Tip #309: Why showing is essential for scripts

"WRITE ONLY WHAT WE CAN SEE."

...IF YOU'RE WRITING "HE GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN BACK..." IN YOUR ACTION LINES YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG... ANY GOOD DIRECTOR WILL SIT DOWN AND LOOK AT A PARAGRAPH THAT HAS NOTHING BUT CHARACTER HISTORY AND SAY "HOW THE FUCK CAN I SHOW THAT?"

Given Example:

MERYL STREEP'S CHARACTER IS ON A PLANE AND SHE'S ABOUT TO BE HANDED FOOD. SHE GOES TO GRAB HER WALLET TO PAY, BUT ATTENDANT INFORMS HER THEY'RE FREE. THE MEANING IS CLEAR: SHE'S NEVER BEEN ON A PLANE BEFORE...

IF YOU WRITE SOMETHING WE CAN'T SEE, IS NOT JUST MERE FAUX PAS, NOT JUST A COMPLETELY WASTED OPPORTUNITY, BUT A WRITING HABIT THAT WILL ACTIVELY MAKE THE MOVIE WORSE. YOU'RE PUTTING AN IDEA INTO THE FILMMAKERS HEAD THAT WILL MAKE TOTAL SENSE FOR YOUR STORY, HELP THEM GET IT, BUT IT WON'T HELP THE AUDIENCE GET IT.

http://badassdigest.com/2012/01/12/screenwriting-101-2-of-2/

Another advantage is that descriptions are far more nuanced and therefore intriguing.

Tip #308: Easy character arcs

If nothing (and no-one) else, your protagonist should end the story in a different state of mind to the one they began in, unless you're deliberately putting them back exactly where they started to show their lack of change or to emphasise small changes...   

Going from a negative to a positive emotion gives the ending a greater positive impact because the reader is subconsiously aware they've been on an positive emotional journey with the protagonist.

Given examples:

Biggles and Tintin frequently follow this arc:
Boredom -> Increasing Determination -> Satisfaction

Some of the Nancy Drew books often do something similar:
Curiosity -> Increasing Fear -> Relief

The Harry Potter books are much more complex, containing multiple arcs, one of which is:
Alone -> Increasing Friendships -> Loved

H.R. Filmore's Reminders to Self, December 2012

Dear Readers

It's slightly over two years since the Golden Haystack published its first writing tip.  Life can and has changed astonishingly in those two years.  Unfortunately I no longer have time to regularly trawl the web looking for the rare gems of writing advice hidden in blogs and articles.  I'm not going to say there shall never be another tip posted here, but if there are, they will be irregular and probably preceeded by great lengths of time.

Despite this, I hope the blog archives continue to be as valuable to you as they are to me.

Wishing you success with your writing,

Ivory

Tip #307: Should I really do this?

You have a wild and crazy idea that flies in the face of everything you know and/or suspect to be screenwriting law? Do it!

Worst-case scenario, you gotta rewrite and rework whatever disaster you created. But best case — mind blowing awesomeness.

http://thestorydepartment.com/can-you-break-the-rules/

Tip #306: The romantic climax

the implied statement {of a proposal}: I want to spend the rest of my life with you, forsaking all others, etc, from someone you feel the same way about - that is where the emotion comes in. If you want to up that emotion, a really romantic proposal works to an extent, but you get the most impact from... the reader {and character(s) themselves being} unable to see a way for these two characters they really care about to live happily ever after, so when it happens, it blows them away

...if {the readers are} in secret of the planning, then they get to anticipate and fear the proposal scene

http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/plot-doctoring/threads/101328 Comment by inkpawprints.

Tip #305: Let the reader be the judge

The screenwriter should never write, “The house is a mess.”... Because we can’t see it. Instead, the screenwriter must show dirty clothes on the ground and the empty Chinese food containers tipped over on the coffee table.  The trick is to use props and set-dressing (nouns) to convey the “messiness.”

The same holds true for character.  The audience bases their first impression on the things they see.  What does the character look like?  What is he/she wearing?

http://scootywoopinaway.tumblr.com/post/35847221238/screenwriting-tip-define-characters-with-verbs-not

If you're a novelist writing in first or limited third person: what does the viewpoint character think of what they're seeing?

Tip #304: Awesome concepts

It’s not enough to realize that you love a certain idea... figure out why you love that idea.

http://screenwritingtips.blcklst.com/2012/09/screenwriting-tip-1116/

Tip #303: Scaling challenges

when you're a first level character in a game a wolf is a really impressive challenge... once you've leveled up... an army of kobolds can't take them out. {The gradual scaling of challenges alongside the scaling of character ability as they grow from their experiences} needs to be built into your rule system right from the start... else the story gets boring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYqx3nwcpQ0&feature=plcp

Tip #302: On settings

Is your setting and milieu historical or exotic? Work until you find one thing we’ll recognize from our own reality. What’s the generation gap like in Victorian England? Does your society of demon slayers have a long-standing fight at their meetings over refreshments?

