what's your creative process?

Do you also have any sort of a feel for how your 3-act structure will go? Do you even think through a formal 3-act structure? Have you ever read the scripts of produced films and picked out on your own the precise spots where it's obvious that Act 1 ended, and then Act 2 and Act 3?

Without trying to be crude or overly-simplistic, I feel like the divisions of the three acts are like the little walls that divide the different portions of a fron TV dinner from each other. The peas and the mashed potatoes are NOT supposed to touch.

What do you mean you "rush"??

I don't know if you might be guilty of what I am about to describe below, but if you are, you might need to rethink your own personal self discipline and your own work ethic, or else perhaps just rethink any aspirations to even being in this craft.




I sometimes find when I am reading someone else's script that here are a few scenes here and there that are very weak and written with only half a heart. Scenes that are "rushed through" because those scenes really hold no interest whatsoever for the writer. He'd perfer to get to the juicy stuff. I can spot that kind of disinterest in someone's script in a heartbeat.

That's sloppy writing. It's lazy and a gross disservice to the entire craft.

You need to make every single word count. Every moment needs to be packed with the forward momentum of the plot. I personally AGONIZE over every word of my scripts. I will sometimes spend an hour to rewrite an action paragraph that is only 4 lines long. Every word. Every sentence. It needs to be weighed out and made to count.

Do you find that some scenes are annoying drudgery and that they're spoiling your fun as far as writing the "cool" parts? If so, that's unacceptable. It means you're an impatient writer with only half a heart committed to the craft.

A fashion designer can't be lazy about some stitches and gung ho about others, lest his magnificent creation will fall to pieces while the model is still trotting down the runway -- and then she'll be naked in front of the entire crowd.

An architect designing a suspension bridge can't gloss over even one rivet in his intended design for that bridge, lest a tragic instance of brige failure should happen and hundreds of people get killed.

So you can't gloss over or rush through ANY scenes. They ALL have to count or the whole script will fall flat.

Your last sentence is exactly what I do. I try to become my character. What would I do/think/feel/etc? It doesn't work instantly for me, but it helps a LOT. You have a lot more experience than I do though, so I'll refrain from giving you advice. All I'll say is that I was just thinking about what I could do to spice up my script in the later parts of Act 2. I got inside my character's head and things just started coming to me.

ETA: My character is a poet, and I just happened to be at a book store when I did this, so maybe that helped get me in the zone. I dunno.

Hi Doogles, welcome to AW.

Act II is a larger chunk of your screenplay and running out of things to say and do is a danger but you can split the act up with a midpoint at about page 50-60. This needn't be an enormous set-piece or major plot turn but should make a statement about where your characters are in their overall journey.

It could be a false positive, a moment where the hero believes he's on his way to winning which then leads into the typically darker aspects of your second half of act II before the hero figures out how to fix the problem at the start of act III. A moment of hope, a break in the case, a new way of tackling the existing problem. Something to provide a roadmap for the audience - here we are, this is what our guy is feeling right now. Allow us, and your character to take stock. Again, don't put a spotlight on it but give us something we can interpret structurally.

Creatively, the best thing to do, as a starting point, is simply to twist your characters when things get stale. If you're getting bored, do something unexpected. It needn't be a death or anything massively shocking; just something that the audience probably wasn't looking out for and that can sustain you on your way. It'll be up to you to figure out what's best.

It wouldn't hurt to break your script down into their individual scenes and write them out on cards or a document. Take a closer look at what happens, where you characters are, what they're thinking and more importantly what they're expecting. Switch them around so they ebb and flow throughout the story. It's also a great way to visualise (actually see) what your script looks like. There's nothing more disheartening, but ultimately productive, than putting your scenes onto cards and sticking them up on a wall only to find you have twenty for act I, twenty for act III but only fifteen for Act II.

You should always be asking, what can I do to drive the story in a compelling way? And, of course, you should always have the guts to admit when something isn't working, strip it out completely and try something new. Whether you find something better or realise you were right all along, it will at least be productive.

