Jekyll2020-01-31T18:55:20+00:00/feed.xmlWrite This NowAn amazing website.Matt ZandstraThe Take Away: Craig Mazin on Character, Argument and Structure2019-07-09T18:18:39+01:002019-07-09T18:18:39+01:00/the-take-away-craig-mazin-on-character-argument-and-structure<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-243" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/jonathan-sharp-E0rsKheWqmk-unsplash-crop-scale.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="419" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/jonathan-sharp-E0rsKheWqmk-unsplash-crop-scale.jpg 800w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/jonathan-sharp-E0rsKheWqmk-unsplash-crop-scale-300x157.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/jonathan-sharp-E0rsKheWqmk-unsplash-crop-scale-768x402.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>This time in The Take Away I look at <a href="https://johnaugust.com/2019/how-to-write-a-movie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a podcast lecture</a> (<a href="https://johnaugust.com/2019/scriptnotes-ep-403-how-to-write-a-movie-transcript" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transcript</a>) on screenwriting (and by extension any kind of storytelling) that turns much story structure advice on its head. Craig Mazin argues that the writer should think of the fraught relationship between theme and character as the engine of story. Traditional story structures — the kind you read in writing manuals — find shapes in narrative structure. But unless these shapes are driven directly by the struggle of character, he argues, they will not make a good story. Simply to apply a structure as a formula is a fetishism — a kind of cargo cult.</p>
<p>The Scriptnotes podcast is always worth a listen. For all writers, not just screenwriters, it ticks both the entertaining and informative boxes. The format is conversational and relaxed, reliably following (having helped to create, really) the two men and a mic formula. John August and Craig Mazin, of course, are seasoned creative professionals and it shows. A couple of weeks back, though, co-host Craig Mazin tried something different. He took over the podcast solo for an episode to lay out his philosophy of screenwriting.</p>
<h3 id="the-take-away">The Take Away</h3>
<p>Here is the take away of the take away. Story diagrams — with their inciting incidents, their midpoints, their third act low points — are the tail and not the dog. The dog that does the wagging is the trial of a character negotiating a central argument.</p>
<p>Great writers follow their characters as they negotiate a <strong>meaningful dramatic argument</strong>.</p>
<h4 id="stories-and-change">Stories and Change</h4>
<p>Stories are about characters and change — internal (within the mind of the character), external (generated by the wider world) and interpersonal (in the relationships between characters). Change is expressed in scenes — following the Hegelian dialectic.</p>
<ul>
<li><span class="name">thesis</span></li>
<li><span class="name">antithesis</span></li>
<li><span class="name">synthesis</span></li>
</ul>
<p>That might seem obscure – but really all it means is that a story, both as a whole and in its its parts, is an argument in which a particular understanding of the world (thesis) is challenged in conflict with an opposing understanding (antithesis) resulting in a new situation and perspective (synthesis).</p>
<h4 id="argument">Argument</h4>
<p>Theme (unity) / central dramatic argument is the glue that you can use to generate these cycles of change and reconciliation. See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics_(Aristotle)" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Aristotle’s Poetics</a> for more on this. Without argument, a narrative can seem empty. Interestingly, the quality of a story’s argument is unrelated to quality of a work — great stories can spring from facile arguments (of the <em>You Can’t Judge a Book by its Cover</em> variety).</p>
<p><em>Argument</em> is a better word than <em>theme</em> here, because it captures the requirement that there must be a proposition that can be asserted and challenged and not just a word that loosely organises the action — like <em>loss</em> or <em>exile</em>.</p>
<h4 id="structure">Structure</h4>
<p>So, with that established, let’s look again at story. Mazin follows a fairly familiar three act structure, but focuses on the protagonist and his or her theory of the world. The purpose of the story is to take a character — through action — from ignorance of the truth of the theme to embodiment of the theme. It is an ongoing battle between theme and anti-theme.</p>
<h5 id="ordinary-world">Ordinary World</h5>
<p>The ordinary world is not (necessarily) mundane. It is a state in which the protagonist has reached an accommodation — not perfect, but acceptable. The character believes the opposite of the story’s argument — and this belief is essential to the maintenance of the status quo.</p>
<h5 id="inciting-incident">Inciting incident</h5>
<p>This is not just a disruption — it must be engineered to strike precisely at the character’s understanding of the world. So Marlin (Finding Nemo), who believes he must protect his disabled child at all costs, sees Nemo taken away from him. The character must then attempt to get back what was lost. Shrek seeks to regain his swamp and return to his splendid isolation.</p>
<p>This is a quest for <em>restoration</em> not <em>transformation</em>.</p>
<h5 id="second-act">Second Act</h5>
<p>The protagonist should be confirmed in his/her world view when surveying the central argument. So Marlin encounters some friendly sharks, but realises, when they turn violent, yes, the sea is brutal and unforgiving. But the character should, nonetheless, encounter a voice of doubt. While this represents a conflict, it is also a temptation — an almost attractive alternative view.</p>
<h5 id="midpoint">Midpoint</h5>
<p>The character questions his or her rationale, flirts further with the right side of the central dramatic argument. Then gets ferociously slapped back. The alternative viewpoint is ‘proved wrong’ here.</p>
<h5 id="low-point">Low point</h5>
<p>And yet the world (ie you, the writer) must keep pushing the character. He or she may not accept the central argument, but their own perspective is consistently unsuccessful, too. Eventually, the character must lose all faith. All is lost, not because things have got very bad, but because there is no longer a belief system that works.</p>
