixes and corrections as I go. So far, each one is about 6 pages, single-spaced.

I don’t remember when I started doing this, but it continues to be a great way for me to figure it all out for each story and help it move along.

First hard part’s out of the way

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Bit of a breakthrough for the action-comedy spec this week – I wrapped up the outline.

It’s done, but not totally done.

It still needs a ton of work, especially regarding the development/placement of several subplots, but the primary storyline is there, ready to be hammered into better shape.

Despite it all, I’m thrilled to have gotten here. There were many times over the past few months I’d get concerned (read: stressing out on a regular basis) I’d never figure things out.

But I stuck to it and eventually did, and am very happy with it.

Skimming through the whole thing in its current state, there are probably a lot of scenes and sequences that’ll get trimmed, cut, or drastically revised, but that’s expected. And that’s not even taking into account the aforementioned subplots.

I’ve written before about my astonishment at how other writers are almost assembly line-like regarding their output. It’s just not something I’m capable of, and the slow, slow progress for this latest project is just another example of that.

But I also realize that when somebody reads one of my scripts, they definitely remember that it’s mine – the story, the characters, the voice. If my taking the time to do that for each script means a smaller output than others, that’s fine by me. Same conditions apply this time around.

I was wavering between diving right back into this one or shifting to one of my two rewrites. I think I’m leaning towards the latter. I haven’t done as much with those two the last couple of months, so it’s probably better to let the new one simmer and work on those.

Then when I’m ready to jump back into this one, it’ll be with a mostly-all-there outline (and most likely a lot of “This is better than I remember” and “I don’t remember writing this”).

Helping > hindering

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I got an email earlier this week from a writer I’ve never met or interacted with asking for some help/guidance in getting their script out there.

My first thought was “Why me? I’m pretty much in the same position as you are.” But decency won out and I offered up some suggestions of paths they could take, along with asking that very question.

They appreciated what I had to say, and explained they reached out because “I saw that you had interviewed people in the industry and wrote books about it, impressive! I watched you on a podcast and perceived that you were a sharp guy….”

I don’t know about sharp, but it was still nice to hear (along with a shoutout for my books).

As I’ve written here many times, establishing and maintaining your writing community are truly invaluable resources. A key factor is that being open to helping others, especially when you’re not looking for something in return.

It’s just about being a nice person that people enjoy and appreciate interacting with.

Here are a few posts from the archives about that very topic.

Enjoy.

Happy to help

Still happy to help

That’s me – the human flying buttress

Still flying, still buttressing

My brain’s helping hands are ready to go

From the archives: Darn my sense of parental responsibility

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Another repost today, but for a very good reason – my daughter wraps up her collegiate career this weekend, so cross-country traveling has been undertaken to bear witness.

One of the many father-daughter activities we’ve both enjoyed was going to the movies. On top of watching for the simple pleasure of just watching a movie, a post-viewing discussion about the film would usually take place. Did we like it? Was it a good story? What about the characters?

Little did I realize the impact all of this would have on my own writing.

I like to say I write scripts for films that would appeal to both 14-year-old me and present-day me, but I strive to write films that families could watch together – definitely nothing too cutesy or along those lines. More like “this is something both you and your kids would enjoy watching”.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that the experience of watching all those movies with my daughter were a significant influence on my writing.

So enjoy this post from June 2011.

I can honestly say I have done practically NO writing in the past couple of days. Not because I didn’t want to, but just couldn’t.

I was busy being a good dad.

With school out and the budget tight, we opted to have V spend her first week of summer vacation at what we call Mom and Dad Camp. She went to K’s office on Tuesday, got dropped off at my office late yesterday morning, and has been with me since 4:15AM this morning.

Side note – I get up at 3:15AM in order to be at work by 4:30, including the bike ride.  V’s been coming in with me every once in a while since she was 3, which usually involves a ride from K or in a taxi.  She loves it because for 4 hours she can sit in the conference room and watch DVDs, or lately, play with her iTouch, and even better, has started reading.

But I digress.

I enjoy having quality father-daughter time, but that feeling of not working on a script always nags at me.  Then I realize she won’t always be this age, or willing to be seen in public with her dad, so I should treasure days like this while I can, and worry about the writing later.

Part of today’s agenda was going to see KUNG FU PANDA 2.  It was a little different from the first one; much more action-y.  Basically, the idea is ‘gunpowder comes to China’.  There’s also a nice b-story about Po needing to overcome his demons and find inner peace.

V seemed to enjoy it, especially the more slapstick-y parts, and I liked the subplot about Po trying to find his roots.  Fortunately, there was only one time she asked about a joke; I didn’t have time to explain anyway.

Since last year’s LAST AIRBENDER debacle, I’ve tried to steer us clear from seeing films in 3-D.  It doesn’t seem necessary.  There were some scenes in KFP2 that appeared designed specifically for it, but seeing it in 2-D didn’t take anything away from it.

V heads out of town next week with K’s sister, so I’m already planning to catch THOR (if it’s still around), and K is still on the fence about SUPER 8.  X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and GREEN LANTERN are also possibilities.

My inner movie geek loves the summer.