Hi,
I am Padma and I am having the same problem . My first
script got completed at 62 pages . Now I am writing my
second script . I am at page seventy . I was afraid that even this script
I will complete at haste.
I feel you have become the character and think what she will do now and improvise
her. you can study similar genres of scripts and see how other writers are writing
and can get ideas . Hope this helps .
padma

If I have two scenes with the same character one after another, I'll often take a "break" scene to go and see how my other characters are doing. It's great for pacing, and also sows the seeds for later plot development.

You should try breaking your script into sequences. Mini- stories that fit into the overall story arc. Recent examples of this would be Slumdog Millionaire or The Dark Knight. There's also a book on it:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0826415687/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

When my scripts end up around 60-70 pages it's because I haven't set up enough conflicts for my characters. Sometimes these are really easy to resolve, I was simply rushing to the end too fast, and sometimes they are not. The story in itself is complete and now I have to go back and add.

Some things to ask yourself. Are your characters fleshed out and fully formed. If not you need to create interesting scenes and situations that do this. I know this is easier said than done but don't neglect your character building especially in fast moving pieces.

I'll use Silence of the Lambs as a quick example. Say that final time she visits Hannibal Lecter to return his drawings and get the final piece she's missing. Say she figured it out before then and never returned to see him, that the writer cut that part out. We'd be missing a big part of her character. Her story of her childhood. The lambs screaming. It's amazing what that little disturbing piece reveals about what kind of person Clarice is.

Plot points, are there any lapses in your plot where something could be better explained, or perhaps something you rushed over that could be brought to life and really enhance your script?

Let's use The Dark Knight. Say the writer cut out the training and meeting the main bad guy. (I can't remember his name it starts with a D). We would have lost such a large chunk of plot and character, but especially plot if that scene had never been. The plot would have been fine, but there wouldn't have been that intimacy, that friendship, that reason for being.

Challenges, was the journey hard enough that the end was satisfactory. I'll use Lord of the Rings.

They put Frodo through hell to get that ring destroyed. For a really funny parody but great example of what not to do, go to YouTube and search for "How the Lord of the Rings should have Ended" It shows just how easy he could have made it, but that's not what the journey was supposed to be and I'm sure it wouldn't have worked out, but again, really funny.

I hope this gives you some ideas on what to look for.

Without reading a script it is difficult to know. I'll only put in one suggestion. Take the most difficult route you can think of to resolve your story. By this I mean that often writers know where they are going (know their ending) but are a little unsure about what happens on the trip. Often, when they run into a story problem, they take the simplist and easiest way out to resolve that problem. You're better off to take the most difficult route. Think of every reason why something CAN'T work out the way that you want it to. And keep working down that road until you find a resolution that cannot help but work.

Have you tried looking at some scenes from the antagonist's POV? By working in those, you develop and evolve the "villains" as well as extend the length.

However, I have a massive aversion towards looking for ways to "pad." Odds are, what you'll end up with is a project that looks like it was padded - which is never good. Additionally, if you do get lucky enough to make a sale, the padding will be cut because it doesn't drive the narrative in any recognizable way and you will be rewritten.

But likely as not, you won't sell because of the padding.

I would take all the advice here and do a page one rewrite. And DON'T try to make it a tight script. Run as long as you want and can. ALWAYS better to edit down.

I always know I'm on the right track when I'm afraid I won't be able to get my story into 110 pages.

I just try to work off the four-part structure, instead of getting sucked into the 3 act mess. (Which is not to say that every script shouldn't have a beginning, middle and end. Just that the 3 act thing can be (for some of us) a creative black hole.) I used to have extensive notes on this but they are in a box somewhere due to a move into a much smaller space.

Basically, it's "the hero's journey" only in a slightly simpler form than I've found described elsewhere. The main character starts as an orphan, then transitions to wanderer, then warrior and lastly becomes a martyr. It creates that lovely midpoint in Act 2 that was previously mentioned.

I like it because it makes me think about the arc totally in terms of the character's journey. A semantic difference probably, but it worked for me.

Well the way i discovered i write better is to just flow it, i sit down at the computer with a new script ready for me to make it happen and just write. if i ever hit the "brick wall" so to speak i make something crazy happen. lol in one script i hit a black hole with a character, he was set up and likeable (the moral compass of the characters) but nothing really happened to him. so i had one of his friends chop his hand off. this broke that wall down as it allowed me to create so much more conflict between the characters and set up the rest of the characters arcs, and make the rest of the story more meaningful and fulfilling for all of the characters. (The story at its heart is about selfishness and selflessness, and the quarter life crisis a lot of 20 somethings are feeling in a horror setting) but yeah so that works for me, if your hitting a lull do something crazy, it may stay it may not but it gives you a conflict that allows you to get deeper into your characters psyche. just my two cents.

Hi. Guaranteed to do the trick. Suggestion: go to blockbuster and grab 3 of the absolutely-without-a-doubt most successful films in the genre of your s-play (the more recent the better). Get a stop-watch... or watch w/ that capability. Notebook and pen. Watch the flick and note what happens... and when. Do this for the entire flick.

This exercise will get you past the initial 'first-cut' of the 'Readers' who are the gate-keepers of H-wood.

When you're done, go back over your notes. You will find, without exception, that the exact same 'type' of thing happens in every single one of those flicks, at roughly the same time. Now... go back to your script and see what you have happening at those same points in 'time'. When you ascertain that ... nope... I'm missing this and I'm missing that, and whoops... I don't have that 'type' of thing happening there in my script at that time--- all will become clear. Give your best efforts and modify the construction of your script to conform to the proven formulas of success. Will solve your problem. Period.

This approach is fail-safe... as regards components of structure. You must, of course, add the far more nebulous and rare ingredients known as talent and high concept to the mix. The coverage readers who recommend 'consider' or 'pass' are in tune to what is 'hot'. That's how they make their living. They are focused on finding flaws that delete you from the game. By eliminating a 'pass' based on structural flaws... which most s-plays have, you have automatically and immediately increased your odds for getting 'considered' tremendously.

Now the hard part. As Plot Device alluded to: do you have the requisite discipline to engage in such exercises? It's a lot of of work to 'break-down' film. But oh so rewarding. When you see via stop-watch and notes... the 'devices' the 'best writers in the world are using... you see them without the blush and the make-up... without the score blaring... sans distracting effects and emotions... you experience an epiphany: 'hey' these guys are not that 'gifted'. Well. They are gifted. They are very smart... disciplined people. That 'discipline' is what separates them from most of the crowd. But then their writing talent and creative ideas are the ultimate tools that determine if they get the brass ring. But ya gotta have the discipline first.

I'm not questioning your resolve. But there are a ton of 'lollygaggers' in the s-play arena, which gives rise to the well-founded suspicion by some that most 'fluffers' seeking a quick-fix are 'lazy'. Take it easy... I'm not suggesting you were seeking a 'quick-fix'. In fact you expressly stated that you sought a way to 'creatively add meat'. But many others are in fact no willing to put in the effort. This may or not be true of you. I don't know you... so I have no idea if ya got the goods. You seem determined. I wish all of you the best.

ok a bit off topic and probably a silly question but what is the definition of high concept?

Ucla_sb said:

ok a bit off topic and probably a silly question but what is the definition of high concept?

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when the story survives off the premise alone, like "The curious case of benjamin button" where the premise is "A man ages backwards while the woman he loves ages normally"

Back to the future. (in it's 'day'... very 'high-concept')

High-concept is aka executive-speak for 'I can't quite explain why I'm recommending this project... so... I'll just say it's 'high-concept' and roll with it. Everyone will just nod knowingly. (Wink)

Doogles said:

I'm on my 4th script and have the same problem. I have an interesting concept. Visualize the character's motivation and conflict and the ultimate resolution to that conflict.