<h5 id="relapse">Relapse</h5>
<p>Confront the protagonist with the option to return — but they must now understand the implications of that victory (think about Shrek’s lonely return to his swamp). At great cost, then, they commit to the central argument. A hundred last minute romance chases ensue.</p>
<h5 id="defining-moment">Defining moment</h5>
<p>Accepting the central argument does not come for free. It must be forged in sacrifice – or at least great ordeal. This is the point at which loved ones ‘die’ and are resurrected, rebel pilots put away their targeting computers and trust in the force. This is the moment of truth. The moment that tests the protagonist’s faith in the theme.</p>
<h5 id="denoument">Denoument</h5>
<p>It’s no good playing out an argument if we don’t get to see the consequences. This is the synthesis in that <em>thesis, antithesis, synthesis</em> cycle. This should mirror the ordinary world phase. Just as we saw the protagonist acting in accordance with the anti-theme, here they take an action that reflects their adherence to the theme.</p>
<p><em>Photo by Jonathan Sharp on Unsplash</em></p>wtnadminThis time in The Take Away I look at a podcast lecture on screenwriting (and by extension any kind of storytelling) that turns much story structure advice on its head. Craig Mazin argues that the writer should think of the fraught relationship between theme and character as the engine of story. Traditional story structures -- the kind you read in writing manuals -- find shapes in narrative structure. But unless these shapes are driven directly by the struggle of character, he argues, they will not make a good story. Simply to apply a structure as a formula is a fetishism -- a kind of cargo cult.The Take Away: Cathy Yardley’s Writing Process2019-06-14T17:01:54+01:002019-06-14T17:01:54+01:00/the-take-away-cathy-yardleys-writing-process<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-230" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/simone-hutsch-1675465-unsplash-crop-scale.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="481" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/simone-hutsch-1675465-unsplash-crop-scale.jpg 800w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/simone-hutsch-1675465-unsplash-crop-scale-300x180.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/simone-hutsch-1675465-unsplash-crop-scale-768x462.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>To kick off our new strand, The Take Away, let’s take a look at an excellent piece over on Writer Unboxed in which Cathy Yardley <a href="https://writerunboxed.com/2019/06/07/a-snapshot-of-my-writing-process/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes her writing process</a>. It tallies quite well with some other processes described on this site or incorporated into the app, including Sandra Scofield’s <a href="https://writethisnow.com/essential-books-the-last-draft/">approach to revision and redrafting</a>. Unlike Scofield’s, this process focuses on planning up front, but it arrives at a similar place, a spreadsheet in which scenes are mapped against plot points and character arcs.</p>
<p>Let’s get into it.</p>
<h3 id="the-take-away">The Take Away</h3>
<p>Like the Last Draft strategies, this process uses spreadsheets as a way of visualising structure. It is hard to keep the totality of a novel in your head all at once. By maintaining scene and character lists you can see and tinker with the shape of the thing.</p>
<h4 id="ideation"><span class="name">Ideation</span></h4>
<p>For many, the hardest part. How do you get from nothing to an idea? Then how do you get from there to something resembling a plot? Yardley recommends beginning with ‘sparks’ — triggers such as titles, headlines, concepts to arrive at a promising seed for a story.</p>
<p>Then she uses a ‘foundation document’. This is an unstructured file for free writing, working through fragments, trying stuff out.</p>
<h4 id="outline"><span class="name">Outline</span></h4>
<p>Yardley suggests a spreadsheet with three tabs. The first describes major characters in terms of the goals, motivations and conflicts (what they want, why they want it, what stands in their way). In the second you define the arc for each of your characters in plot points. In the third, you build out the scene list.</p>
<h5 id="tab-one-characters"><span class="name">Tab One: Characters</span></h5>
<p><span class="note">Provide goal, motivation, conflict for all major characters. Yardley does not cover goal and motivation in detail, but broadly speaking you might think in terms of what i</span>t is that the character wants to accomplish, and the inner need really drives her. Conflict, of course, is the stuff of story — the force (often exerted by an antagonist) that prevents a character from achieving his or her objective.</p>
<h5 id="tab-two-plot-points"><span class="name">Tab Two: Plot points</span></h5>
<p><span class="note">This tab joins character and plot. Interestingly, Yardley argues that you should write a structure for each of your major characters. These should include<br /> </span></p>
<ul>
<li><span class="name">inciting incident</span></li>
<li><span class="name">plot point one</span></li>
<li><span class="name">pinch point one</span></li>
<li><span class="name">midpoint</span></li>
<li><span class="name">pinch point two</span></li>
<li><span class="name">plot point three</span></li>
<li><span class="name">hopeless moment</span></li>
<li><span class="name">resolution</span></li>
</ul>
<p>I will discusss the nature of plot points, pinch points and so on in other posts. If you’re looking for a really good examination of structure, though, you might check out Into <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Into-Woods-Five-Act-Journey-Story/dp/1468310941" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Woods: A Five Act Journey into Story</a> by John Yorke. There is <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com?exercise=fiveact&about=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an overview</a> of Yorke’s structure in the Write This Now app (no login required).</p>
<h5 id="tab-three-scene-list"><span class="name">Tab Three: scene list</span></h5>
<p>Now break your story into scenes. Begin with stickies — everyone loves a Post-It — and you can move things about. For each scene, record the goal, the conflict, the disaster. In other words, what does your character want, what stops him from getting it, what is the climactic outcome? When you’re ready, fill out the spreadsheet.</p>
