Emotion - into a story

When writing a scene, there is an emotion the character will express based on how you think she should feel.

And there is the emotion the character will express based on how she should feel.

For example:

She should feel angry here but she doesn't.  How can I get her to be angry?  Well, the truth is that if she's not angry than that is how it should be.  Go with that.

Ok, so she's not angry.  She's indifferent.  Well, a reader won't be interested in an indifferent character.

Well, it's not true that she's indifferent.  The fact is that she wants to feel one way but she can't get herself to do what she needs to do to feel that way.

She wants to be someone but she doesn't have the drive to be someone.  She's phoning it in and following formula.  I want to be someone but I am a robot.  

Formula for StoryMaking

Formula for storymaking:


A problem arises
Analysis of the problem
Organize analytical information concerning the problem
Initiate a plan to correct the problem
Follow through with enacting the plan

Screenwriting: What Great Movies do More Successfully than Good Movies

Why create a simple clear goal with a simple clear motivation for your hero?  Because this is a great way to move on to the most important point or goal of your story.  And what is that you ask?  Nope it's not theme.

What great movies do, and in fact great screenwriters do, is they make you fall in love with their hero's.

They don't simply try to have their hero "save the cat" and then rest on those likable laurels for the rest of the story.  They know that the plot is just a foil for their true intent: To make you want to spend 90 to 120 minutes with your eyes and hearts focused on their hero.  Think about your favorite movies and write down what it is your love about the character or characters in the story.  Pick one, put it on, and write down everything they do during the story that makes you really interested in them.  They are doing something in every scene that just makes you attracted to their presence.  Maybe their charming.  Maybe they're absolutely vile.  Maybe they're incredibly foolish.  It's something about them that just makes you want to watch!

How to create a character everyone will love?

One way is to think of cliches and stereotypes and mix them.  For example:

+ 

Imagine Santa as a gang member.  Or imagine this gang member with the personality of Santa.  

How the quadratic formula relates to screenwriting and character

Old Pythagoras gave us the Quadratic formula:

f(y) = ax²+bx + c

Here I'm going to relate that to how we define a Character in a story.

a = their Conflict and it is squared or amplified by their internal and external problems.
b = their How.  Their how is their unique way of approaching and try to reach their goal.
c = their Goal.  This is their want.

Character = Conflict(Internal fear and external pressures) + How(their personal style) + Goal

Fiction Vs. Non-Fiction

Here lies the fundamental similarities and differences of fiction and non-fiction books:

Just finished reading a non-fiction book.  It's called DIRT.  It's about SOIL and how human agricultural methods have been eroding it since the dawn of agriculture.  It's led to the collapse of past civilizations and could be our demise as well.

It's about logic.  It showcases cause and effect of human activity on physical objects.

A fiction book example:  A guy spends an amazing night with a girl.  She pursues him after that one night of passion but he keeps rebuffing her.  He ends up dating her but sleeps around and treats her like garbage.  For reasons dispelled in the book he can't find the ability to love a woman.  He's been hurt by a past lover and won't let his heart be broken again.

It's about emotion.  It showcases how a man cannot let this woman or real love into his life because of a prior painful breakup.  It shows how old emotional wounds have hurt his soul and how they could happen again.

Both book types explore relationships.  However both explore them through different lenses.

Non-Fiction uses LOGIC.
Fiction uses EMOTION.

In Non-fiction writers use scientific data.  Such as from 1900-1950 over two feet of topsoil has eroded from the state of Kansas.(this is not true but using to prove point)

In Fiction writers use emotional data. Such as Tim's former girlfriend left him for her boss two years ago and he's never really gotten over it.  He's dated and slept with 16 women since then and sometimes he's dating more than one at a time.

Both types of writing can leave the reader wandering what will happen.
In Non-fiction the writer may say "Governments are now working to make X and Y policy to combat soil erosion.  Or Governments have yet to do anything about this problem.  Or as of this writing Governments have enacted a policy and soil erosion is reversing.

In Fiction a writer may have the main character give love a shot by the end of the story.  They may not let the character give it a shot.   It depends on how the writer wants the story to end.  If the writer feels like cheating is something that will ruin people than they may end it on that sour note.  If the writer feels like cheating is something that can be overcome then they may end it on a more positive note.

The ending a of a non-fiction book is based on past and current data.  It doesn't much matter what the author feels should happen.

The ending of a fiction book is based on how the author feels.

Beating the drum of Relationships

They're is a saying: "Your character is defined not by what you say but what you do."

But that's not the only way for us, as screenwriters, to define our characters.

Here's an interesting quote from a book that explores the subject of ecology.

"Humans are not specially privileged species but mere nodes in the grand web of life, properly defined more by their relationships to other species than by their individual characteristics."
- Rambunctious Garden - Emma Marris - 2011

When we surround our main characters with others, we are defining who they are - their economic means and their dominance or lack of dominance.  Through dialog and action we can contrast them against other characters to create a clear picture.

Character Vs. Characterization - Screenwriting

What is characterization?  It's the way a character walks, the tone of their voice, the clothes they wear, the transportation they use, etc.

What is character?  Character is more elusive to me.  It's motivation.  It's desire.  And expressing those can be hard to do.  Sometimes I write a scene or some dialog and move on and when I'm sitting around thinking about it, I think, "Crap, am I clearly expressing character here or just writing something that's characterization?"  I tend to write fast and without a clear intention.  So I have to go back and reread and cut and change anything that seems superfluous.  