Is your setting by intention ordinary? Find things in it that are peculiar, local and contradictory. What’s the food found nowhere else? What’s the odd annual festival? What local legend is unquestioned? Who’s at war on a miniature scale? What’s a big irony in this social realm?

http://writerunboxed.com/2012/04/04/the-good-seed/

Tip #301: Info-dump via character reaction

How your character reacts to something gives your reader valuable clues as to how they should be reacting, what they should be learning from whatever just transpired, and how significant it is to the overall story.

Given example:

a character is staring out the window at night when, suddenly, she sees a firefly turn into a fairy princess out on the lawn. What is her reaction? If she thinks “Oh, no! Not again! That means dad will make me go out there first thing tomorrow and wash the fairy dust off the grass…” then that tells the reader that fairies are common in this world, and a bit of a nuisance. Not only do we get the character’s attitude about the firefly fairy, but we get valuable worldbuilding information (especially if this is the first time we see that this world has magic/fantasy elements to it). If she thinks “WHAT THE F*** IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!” and runs screaming from the room, we may take that as our cue that firefly fairies are not the norm and that something truly odd is going on.

http://kidlit.com/2012/09/19/the-power-of-reaction/

Tip #300: Problems with endings?

Does the plot build from... inciting incident to an inevitable climax? 

http://annerallen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-biggest-problem-facing-beginning.html

If you're having trouble answering this question, try separating your various story arcs/problems (external, internal, etc) and thinking as abstractedly as possible.  Different arcs may have different inciting incidents (but as many as possible should share a climax).

e.g. Inciting Incident: Boy learns his parents were murdered -> Climax: Boy comes face-to-face with the murderer is only a tiny part of the Harry Potter story and certainly not the main story arc, but the additional arc (and its dictated requirement) gives the climax additional emotional power.

Tip #299: Best use of rules

when characters {the readers} care about get into a situation where the rules dictate they're going to get killed, that's where they start to get really worried

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYqx3nwcpQ0&feature=plcp

Tip #298: Before and after

The before is the yardstick that allows the reader to measure the protagonist progress toward after.

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/gluing-plot-to-theme-and-character-to.html

Tip #297: IDEA to CONCEPT to PREMISE

How To Move From IDEA to CONCEPT to PREMISE

1. IDEA asks no questions and presents no action or character

2. CONCEPT asks a question (‘what if’) and the answer to that question is your story *

3. PREMISE is a concept that brings character into the mix; it defines hero’s quest.

* Use as many ‘what if’ sequences as necessary to reach your concept

http://www.bullishink.com/2012/10/19/how-to-find-your-storys-premise/

Tip #296: Meaningful deaths

{the} reader cared about these various character deaths because their deaths left an impact...

http://avajae.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/how-to-kill-characters-with-impact.html

because of how their subsequent absence will change the story, especially for the protagonist.

Tip #295: Is your theme a question?

instead of using the theme “justice,” let the events of the story pose a more engaging question: “What’s more important, telling the truth or protecting the innocent?”

Rather than giving the advice, “You should forgive others,” let your story explore a dilemma: “How do you forgive someone who has done the unthinkable to someone you love?”

Let your story do more than reiterate the cliché, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Instead, challenge that axiom by presenting your characters with situations that raise the question, “When do the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many?”

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/5-story-mistakes-even-good-writers-make

Tip #294: On voice & starting

What I do scratch around for, and sometimes for a long time at the beginning of a book, is the right way to write it: the voice, the syntax, the POV, the balance of description to everything else. Each book so far may have similarities, but they are all sufficiently unique too, in the way that they are written. I used to worry that I still hadn’t found my voice as a writer, and was just trying different things out with each book, but I’ve come to realise that the actual stories demanded a certain style from me in order for the stories to work.

http://torbooks.co.uk/2012/10/22/five-question-interview-with-adam-nevill/

Tip #293: Attention-catching concepts

A good log-line is ironic. Irony gets attention and hooks interest.
 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/keeping-focused-nailing-the-pitch-understand-your-seed-idea/


Example:

A sparkly vampire falls in love with the one girl in the world whose blood might tempt him to break his vow not to feed on humans.

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/concept-begins-from-line-one-or-whats.html

Tip #292: When killing minor characters...

picture this scenario. We notice emergency lights ahead.  The oncoming traffic lane is shut down and looks like a debris field. Two mangled cars lay in ruins, and there are still figures draped with blue blankets surrounded by somber EMTs. Do you feel badly? Unless you’re a sociopath, of course you do.

Now…

You look into that same oncoming lane, and one of the cars you recognize. It belongs to the nice family you chatted with in line at Wal Mart when you had to wait 40 minutes in the customer service line. You even helped the dad load groceries and put away their cart so the mom could buckle in their babies. You had to stop for gas, but 30 minutes ago that family was alive and well and now the coroner’s van is showing on the scene.

Before you cared…now you are connected.

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/in-the-beginning-part-one-normal-world/

It's the difference between your audience knowing something's a tragedy and knowing why something's a tragedy.  The latter hits home.

Tip #291: Restraint as a tool

I’ve recently become enamored with the notion of restraint.  The idea that you can hold back your most vivid descriptions, your most wild gore, your most violent emotional explosions and unleash them at a key point to guarantee maximum emotional investment and subsequent shock from the audience.
 

http://samsykes.com/2012/03/literary-kitty-litter/

Tip #290: Story as a whole

"A story is designed," according to Cron, "from beginning to end to answer a single overarching question. As readers, we instinctively know this, so we expect every word, every line, every character, every image, every action to move us closer to the answer."

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/concept-begins-from-line-one-or-whats.html

Tip #289: Reader empathy

It has to matter to {the protagonist}, or it won’t matter to {the reader}.

http://www.stinalindenblatt.com/2012/10/writerly-quotes-tension.html

Tip #288: The antagonist (series)

There has to be a Big Boss Battle in your story or the story problem is not fully resolved. A lot of new writers are “writing a series.” And, oh, but Such-and-Such dies in book 12 of my series. No... the protagonist in every book MUST DEFEAT the BBT responsible for the story problem...

your Big Boss Troublemaker... will have emissaries... Depending on the type of story, usually the BBT will have a chain of command...

Book I) BBT–> (Book II) BIGGER BBT–> (Book III) HOLY MOLY! AN EVEN BIGGER BBT!!!!

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/structure-part-3-introducing-the-opposition-2/

In Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, the protagonist is given the opportunity to battle and defeat a watered-down (but still very powerful) version of the BBT before the final battle.  While they can't be irrevocably defeated until the last book, the plan which caused the protagonist so much trouble in the current book should be pretty much permanently foiled and the protagonist's victory should cost the BBT significantly.

Tip #287: The antagonist

The Big Boss Troublemaker is whoever or whatever causes the hero’s world to turn upside down {inciting incident}. The BBT creates the story problem that must be resolved by the end of your tale. The BBT is also who or what must be present at the Big Boss Battle. In Star Wars, the BBT was the Emperor. It is his agenda that causes the inciting incident and it is he who must be faced in the final battle or the movie ain’t over... In the beginning, your protagonist should be weak. If pitted against the BBT, your protag would be toast…or actually more like jelly that you smear across the toast...

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/structure-part-3-introducing-the-opposition-2/

Example:

In Fried Green Tomatoes, Evelyn is her own worst enemy. She is spineless and weak. But, the real enemy resides in those who desire to control and bully Evelyn. In each act of the movie, we see Evelyn learning confidence so that by the end, the BIG battle, she can tell her abusive mother-in-law to stuff it.
 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/structure-part-4-testing-your-idea-is-it-strong-enough-to-make-an-interesting-novel-2/

Tip #286: Something to ask before you start writing

Does this story problem lend itself to a KNOCKOUT ending?

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/structure-part-4-testing-your-idea-is-it-strong-enough-to-make-an-interesting-novel-2/

Tip #285: On describing characters

I never use more than three {physical} details to describe a character... if I choose tons people will pick and choose which they remember... so I try to choose three really good ones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTjAM2XHo1g&feature=relmfu

Quote from video: words may not be 100% accurate.

Tip #284: The end

For me, the point of a novel is the end. Everything is structured to give emotional weight to that end, to resonate with it.

http://www.challengingdestiny.com/interviews/sagara.htm

Tip #283: Plot is not optional

literary fiction must also have a plot. The only difference between commercial fiction and literary fiction is that the character arc takes precedence and plot is of lesser importance

Given Example:

in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, there is a plot. Man and Boy must make it to the sea. But it is more important HOW they make it than IF they make it. If the Man and Boy resort to cannibalism, that is an epic fail. They must make it to the sea, but without sacrificing their humanity.

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/great-characters-the-beating-heart-of-great-fiction/

Tip #282: Finding your core audience

“Let’s just say I will give you $50,000 if, in the next hour, you can find 5 people who would love your book.”

...Now, with $50,000 on the line for a mere hour’s worth of work, your mind begins racing. You get super specific. You think of the core themes or topics in your book; you think of competitive books who have an already established audience. Then you consider the exact physical places you can go to reach these readers; the ways these people are already organized – already self-selected and filtered based on previous behavior and interests; you think about who has access to these people; you consider where these people are online and off; you focus on actual names of people you can call at this very moment.

http://writerunboxed.com/2012/08/24/do-you-know-who-your-audience-is-no-really-do-you/
Why is finding your core audience important? These are the people who will tell others "you have to read this book!"

Tip #281: Story & plot

Hero, problem, antagonist, respond, change, attack, regroup, grow, DO SOMETHING HEROIC, solve the problem.

A story is about characters DOING things... The sequence and sum of what they DO is the story.

Plot is the stage upon which your characters reveal themselves.

http://storyfix.com/when-your-passion-kills-your-plot