<h4 id="first-draft"><span class="name">First Draft</span></h4>
<p>Time to write. Don’t be too tied to the scene list — give yourself permission to go off piste and update the outline as you do.</p>
<p>Yardley provides some lovely tips here:</p>
<h5 id="the-prewriting-document">The Prewriting Document</h5>
<p>To avoid ‘stage fright’ when writing the draft, use a meta document – especially at the start of your writing session . In here you can clear your throat and define your intentions</p>
<p>I often use the <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com?exercise=scene&about=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scene Planning exercise</a> in the Write This Now app in a similar way.</p>
<h5 id="use-timers">Use timers</h5>
<p>This is perhaps the single most powerful weapon you can deploy in the fight against distraction and procrastination. Set a timer for a fixed period and do nothing but write. You’d be amazed how much you can produce even in twenty minutes or so.</p>
<h5 id="use-routine-cues">Use routine cues</h5>
<p>A particular configuration of objects, a playlist, a starting ritual — whatever it takes to get you in the zone.</p>
<h4 id="revision-draft"><span class="name">Revision draft</span></h4>
<p>Leave it for a month or so. Then work through. I suspect that Yardley turns out first drafts that are quite close to a finished state. If, like mine, your first drafts are disaster zones you might want to use <a href="https://writethisnow.com/essential-books-the-last-draft/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a more substantial process</a> to redraft and rewrite.</p>
<h4 id="final-draft"><span class="name">Final draft</span></h4>
<p>Get this done quick – no more than twenty-four hours. Again, this speaks, I think, to Yardley’s success as a writer. Others may need to rinse and repeat the revision draft a few times.</p>wtnadminTo kick off our new strand, The Take Away, let's take a look at an excellent piece over on Writer Unboxed in which Cathy Yardley describes her writing process. It tallies quite well with some other processes described on this site or incorporated into the app, including Sandra Scofield's approach to revision and redrafting. Unlike Scofield's, this process focuses on planning up front, but it arrives at a similar place, a spreadsheet in which scenes are mapped against plot points and character arcs.Site News: The Take Away2019-06-13T22:38:19+01:002019-06-13T22:38:19+01:00/site-news-the-take-away<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-215" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/garett-mizunaka-15709-cropped-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="473" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/garett-mizunaka-15709-cropped-scaled.jpg 800w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/garett-mizunaka-15709-cropped-scaled-300x177.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/garett-mizunaka-15709-cropped-scaled-768x454.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>The Take Away is a new blog strand that builds on the Essential Craft Books series, but widens it to take in podcasts, articles, tweets, in fact anything that contains a kernel of wisdom about the processes of planning, writing and revision.</p>
<p>Alongside developing the Write This Now <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">app</a> (and using it to write, too) in recent months I have been grappling with the kind of editorial content I should be producing for this site. Clearly, given the application’s core purpose, I want to provide writing-related content. To that end, I have been working on the <a href="https://writethisnow.com/category/essential-craft-books/">Essential Craft Books</a> series — in which I distill some essentials from useful writing books. That seems like a decent direction — I love craft books, and I’m always looking for new exercises or checklists for the app. However, it takes a while to summarise and extract action items from a content rich book, even one I know and love.</p>
<p>Also, by focusing on books alone, I’ve been ignoring my notes on articles, podcasts, talks and more — many of which would make fine posts here.</p>
<p>So, from this week on, I’m trialling a new strand: The Take Away. In these short articles I’ll try to distill what’s useful for the writer in any and all media. My interest often skews towards issues of planning, revision and story structure, but if I find it useful and interesting and if it relates to writing, then it’s a candidate. If I find exercises or checklists I can add to the <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Write This Now app</a>, then so much the better.</p>
<p> </p>
<div class="_3bJ2H CHExY">
<div class="_1l8RX _1ByhS">
Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@garett3?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Garett Mizunaka</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/machine?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>
</div>
</div>wtnadminThe Take Away is a new blog strand that builds on the Essential Craft Books series, but widens it to take in podcasts, articles, tweets, in fact anything that contains a kernel of wisdom about the processes of planning, writing and revision. Alongside developing the Write This Now app (and using it to write, too) in recent months I have been grappling with the kind of editorial content I should be producing for this site. Clearly, given the application’s core purpose, I want to provide writing-related content. To that end, I have been working on the Essential Craft Books series — in which I distill some essentials from useful writing books. That seems like a decent direction — I love craft books, and I’m always looking for new exercises or checklists for the app. However, it takes a while to summarise and extract action items from a content rich book, even one I know and love. Also, by focusing on books alone, I’ve been ignoring my notes on articles, podcasts, talks and more — many of which would make fine posts here. So, from this week on, I’m trialling a new strand: The Take Away. In these short articles I’ll try to distill what’s useful for the writer in any and all media. My interest often skews towards issues of planning, revision and story structure, but if I find it useful and interesting and if it relates to writing, then it’s a candidate. If I find exercises or checklists I can add to the Write This Now app, then so much the better. Photo by Garett Mizunaka on UnsplashEssential Books: Story Maps: TV Drama2019-05-29T20:31:25+01:002019-05-29T20:31:25+01:00/essential-books-story-maps-tv-drama<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-206" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ajeet-mestry-429216-unsplash-cropped-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="457" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ajeet-mestry-429216-unsplash-cropped-scaled.jpg 800w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ajeet-mestry-429216-unsplash-cropped-scaled-300x171.