Screenwriting Structure - The Ultimate Secret Answer to Every Structure You've Ever Heard of

If you've ever delved into the world of screenplay structure analysis, you'll probably agree that there are many ways to cut a movie apart.
There's the "classic" 3-Act structure and with that the 1, 2 , 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 Act structures.  (Why not 6?) You'll also find a Sequence Approach from Paul Gulino.  A Hero's Journey structure from Joseph Campbell exists.  Along with another version of the Hero's Journey by Christopher Vogler.  In addition to Jacob Krueger who writes about the Hegelian Dialectic.  Let's not forget Blake Snyder's Save The Cat.  And speaking of structure, you've got to talk about archetypes which you can structure your story around too.  Which leads me to one of the most complex systems of structural analytics known as Dramatica.  And so on and so forth.

What's intriguing is that when you take each of these approaches and analyze your favorite films they all work.  They all work.  Like the image above in which there is a face, a butterfly, an angel, an alien, a teddy bear, etc., all structural models are similar but different.  What you see is what you get and what you get is whatever you want to see.

What's doubly intriguing is that none of them can make you understand why a film connects with you or any other human being.  C'est la vie, right?

I would argue that a writer can take all of these models and place them in a drawer within a cabinet within a dumpster and safely land on their feet with a great story.

How?

If you focus on one scene at a time.  And focus on your characters as if they were real people who should react in a realistic way, you'll be writing well.  You'v got to be sincere.  You've got to stop and think after each action, "What would actually happen at this point, within the "rules" of the story I've been writing?"  It's realistic to spend a day or two on one scene.  You've got to read it and be honest.  Be sincere, even if it's comedy.

Screenwriting - Writing Tip

"A play can start with an image that can be as simple as two people in a room and I begin to ask questions about who they are in relation to one another."  - Donald Margulies

 A screenplay can also start that way.  But the main point I take from the above quote is asking "Who characters are in relation to one another."  I like to think of my characters as people.  I like to be sincere about who they are and what the want and why they want it.  A clear simple character can hook me and watching them deal with extraordinary or even ordinary issues can hook me too.

Pace - Character-ization, screenwriting

For each scene I want to figure out what each characters pace is.  Does he move around quick, slow, awkward, cool, etc.  are his arms moving around a lot, or tight to his body, is he sweating, is nervous, excited, happy, sad, depressed.  What's his pace?

Dramatica - Ok - Fine - Use It.

In the past, I've been emotionally disturbed by story writing programs such as Dramatica.

I've cooled down a bit.  So sure, go ahead and use Dramatica to create a story.  But with one caveat.

At some point you're going to have to read your story and develop it's humanity.  You're going to need to open yourself up and be sincere.

The fact is that characters are not pieces of construction material that you piece together to build a structure.  True, stories are about structure - behavioral and social structure - human desires and human relationships.  Using the word structure can be misleading - you may start to think of stories as Lego sets.  People draw diagrams of how the structure of a story can look.

Sure, it's fine to use the diagrams to outline a story but at some point you have to get rid of the cookie cutter and make sure you're being sincere.  Make sure your characters are being sincere.  Make sure you are simplifying and clarifying each scene to express a clear idea.

The Emotional 2nd Draft - Screenwriting

When you are ready to get into your second draft.  Print it out.
You're going to want read it and make notes.
What kind of notes?
Start out by trying to figure what it is each scene is trying to do and how you can make it as simple and clear as possible.  Chances are you will have the ingredients for a nice scene but it won't be simple and clear.

Replace economic theory with story theory:

"Indeed, economic theory has become largely impenetrable to the layman. It didn’t start that way. Adam Smith, whom we may justly call the first economist, saw himself as a moral philosopher, and wrote in clear, elegant prose. As the nineteenth century progressed, however, the idea got about that, in order to be taken seriously, economics should be treated as a scientific discipline, complete with equations and formulae. As Robert Heilbroner put it, “mathematics brought rigor to economics; but, alas, also mortis”."

Relationships - What your story is about!

So you could have a story about food, music, espionage, africa, etc.

But if you want to write one with emotional power, focus on a relationship.

One you love or one you hate.

Example:

You might hate it when a kid's life is controlled by his overly religious parents.
You might love it when a man is able to escape and overcome a powerful villan.
You might hate it when a person steals money from a charity for their own personal pleasure.
etc.

When you focus on a relationship, you get meaning and emotion.

Value what you Want - Reject others

Here's the deal.  If you don't value what you do or think or say.  Why should anyone else?

You've got to value it first.

Let's say you draw a picture with crayons.  Your first thought might be, "It's just a stupid crayon drawing"

You're first thought should be "It's a fucking cool drawing."  Someone or a million might disagree.  That shouldn't enter into your opinion.

What you need to say is "Well, It's a fucking cool drawing. So fuck off."

Screenwriting - How to become productive and maintain quality

You must go into the scene with an idea of where you want it to go, what the characters will say and do, but as you do it, ask "what if they do it like...this."   If you go into a scene with full confidence of what you will write, it will fall flat.

Just watch a musician going through a performance they've done before and are only doing for the money or because they have to.  Sure they may hit all the notes but it's blah.

Imagine...you're coloring with crayons and you must draw a house.  Everyone can draw that house.  The square with the triangle roof, two windows, and door in the center.   But this time, while you do intend to draw that house...you say "what if I put the door over here on the right?"  Or "What if I make it a double door...?"  You don't have that in your minds eye when you start but allow it to develop as you draw the typical house.  And it makes a more interesting, dynamic, refreshing picture.

This leads to the age old screenwriting market demand for "SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT."