Editing Principle 19: Understandings that Improve Fiction (+ Screenplays) Improve All Texts

Notes in preparation for a client meeting, 3/17/10:

–seems obvious, but: a character must be trying to do something

–at heart of all narrative film: “Somebody wants something badly and is having difficulty getting it.” —Frank Daniel

–in a three-act structure, second act = immense pressure to change

–writing with the audience in mind ≠ pandering to the audience

–our interest in whether the protagonist gets what she or he wants is (usually) proportionate to that character’s interest in same

–the nature of the objective determines the audience

“What’s the conflict that will tell the story you want to tell?” —Walter Bernstein

“You always come into the scene at the last possible moment.” —William Goldman

–distinguish between conflicts and hassles

–attempts to fashion a story in order to present a philosophical position leads to cliches, so be careful

–supporting players don’t know they’re supporting players

–revelation (the audience knows something a character doesn’t) requires subsequent recognition by that character (or the audience feels robbed!)

“The writer must know what a character wants, consciously or unconsciously, and the writer must know what a character is in pursuit of at any given moment, even if the character is oblivious to it.”

Much of the above, incl. that last quote, appears in David Howard and Edward Mabley’s The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer’s Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1993.

UPDATE: A related thought: “The best advice I got in writing narrative non-fiction was to get my hero in trouble and keep him there.” —Deborah Blum