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ajeet-mestry-429216-unsplash-cropped-scaled-768x439.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>If you’re planning a TV pilot episode then this book, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Maps-Structure-One-Hour-Television-ebook/dp/B01CPTVGW4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Story Maps: TV Drama. The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot</a> by Danial P. Calvisi packs a far greater punch than you might expect from such a slim volume. It describes the key components of a modern TV pilot. Then, by breaking down a set of existing shows, it demonstrates these conventions in action. Calvisi analyses eight famous pilots including those of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad and demonstrates that, despite the diversity of the shows, the patterns he describes play out in all of them.</p>
<p>A few months ago I was asked to pitch my novel in progress. The project is not yet at the stage at which I can hawk it around, but it’s always good to get feedback, so I went ahead and put a package together.</p>
<p>The feedback came back: “Nice idea, but we want a script. Can you do a script?”</p>
<p>“Of course,” I lied.</p>
<p>Now, this is a long shot and likely nothing will come of it. But a challenge is a challenge. So I was suddenly required to think like a TV writer and to do it fast. As usual, I turned to books.</p>
<p>As a general primer, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crafty-Tv-Writing-Thinking-Inside/dp/0805080287" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crafty TV Writing</a> by Alex Epstein, which was already on my shelf, is an excellent starting point. My edition is a little dated, however, and it doesn’t focus on the pilot episode. For the new writer, it argues that the way to go is a spec script. This is essentially a script for standalone episode in an existing series written chiefly as proof of talent — probably with a view to getting hired on to a writing team. With the proliferation of streaming services in recent years, however, it seems that the spec script has been joined by the TV pilot as a vehicle for the new television writer. Here is William Rabkin in the excellent <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Pilot-William-Rabkin/dp/0615533612" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Writing the Pilot</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Suddenly it’s possible to create a script outside of the standard television development process and see it turned into a series.</p>
<p>Even if you don’t sell your series, the spec pilot is an increasingly useful script to have your portfolio.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Story Maps focuses on story structure and it’s not for beginners. If you need help building a character or formatting a script then there are other places to go. But if you need to know the beats to hit when you break story, how many pages you should aim for, where to place your act breaks you really can’t do much better.</p>
<p>The extent to which even innovative TV shows like Breaking Bad conform to a conventions of story structure is particularly interesting. On reflection, of course, this is not particularly surprising. A TV show has a limited span and its acts are typically constrained by the need to break to adverts. In order to keep viewers watching through the beer and hairspray commercials you’re going to want to end each act on a moment of high interest — if not an outright cliffhanger. Even those shows written for presentation on streaming services will often follow a similar act structure since they often end up airing on other networks across markets and over time.</p>
<h3 id="the-take-away">The Take Away</h3>
<p>In which I try to distill some of the actionable content you might find in a proper reading of a craft book. Remember it’s a flavour not the whole meal. Go buy the book and feast on the real vittles.</p>
<h4 id="series-season-pilot">Series, Season, Pilot</h4>
<p>Decide what kind of show you’re writing – is it a procedural (standalone episodes), a serial (season long story arc) or a hybrid (story of the week combined with serial aspects)?</p>
<p>Pilots typically come in two modes. A premise pilot provides the origin story for your show, and may not be typical of most later episodes. A ‘third episode’ pilot drops the viewer into a fully formed story world – often with a ‘newborn’ character who must be shown the ropes as a proxy for the viewer. While the premise pilot allows you to properly build your world, the trade off is that your reader (and it is almost certainly a reader you’re thinking about at this point) will not necessary get a good sense of the majority of episodes in the season. The Walking Dead pilot ‘Days Gone Bye’ is a good example of a premise pilot. The protagonist, Rick, is not yet reconciled with his family or part of a wider group of survivors. Although it’s one of the great modern pilot episodes, it remains something of a prologue. Going for a ‘third episode’ pilot brings its own problems — you must juggle the business as usual apects of the episodes at the same time as bringing the viewer up to speed. No mean feat.</p>
<p>Once you’ve chosen your pilot type it’s time to plan the episode itself.</p>
<h4 id="basic-story-map">Basic Story Map</h4>
<ul>
<li>Think about your protagonist. What is his/her defining characteristic? Their fatal flaw? What are their internal and external goals? Who is their ally? Who is their shadow — the character who acts as foil? What is their arc within the pilot, the season and the series.</li>
<li>What is the compelling crisis of the series. This is the core concept — it’s what your series is <em>about</em>.</li>
<li>What is the ‘week to week’? What happens in a typical episode? Is a crime solved? Workplace conflicts waged?</li>
<li>What is the world of the story?</li>
<li>These questions can distilled into a ‘basic story map’, which the book summarises. There is also a worksheet at the back.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="the-full-story-map">The Full Story Map</h4>
<p>This is perhaps the real meat of the book — the part you will return to over and over again. You can play this section <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com/?exercise=storymap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as an exercise</a> on the Write This Now app.</p>
<h5 id="teaser">Teaser</h5>
<p><strong>What ground will it cover? Give a very brief impression.</strong><br />
<em>This five to</em> ten minute <em>segment should introduce character and theme in an effective visual way. It should also provide a framing device and a catalyst. Simples.</em></p>
<p><strong>How do you introduce your protagonist?</strong><br />
<em>SHOW his/her characteristics in a visually strong capsule</em></p>
<p><strong>What is the framing device?</strong><br />
<em>eg both The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad start with a flash forward,</em> Mr <em>Robot offers an incident that reveals character (Eliot confronts a pedophile whose activities he exposed through a hack)</em></p>
<p><strong>How does the teaser express theme?</strong><br />
<em>What is your episode ABOUT — can you suggest that in this brief sequence?</em></p>
<p><strong>Show the world.</strong><br />
<em>How do you introduce the</em> flavour <em>of this world in this scene (The Walking Dead shows a</em> post disaster <em>world and a zombie child, Game of Thrones shows the wall and the world beyond it.)</em></p>
<p><strong>Main conflict</strong><br />
<em>Does it feature in the teaser?</em></p>
<p><strong>End with a</strong> cliffhanger / catalyst<br />
<em>This should make viewers keep watching and also raise story stakes</em></p>
<h5 id="act-one">ACT ONE</h5>
<p>This is often the longest act. It should have a complete structure of its own – ie. beginning , middle, end – with a cliffhanger at the end. It should provide the inciting incident.</p>
<p><strong>‘A’ Story – what happens in your primary story?</strong><br />
<em>This is the protagonist’s external quest.</em></p>
<p><strong>‘B’ Story – how does it feature here?</strong><br />
<em>This is</em> key <em>secondary story, that fleshes out</em> deeper <em>theme or season-wide story (Hamlet and Ophelia)</em></p>
<p><strong>‘C’ Story – how does it feature here?</strong><br />
Story <em>relating to supporting characters (Polonius and Laertes)</em></p>
<p><strong>‘D’ Story – do you have one? How does it play out?</strong><br />
<em>This is a supplementary story – very much optional (Rosencrantz and</em> Guildernstern_)._</p>
<p><strong>New arrival</strong><br />
<em>Are you using a naive character who tours the story world and must be tutored?</em></p>
<p><strong>Shadow character</strong><br />
<em>The foil for your protagonist. The Fortinbras to your Hamlet (though Fortinbras is perhaps too distant to be a true shadow character)</em></p>
<p><strong>Dynamic ally</strong><br />
<em>The Horatio to your Hamlet.</em></p>
<p><strong>Theme – how is it shown?</strong><br />
It should become entangled with the protagonist’s mission</p>
<p><strong>How does conflict escalate throughout the act?</strong><br />
Tension should build.</p>
<p><strong>What is the inciting incident?</strong><br />
This is the event that propels the protagonist deeper into the story — it should be a ‘no turning back’ moment.</p>
<p><strong>Act out – how does the act end?</strong><br />
Surprising and yet inevitable ending. This may be an urgent complication of the inciting incident.</p>
<h5 id="act-two">ACT TWO</h5>
<p>Tension ratchets up in this act. Efforts to escape the bind that ended Act One, while initially successful, drive the action to a First Trial and then to a midpoint turn.</p>
<p><strong>Aftermath of Cliffhanger</strong><br />
<em>Handle consequences of</em> cliffhanger_. Take stock. Possibly room for exposition._</p>
<p><strong>First trial/first casualty</strong><br />
<em>An initial engagement – often results in a failure or loss</em></p>
<p><strong>New</strong> complictions <strong>to A, B, C stories</strong></p>
<p><strong>‘A’ story midpoint</strong><br />
<em>A big turn that clarifies</em> action_, possibly introducing a time limit (ticking clock). Often requires a decision. Midpoint linked to ending_</p>
<p><strong>New question/challenge</strong><br />
<em>How does the act end?</em></p>
<h5 id="act-three">ACT THREE</h5>
<p>The ramifications of the midpoint play out. A major confrontation. Defeat seems a real likelihood. The protagonist takes control.</p>
<p><strong>Aftermath of midpoint</strong><br />
<em>What are the consequences? What actions</em> do <em>the protagonist take?</em></p>
<p><strong>Shadow showdown</strong><br />
<em>A conflict or at least tension between shadow and protagonist.</em></p>
<p><strong>Integration of lines</strong><br />
<em>Some story threads begin to merge.</em></p>
<p><strong>Assumption of power</strong><br />
<em>The protagonist takes control.</em></p>
<h5 id="act-four">ACT FOUR</h5>
<p>Supporting stories play out. The protagonist takes action – which may result in a big loss or new stakes.</p>
<p><strong>Skirmishes and complications</strong><br />
<em>Stuff happens, complicating previous actions across story threads.</em></p>
<p><strong>Integration, escalation, stopping points</strong><br />
<em>Stories converge. Some may end – possibly to be resumed in future episodes.</em></p>
<p><strong>Declaration of war / All is lost</strong><br />
<em>Decisive action by</em> protagonist <em>– can result in</em> big <em>loss (all is lost) or win with significant implications</em></p>
<h5 id="act-five">ACT FIVE</h5>
<p>If the climax did not happen in the previous act, here’s where we see it. Also a denoument and hint of future action</p>
<p><strong>Climax</strong><br />
<em>The final battle. A confrontation that leads to success</em></p>
<p><strong>Epilogue/The new world</strong><br />
<em>How is the world of the story changed? What hints of things to come?</em></p>
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<em>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/UBhpOIHnazM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Ajeet Mestry</a> on </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/television?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Unsplash</em></a>