I get stuck in the middle. Every outline/script feels like it's dragging in the middle. I always seem to be about 20 pages short and fill it in with the same old conflict in a different form. Yes it progresses, but it feels fluffy in parts.

Any tricks you know to creatively add extra meat to your story, that raise the stakes for the hero leading to the ultimate conflict?

Or is it something as silly as using more "baby conflicts" that lead the hero to the ultimate jumbo conflict (lose the girl for good).

It feels like I rush to the final conflict and come up 20 pages short every time.

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What you really need to do is to take a step back and forget about the second act altogether.

It's very easy to get bogged down in it and to forget that, in large measure, the second act doesn't really matter.

Why?

Because, in structural terms, every second act is exactly the same.

The story premise, which is (at least potentially) special, is set up in the first act.

The resolution, which is also (at least potentially) special, is resolved in the last act.

The second act, whatever the story, can always be reduced to the same thing. In fact, when I used to write coverage and you had to jam a lot of story into a couple pages I found that the easiest way to do was to simply cut out the entire second act, or at any rate reduce it down to a few lines.

That's because you can really express every second act in three words.

"Various complications ensue."

That's it. That's all that's going to happen in the second. Various complications.

At the end of the Second Act you're going to end up with a really terrible complication -- the apparently insoluble problem.

You bring your protagonist to his lowest point. He can't go on. There's no way forward.

But wait. Yes, there is.

Because you've set up some baggage or other that he's been hauling along with him for the whole movie -- and it's that baggage that, unbenownst to him (and maybe even to us, though you've set it up) that's keeping him from moving forward.

Ah hah! He realizes it. And he frees himself of whatever that baggage is.

And he advances. He moves forward and overcomes the final obstacle and triumphs -- or, if you're one of those downbeat writers, he has the opportunity to do so but fails to do it and you end up with a downbeat bummer of an ending (or a foreign film).

Here's the conventional wisdom -- which is generally correct.

If you've got a problem with your third act, your real problem is most likely in your first act -- because that is where the ground work for your third act is set up.

A story, in a sense, is like a thesis -- a person is faced with a certain kind of problem -- that problem has an external aspect -- aliens, hostage takers, cheating boyfriends, and an internal aspect -- some quality that the protagonist has or lacks that is reflected by all of those external goings-on.

He has to make certain decisions to solve that problem -- ostensibly the external problem. But, in fact, the real problem that needs solving is the internal problem. The solution to the external problem lies in resolving the internal problem.

And the decisions that he makes, or fails to make relates to that internal issue and the external problems that he confronts are designed to force him to come to terms with those very same internal issues.

The coward is forced to face his cowardice.

Someone who is insecure is put in a position wher he has to face his insecurities.

A liar must tell the truth.

The external story both drives and is driven by the *internal* story of the protagonist, forcing him, ultimately, to that "moment of truth" -- the apparently insoluble problem.

Insoluble, unless he faces that fundamental internal issue.

So what you really need to do is to step back -- get away from the specific story beats and address that larger question of what it is that is driving your story as a whole, because that is going to answer the question of the big story beats -- the premise, the mid-second act turning point, the end of second act "insoluble problem" -- and the ultimate resolution.

NMS

This might sound strange, but when I'm stuck like that, I take a nap. Practice going to sleep while thinking about the problem - your unconscious may have a lot of solutions that your waking brain is blocking.

Doogles said:

Any tricks you know to creatively add extra meat to your story, that raise the stakes for the hero leading to the ultimate conflict?

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Add a subplot that in some way gives a different view of the main plot's theme, and at the same time contributes something to the main plot.

Dale

8thSamurai said:

This might sound strange, but when I'm stuck like that, I take a nap. Practice going to sleep while thinking about the problem - your unconscious may have a lot of solutions that your waking brain is blocking.

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I do this, I put on music that's in the mood of my script then fall asleep while thinking about it. Your thoughts float all around. Can be helpful.