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</div>wtnadminIf you're planning a TV pilot episode then this book, Story Maps: TV Drama. The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot by Danial P. Calvisi packs a far greater punch than you might expect from such a slim volume. It describes the key components of a modern TV pilot. Then, by breaking down a set of existing shows, it demonstrates these conventions in action. Calvisi analyses eight famous pilots including those of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad and demonstrates that, despite the diversity of the shows, the patterns he describes play out in all of them.Essential Books: The Last Draft2019-04-23T17:17:31+01:002019-04-23T17:17:31+01:00/essential-books-the-last-draft<p><img class="size-full wp-image-187" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_20190422_214451-small-more-cropped.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="497" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_20190422_214451-small-more-cropped.jpg 800w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_20190422_214451-small-more-cropped-300x186.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_20190422_214451-small-more-cropped-768x477.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>How do you get from a sloppy first (or second or third) draft to something approaching a publishable manuscript?</p>
<p>I’ve been a fan of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scene-Book-Primer-Fiction-Writer/dp/0143038265">The Scene Book</a> by Sandra Scofield for years (in fact I <a href="http://app.writethisnow.com/?exercise=scene">created an exercise based on it</a> which I use all the time). So I was excited to come across <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Draft-Novelists-Guide-Revision/dp/0143131354">The Last Draft. A Novelist’s Guide to Revision</a>. All the more so as I surveyed the state of my latest big fat messy novel draft.</p>
<p>I’m an inveterate creator of scrappy drafts. And I have spent plenty of time on quests to finish the job, too. One problem I often face is a terrible baking in. The tendency for the structure of my initial work to become ossified over time so that no amount of finesse at the sentence level can ever address the project’s underlying problems — that the thread of my story is convoluted, my characters’ motivations weak, the stakes insufficiently high. There’s no point polishing a — well, something fundamentally unappetising — but that’s just what I do. I churn out draft after draft of increasingly slick prose, draped over bones that will never carry a story. This book offers strategies which encourage writers to analyse, break and reset the structure of their work — to define a vision and redraft according to its force.</p>
<p>Scofield’s approach to the problem breaks down, at heart, into roughly three stages.</p>
<ol>
<li>Define your novel in essence and summary — describe its themes and major plot points.</li>
<li>Assess what you have, working through your draft chapter by chapter.</li>
<li>Plan, reorganise and rework.</li>
</ol>
<p>Although these steps might seem strictly consecutive, the reality is a little more complex than that. That’s not a problem with the book so much as an issue intrinsic to the redrafting process. In defining your novel, you distill the work you have done. And yet, at the same time, you are working towards a sharper, deeper, clearer vision. That means, as you revise, your overview takes on an uneasy dual status — it describes both what your work currently amounts to and what it should be. Scofield’s book embraces this dynamic.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you feel drawn to make some changes in the story, the summary is a good place to test them. Don’t feel chained to your draft; you have begun the steps that take you to a revision. Or you might write a summary of what you hve, print it out, then annotate it with questions and comments in the margins…</p>
<p>Think of yourself as building a dossier, a kind of case study of the story you are looking for. Keep writing new summaries.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A novel, by its nature, is often big and unwieldy — prosaic in fact. This extract reflects a great strength of The Last Draft — it encourages the author to render a novel draft’s essentials. In working with those essentials — summaries, key scenes, chapter overviews, threads, others — you can begin to hold the gelatinous mass of the whole in your head, to move its parts around.</p>
<p>The creative tension between assessment and planning in The Last Draft also raises a possibility that speaks to the endless battle between the plotters and organic writers. Much work that is presented here in relation to an existing draft could be applied to the upfront planning process.</p>
<h3 id="some-take-aways">Some Take Aways</h3>
<p>In this section I distill some useful elements that you might use right away. Remember, though, that this is not a substitute for the book itself.</p>
<h4 id="overview">Overview</h4>
<p>A high level understanding of the state of your novel — partly as it now is, but mainly, and increasingly, as it should be.</p>
<ul>
<li>Create a summary of your novel — no more than a page or two. Is it big enough? Can you deepen it? Rework the summary until it has the shape and depth to justify an entire novel.</li>
<li>Sum up the novel in a sentence.</li>
<li>Define the novel’s action (what happens) and intent (the emotional drive) in a paragraph.</li>
<li>Distill this into a vision or intent — a single sentence</li>
<li>Describe the world of the novel</li>
<li>Describe the timeline (initially without reference to the manuscript) — both foreground and background</li>
<li>Describe your protagonist — does he or she have enough agency (a passive protagonist is a problem)</li>
<li>Examine the ending of the novel. Does it fulfil the promise established by premise? Is it both surprising and inevitable.</li>
<li>Describe major characters. Are they necessary to the story? Can/should any be cut or combined.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="assessment">Assessment</h4>
<p>A much closer reading. By definition, this assessment focusses on the draft you have written, but you should annotate with a view to what you want to achieve. You’ll be using this work in the planning phase. When I went through this stage, I filled out Post-It notes for distinct aspects I wanted to track across my reading and added them to the start of each chapter in my print out.</p>
<ul>
<li>Examine point of view.</li>
<li>Create a tagline for every chapter.</li>
<li>Delve into six key scenes across the novel. Analyse them deeply, looking at the balance of backstory, present action, summary and exposition. How do the scenes flow from one to the next?</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>You are putting a dipstick into your manuscript; you want to see if the same fluid is running under all its pages.</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Delve deeper into two of the scenes, breaking them down. You’re looking for purpose, dramatic impact, flow, clarity, build of action, setting and viewpoint.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="planning">Planning</h4>
<p>In this phase you bring together your initial summary of your novel and your assessment of your draft and use them to forge a bullet proof plan for the novel. Create a new summary of the plot focussing on the story problem, the crisis point and the resolution. In more detail chart the beginning, middle and end of the novel. Does the beginning establish a deep story question, offer an effective catalyst? Does the middle offer complications and a moment of impossibility. Is the promise of the beginning answered by the resolution — is it both surprising and inevitable?</p>
<ul>
<li>Examine the protagonist and his or her journey. How does it fulfil the vision of the novel? How does the she or he change?</li>
<li>Define six to ten key scenes — the backbone of the novel. Track the progression of the story through them. Are they all essential to the novel — are the doing the work they should?</li>
<li>Track ‘threads’ through the story. These may seem analogous to subplots but it goes deeper and wider than that, a thread may also be thematic or emotional.</li>
<li>Bring this work to bear on your assessment of the first draft — what scenes and chapters are you going to keep. Of those you are keeping which need to be rewritten or tightened?</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>wtnadminHow do you get from a sloppy first (or second or third) draft to something approaching a publishable manuscript?After the Draft #1 – Make a Master Map2018-12-14T13:09:00+00:002018-12-14T13:09:00+00:00/after-the-draft-1-make-a-master-map<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-163" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/rawpixel-191102-unsplash-1024x669.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="523" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/rawpixel-191102-unsplash-1024x669.jpg 1024w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/rawpixel-191102-unsplash-300x196.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/rawpixel-191102-unsplash-768x502.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>After your first draft, let your manuscript breathe for a week or so then properly assess your work. You need to know where you truly are to determine where you should be going. Build your map.</p>
<p>The first draft is often the fun part. The rules are so fluid. You change your character from <em>Sarah</em> to <em>Karo</em> mid-paragraph because you’ve noticed that everyone else in the spaceship also has a name that begins with S. Then, after another chapter or two, you make the <em>spaceship</em> a <em>submarine</em>. You try out a flashback and fall in love with that world. That’s the novel now. Forget the submarine, the whole thing is set on a pig farm in Lithuania. And, some time later, you come out the other end with… what? A manuscript full of the problems that past you left for future you to clean up.</p>
<p>Now, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news is, <em>you’re</em> future you, so you’ve got work to do. The good news is, you get a chance to make this thing good. You get to fix the drifting names and the undercooked settings, the top-heavy structure. You get to go back in and plant clues and images, to focus the theme.</p>
<p>So, where to start? First off, do nothing. Let the whole thing brew so that when you return you’ll have some objectivity. Give it a couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Almost by definition, a novel is long. In its details, all its scenes and characters and images — let alone sentences, it probably won’t all fit in your head at once. Your first task, then, is to build a map of what you’ve got so you can decide how you need to change it.</p>
<p>Read through your draft, and make very brief notes as you read. While you should bear in mind changes that you want to make, try to reflect what you read rather than the better draft you will produce.</p>
<p>Here are some of the aspects of your draft you should consider capturing.</p>
<h3 id="scenes-and-more">Scenes and more</h3>
<p>A brief list of scenes in the chapter. For extra points, also note significant summary passages. If you are running multiple narratives, it may be worth noting which scene belongs to which narrative.</p>
<h3 id="flashbacks">Flashbacks</h3>
<p>Back to the Lithuanian Pig farm. Later on, you’ll want to gauge the balance of present action to back story.</p>
<h3 id="subplots">Subplots</h3>
<p>Track those parts of the story that support, mirror, or counterpoint the main narrative. Think about threads that might be cut, slimmed or strengthened.</p>
<h3 id="themepremise">Theme/Premise</h3>
<p>What is the mood of the chapter? What is it saying? Can you declare it’s about-ness in a word? Can you boil the action down to a premise of the <em>Love Conquers All</em> variety? In the dark SF detective novel I’m writing, I ended up with cheerful conclusions such as <em>everyone is in exile</em> and <em>no-one is safe</em>.</p>
<h3 id="image">Image</h3>
<p>Are you using motifs or images in the chapter? Is there a colour palette? Do objects of symbolic importance appear?</p>
<h3 id="setting">Setting</h3>
<p>List locations in the chapter. Also make a note of any elements related to your world building — the politics, geography, seasons, weather.</p>
<h3 id="characters">Characters</h3>
<p>Keep a running tally of your characters. Ignore walk-on parts, unless they play a key glancing role in the narrative. Keep an eye open for drifting names.</p>
<h3 id="notes">Notes</h3>
<p>Time for some constructive criticism. What did you think of the chapter? What worked? what failed? How should you change things? Although, in other sections, the object of the exercise is to capture the state of your manuscript as it stands, this is your chance to think about the next draft. What you should you cut, what you should add.</p>
<p>There are many ways to capture this information. For a rewarding tactile experience, you can stick Post-It notes into your printout. It is nice to get back to paper and there’s a real feeling of satisfaction as you literally turn the page on a chapter.<figure id="attachment_167" style="width: 800px" class="wp-caption alignnone"></figure></p>
<p><img class="wp-image-167 size-large" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_20181214_123434-1024x768.jpg" alt="The draft mapped with Post-It notes" width="800" height="600" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_20181214_123434-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_20181214_123434-300x225.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/IMG_20181214_123434-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> <figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The draft mapped with Post-It notes</figcaption></figure></p>
<p>It’s less pleasurable but arguably more useful to use a spreadsheet, though. That way, you can see all your notes in one place and follow a column without having to leaf back through five hundred pages. As you can see from these snaps, I took both approaches when assessing my draft. Next time round, I’ll probably save myself the transcription and type straight into the document.<figure id="attachment_165" style="width: 800px" class="wp-caption alignnone"></figure></p>
<p><img class="wp-image-165 size-large" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screenshot_2018-12-14_12-27-26-1024x491.png" alt="The map in spreadsheet form" width="800" height="384" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screenshot_2018-12-14_12-27-26-1024x491.png 1024w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screenshot_2018-12-14_12-27-26-300x144.png 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screenshot_2018-12-14_12-27-26-768x368.png 768w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screenshot_2018-12-14_12-27-26.png 1535w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> <figcaption class="wp-caption-text">The map in spreadsheet form</figcaption></figure></p>
<p>By tracking the character column I can get a sense of who is who, whether any characters need further development, I can catch names that tend to drift (I have a particular issue with one character who seems to have three interchangeable names) and so on. When I think about structure, I can trace all the scenes, the balance between present action and flashback, the points at which subplots intersect with the main plot. And I have all my hypercritical notes to hand, too.</p>
<p>Armed with this master map we’re ready to begin to plan for our next draft… but that’s another story.</p>wtnadminAfter your first draft, let your manuscript breathe for a week or so then properly assess your work. You need to know where you truly are to determine where you should be going. Build your map.Image of the Week #22018-12-07T15:20:47+00:002018-12-07T15:20:47+00:00/image-of-the-week-2<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-152" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8570143267_baaf981cb3_b-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="534" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8570143267_baaf981cb3_b.jpg 1024w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8570143267_baaf981cb3_b-300x200.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8570143267_baaf981cb3_b-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>This might make a good prompt for the journey and for the people in the boat — their relationships, their stories. In truth, on a day of chill and rainy murk here in Britain, it caught my eye for the quality of the light and the clarity of the water. Then I thought about the depth beneath the boat, the sense the picture gives of our physical dependence upon the world, our place within it and upon its surfaces not a guarantee but a negotiation. I thought of the powerful vandals who seem content to smash this balance, their feigned ignorance of the inevitable consequences.</p>
<p>Try out the Write This Now <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com/?exercise=flickrtimed">image prompt</a> for more prospects both sunny and dark.</p>
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<div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/imran_graphics/8570143267/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a mother</a> by Imran Kadir
</div>
<div>
license: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License</a>
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</div>wtnadminThis might make a good prompt for the journey and for the people in the boat -- their relationships, their stories. In truth, on a day of chill and rainy murk here in Britain, it caught my eye for the quality of the light and the clarity of the water. Then I thought about the depth beneath the boatImage of the Week #12018-11-28T15:46:33+00:002018-11-28T15:46:33+00:00/image-of-the-week-1<p><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-140" src="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/24126539462_b880d4c7cf_b-1024x610.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="477" srcset="https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/24126539462_b880d4c7cf_b.jpg 1024w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/24126539462_b880d4c7cf_b-300x179.jpg 300w, https://writethisnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/24126539462_b880d4c7cf_b-768x458.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></p>
<p>When this image came up in my morning free write, the sudden chill that shivered through me had nothing to do with the miserable November weather. What’s going on with these guys?</p>
<p>Try out the Write This Now <a href="https://app.writethisnow.com/?exercise=flickrtimed">image prompt</a> for inspiration that’s second to nun.</p>
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<div>
<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/magdalenaroeseler/24126539462/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">[untitled]</a> by Magdalena Roeseler
</div>
<div>
license: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License</a>
</div>
</div>wtnadminWhen this image came up in my morning free write, the sudden chill that shivered through me had nothing to do with the miserable November weather. What's going on with these guys?